a ferocious reader

Storytelling played a role in the formative years of Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt. Roosevelt became a “ferocious reader,” writes Goodwin. Books transported Roosevelt into “the lives of the adventurous heroes he most admired.”

Roosevelt once said that leaders in every field need to understand human nature. The best way to know how people feel is to read the works of “great imaginative writers,” he advised. 

Roosevelt’s love of reading and history would work to his advantage in helping to reach a peaceful solution during the six-month coal strike of 1902. By understanding the deep history of distrust between labor and management that had sparked the rebellion, he was able to empathize with everyday people and communicate with them plainly and simply. 

Carmine Gallo

Public Speaking Secrets That Made Four U.S. Presidents Influential Leaders by Carmine Gallo. Forbes. February 21, 2022. 

there's nothing new in human nature

There's nothing new in human nature. The only thing that changes are the names we give things. If you want to understand the twentieth century, read the lives of the Roman emperors, all the way from Claudius to Constantine.... And go back to old Hammurabi, the Babylonian emperor. Why, he had laws that covered everything, adultery and murder and divorce, everything.

Those people had the same troubles as we have now. Men don't change. The only thing new in the world is the history you don't know. 

Harry S. Truman

Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman by Merle Miller. RosettaBooks. 2018. As found in 2022 Great Quotes From Great Leaders Boxed Calendar: 365 Inspirational Quotes From Leaders Who Shaped the World. 

having better arguments

THE BETTER ARGUMENTS PROJECT—a civic initiative founded by Allstate, The Aspen Institute, Facing History and Ourselves, and the Bezos Family Foundation to help bridge divides—was built on the belief that arguments are fundamental to healthy civic life. To effectively address divisions in our society, it proposes we have better arguments, not fewer.

The project characterizes better arguments as emotionally intelligent, rooted in history, and honest about power imbalances. Using five principles for engagement—taking winning off the table, prioritizing relationships, paying attention to context, embracing vulnerability, and making room to transform—the project provides a framework for people to engage with each other on divisive issues.

"How Do We Build a Better Society? Have Better Arguments" The Atlantic (sponsored by Allstate)

See also: https://betterarguments.org/

the good man’s shining time

From the last week of August to the last week of December, the year 1776 had been as dark a time as those devoted to the American cause had ever known – indeed, as dark a time as any in the history of the country. And suddenly, miraculously it seemed, that had changed because of a small band of determined men and their leader.

A century later, Sir George Otto Trevelyan would write in a classic study of the American Revolution, “It may be doubted whether so small a number of men ever employed so short a space of time with greater and more lasting effects upon the history of the world.”

Closer to the moment, Abigail Adams wrote to her friend Mercy Otis Warren, “I am apt to think that our later misfortunes have called out the hidden excellencies of our commander-in-chief.” “’Affliction is the good man’s shining time,’” she wrote, quoting a favorite line from the English poet Edward Young.

David G. McCullough

1776. Simon & Schuster, 2005. p.291