Quotes by John Hay

“In a society so estranged from animals as ours, we often fail to credit them with any form of language. If we do, it comes under the heading of communication rather than speech. And yet, the great ...”

“This beach I voyage on leads me through the earth's immortal consistencies. Each form I encounter obeys the principles of perfection and trial, a timelessness in the making. The proportions of trut...”

“Good luck belongs to those who know how and are not afraid." John Hay to President Theodore Roosevelt”

“Behind those thick glasses (of TR's) was a man who did not blink.”

“John Hay on Lincoln: "He always worked with things as they were, while never relinquishing the desire to make them better.”

“John Hay indicates that dealing with people directly as a holder of political office "requires a stronger heart and a more obedient nervous system than I possess.”

“John Hay points to our our history of getting lost in suffering when, "so close together were pain and antidote.”

“In the mainstream, with its illusion of unlimited relational possibilities, we can counter dissatisfaction in relationships by simply moving on in search of the "right people." But community...dema...”

“Discover the fulfillment of intimate relationships with flesh-and-blood neighbors and teammates in concrete place and time, and we escape the pressure of mainstream media to channel intimacy only a...”

“Henry Adams observes that John Hay has the ability to take the world as a whole rather than pulling it to pieces in criticism. He also observes that, in the routine of a stressful job, this perspec...”

“Because we have only one (life) we go about blundering along him nervous haste.”

“And there, next to me, as the east wind blows in early fall, a season open to great migrations, are those lives, threading the air and waters of the sea, that come out of an incomparable darkness, ...”

“I like to introduce myself, because THEN I can get in all the facts." The usually self-deprecating John Hay on the ironic formality of signing his own commission as Secretary of State.”

“He had no desire to grandstand for his country or himself.”

“If he could be hard on kings and cabinets, he was invariably kind to his colleagues.”

“The Admiral so regrets failure, he cannot THINK of success.”

“When we get to Heaven, we can try a monarchy, perhaps." John Hay”

“In this slipshod age, we need object lessons in language and thought. Edith Wharton on an address by John Hay”

“The author observes that the friendship of John Hay and Charles Francis Adams benefited from a physical distance that required correspondence, meaning that feelings only implied in person had to be...”

“In Washington, the venerable were often vulnerable.”