reNoted

Source of Government

2008-01-06T12:49:00.000-08:00

David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Human Morals (ed. Jerome Schneewind, 1983) 34:

"Had every man sufficient sagacity to perceive, at all times, the strong interest, which binds him to the observance of justice and equity, and strength of mind sufficient to persevere in a steady adherence to a general and a distant interest, in opposition to the allurements of present pleasure and advantage; there had never, in that case, been any such thing as government or political society, but each man, following his natural liberty, had lived in entire peace and harmony with all others. What need of positive law where natural justice is, of itself, a sufficient restraint? Why create magistrates, where there never arises any disorder or iniquity? Why abridge our native freedom, when, in every instance, the utmost exertion of it is found innocent and beneficial? It is evident, that, if government were totally useless, it never could have place, and that the SOLE foundation of the duty of ALLEGIANCE is the advantage, which it procures to society, by preserving peace and order among mankind."

Preparing to Win

2007-12-24T18:59:00.000-08:00

Clarence Thomas, My Grandfather's Son (2007) 128:

"I took as my motto a saying of Bobby Knight, then Indiana University's men's basketball coach: 'Everybody has a will to win. What's far more important is having the will to prepare to win.' The question, I saw, was whether I had the will to prepare for the marathon—and ultimately, for the rest of my life. I didn't know the answer, but I knew that simply making the attempt would help me."

Presidential Reading Habits

2007-12-24T09:14:00.001-08:00

Nicholas A. Basbanes, Every Book Its Reader (2005) 142-143:

"As the Clinton administration was coming to an end in 2001, Harold Evans, the former president of Random House and author of The American Century (1998), wrote an essay for the New York Times Book Review that attempted a classification of the presidents on the basis of their reading, with twenty-two of the forty-two men to have occupied the Oval Office up to that time being judged by decided unorthodox means to have been bibliophiles. Evans explained that he was moved to write the piece on the strength of a single burning question: 'Does history suggest any correlation between a passion for serious reading and an ability to inspire and manage the nation?' Unable to come up with a comprehensive answer in a 1,400-word piece, Evans offered a few telling observations based on an informal survey of presidential biographies we consulted to determine whether former chief executives read with any consistency. He then compared the list he had made with a study compiled in 1994 by the Siena Research Institute, which asked academic historians and political scientists to rank chief executives in order of excellence. The presidents Evans determined to have been bibliophiles—see endnote for the complete list—'turned out to trail clouds of glory,' while the 'nonreaders' by and large 'flop,' though a few not known for a keen interest in reading—Andrew Jackson, William McKinley, and Lyndon Johnson in particular—are 'regarded favorably' all the same, making clear that there are few hard-and-fast rules."

Endnote:

"Harold Evans, 'White House Book Club,' New York Times Book Review, January 14, 2001. Evans's complete list of presidential bibliophiles: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Rutherford Hayes, James Garfield, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. For more on presidents as readers, see Judith Miller, 'President Turns a Page: So Might History,' New York Times, May 9, 1998. Among the disclosures: During the Cuban Missile Crisis, John Kennedy read Barbara Tuchman's history of World War I, The Guns of August, for insight on how easily wars start; Richard Nixon, according to his daughter, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, carefully read books about towering figures from recent history, Joseph Stalin, Charles De Gaulle, and Huey P. Long among them, during his administration."