A statesman who keeps his ear permanently glued to the ground will have neither elegance of posture nor flexibility of movement.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
A statesman cannot afford to be a moralist.
A statesman... must wait until he hears the steps of God sounding through events, then leap up and grasp the hem of His garment.
The essence of statesmanship is not a rigid adherence to the past, but a prudent and probing concern for the future.
Unless some misfortune has made it impossible, everyone can have good posture.
A reformer knows neither how to do nor to undo.
People who cannot invent and reinvent themselves must be content with borrowed postures, secondhand ideas, fitting in instead of standing out.
You can't teach an ear, you can't teach talent, but you can teach people who have those things not to just fly by the seat of their pants.
A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the ground.
Rigid, the skeleton of habit alone upholds the human frame.
He who tip-toes cannot stand; he who strides cannot walk.