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The problem is that perception is reality.

Seeing reality for what it is is what we call discernment. The work of discernment is very hard.

We're in a kind of vicious cycle where the media tell the politicians, and the politicians tell the people, that perception is reality, and the perception of saving dooms a politician. I don't believe perception is reality, or that all Americans think that.

You have to have a certain realism that government is a pretty blunt instrument, and without the constant attention of highly qualified people with the right metrics, it will fall into not doing things very well.

The way people in democracies think of the government as something different from themselves is a real handicap. And, of course, sometimes the government confirms their opinion.

Your perceptions are often far more accurate than you are willing to believe.

You can't rely on your own perception when it comes to anything. You can always be proved wrong.

When government programs fail, it is often because public officials are clueless about how human beings think and act.

I don't really understand what the public perception of me is. I think public perception and reality are two wholly different things.