Quotes from Fletcher Knebel

Statesmanship is harder than politics. Politics is the art of getting along with people, whereas statesmanship is the art of getting along with politicians.

Our forefathers made one mistake. What they should have fought for was representation without taxation.

A decision is what a man makes when he can't find anybody to serve on a committee.

Finally it has penetrated my thick skull. This life-this moment-is no dress rehearsal. This is it.

Smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics.

Canada will bring us power for the future, Scandinavia the character, the steadiness…It's the grand concept for survival…a union of know-how, that's us, with power and character.

Suddenly the thought struck MacVeagh: President (Mark) Hollenbach must not be allowed to go into the conference with Zuchek (Russian premier). My God, Mark might be capable of anything. Who knew what Zuchek, a patient, steel-nerved negotiator, utterly devoted to Russia's self-interest, vs Hollenbach, whose once brilliant mind now was obsessed with fancied tormentors and played like a child's with the toy blocks of destiny.

Oh Senator, how could you be so cruel – and so ignorant of the true facts." "Facts are facts, Mrs. Byerson….There are no such things as true facts, for then we'd have to have false facts, wouldn't we.

The last time a madman mashed the button, we got the Second World War and six million Jews were cremated. The next time the button is mashed, we could cremate the human race.

The General's preoccupation with electronic gadgetry irked Randall. The world had become a wondrous fabric of instant communication, linking millions of people in the same old abundance of problems and poverty of solutions.

The mental business is almost impossible to handle at the apex of government

Nobody in this country can tell a president of the United States that his mind is sick.

Who knew what fantastic secret agreement might emerge from such a meeting?

Zuchek, a patient, steel-nerved negotiator, utterly devoted to Russia's self-interest, vs. Hollenbach, whose once brilliant mind now was obsessed with fancied tormentors and played like a child's with the toy blocks of destiny.

He's trying to belittle the presidency and drag it down to his own smart-aleck level.

Freedom of the press is one thing, but unbridled license to degrade and ridicule officials who devote their lives to this country is something else again.

O'Malley did it for the express purpose of embarrassing me in an election year." The President's eyes locked on MacVeagh's, but the younger man grinned.

You double-crossed me, MacVeagh," continued Hollenbach, his speech... You've joined the plot to discredit me and disgrace the administration—for what exact purposes, I don't know yet.

Find a man with both feet firmly on the ground and you've found a man about to make a difficult putt.

Find a man with both feet firmly on the ground and you've found a man about to make a difficult putt.

It is now proved beyond doubt that smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics.