He was confronted at an early age with adult-strength realizations about powerlessness, desperation, and distrust, taking his dose right alongside the overwhelmed adults. This steady stream of shocks and realizations leaves so many boys raised in poor, urban areas stumbling toward manhood with a hardened exterior masking deep insecurities.

— Ron Suskind

He was rebuilt, reconstituted by vengeance dressed up as high purpose.

— Ron Suskind

If the breadth of perspectives is wide enough to represent the fullest range of views, consensus is unlikely. If consensus is swiftly achieved, it probably means too few voices have been heard.

— Ron Suskind

If the opposite of certainty is doubt, humility must lie somewhere between the two,

— Ron Suskind

I'm more depressed about the realities of the mature bureaucracy and more excited about the ideal that we're fighting for. And the juxtaposition has obvious consequences. Rolf Mo watt-Larrsen

— Ron Suskind

I'm [Paul O'Neill] an old guy, and I'm rich. And there's nothing they can do to hurt me.

— Ron Suskind

In his book The Soul of Black Folks, W.E.B. DuBois writes about always feeling "his tones-- an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; to warring ideals in one dark body.

— Ron Suskind

In this era of public survival through continuous storytelling, people want someone who might surprise them.

— Ron Suskind

Islam is in a formative period struggling to consolidate the vast reach won by both inspiration and force at its founding. Two centuries along, the faith of Muhammad hangs like an intricate veil: a religion still searching for institutional wholeness, a set of lessons to live by.

— Ron Suskind

It is one thing to rouse the passion of a people, and quite another to lead them.

— Ron Suskind