Elihu Root

“Men are ruled by their loyalties, and they must have something to be loyal to.”

“The only way to have a friend is to be one.”

“There are no international police. The world continues to be a dangerous place.”

“No man is fit to be a statesman who is not a master of the art of seeing things as they are.”

“Politics is the practical exercise of the art of self-government.”

“About half the practice of a decent lawyer consists in telling would-be clients that they are damned fools and should stop.”

“The great secret of the successful fool is that he is no fool at all.”

“The great question is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with failure.”

“War results from a state of mind, from beliefs, from emotions.”

“The basis of all government is the loyalty of its subjects.”

“A lawyer's either a social engineer or he's a parasite on society.”

“What we have to do is to be forever curiously testing new opinions and courting new impressions.”

“The true basis of civilized society is the spirit of sportsmanship.”

“The people of a state, in their collective capacity, have the right to determine their own form of government.”