It's exciting to work with the kids so devoid of irony, so unguarded. And also terrifying.

— Ron Suskind

It was easier to be the headstrong monk, a boy on a long-shot mission, before he actually won anything. With the prize in hand, he realized his single-minded drive came across as aloof cockiness; his painful martyrdom certainly looked like self-nomination for sainthood. He's not sure if he can keep up this exhausting, aw-shucks façade for much longer.

— Ron Suskind

Life-shaping institutions tend to start with an idea or revelation. They often become mostly about the preservation and expansion of authority, something they relinquish only with the greatest reluctance.

— Ron Suskind

Moral action – humble and honest – is the tribute that power must at some point pay to reason.

— Ron Suskind

Necessity and desperation birth resourcefulness.

— Ron Suskind

Nonetheless, the fact remains; he had hope in a better world he could not yet see that overwhelmed the cries of "you can't" or "you won't" or "why bother." More than anything else, mastering that faith, on cue, is what separated him from his peers, and distinguishes him from so many people in these literal, sophisticated times. It has made all the difference.

— Ron Suskind

One world leader warned another "the error of relying on the capability you have rather than developing the capability you need.

— Ron Suskind

Public servants in this Europe often do their best when they stop caring about whether they'll be fired.

— Ron Suskind

Push the needle into some middle range of guarded optimism.

— Ron Suskind

Rapid change, accommodating it can be one of the great human capacities. But living through it can be the stuff of stress and often suffering.

— Ron Suskind