Accountability is the essence of democracy. If people do not know what their government is doing, they cannot be truly self-governing. The national security state assumes the government secrets are too important to be shared, that only those in the know can see classified information, that only the president has all the facts, that we must simply trust that our rulers of acting in our interest.

— Garry Wills

Arthur Schlesinger admits that JFK "succumbed to the fake omniscience of insiders". Prolonged immersion in the self-contained, self-justifying world of clandestinely and deception erodes the reality principle.

— Garry Wills

Groves, with his eye for sizing up people who could get things done, saw the deep ambition Oppenheimer covered with his surface charm.

— Garry Wills

Leadership - mobilization toward a common goal.

— Garry Wills

Politicians make good company for a while just as children do - their self-enjoyment is contagious. But they soon exhaust their favorite subjects -themselves.

— Garry Wills

The leader is one who mobilizes others toward a goal shared by leaders and followers... Leaders, followers and goals make up the three equally necessary supports for leadership.

— Garry Wills