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Kingman Brewster Jr. Quotes

1919–1988

Kingman Brewster Jr. (17 June 1919 – 8 November 1988) was an American educator, President of Yale University, and US diplomat.

Educators

Also known as: Kingman Brewster, Jr.

Random Kingman Brewster Jr. quote

15 quotes

The newspaper fits the reader’s program while the listener must fit the broadcaster’s program.

There is no greater challenge than to have someone relying upon you; no greater satisfaction than to vindicate his expectation.

Incomprehensible jargon is the hallmark of a profession.

We all live in a televised goldfish bowl.

If I take refuge in ambiguity, I assure you that it’s quite conscious.

It is satisfying for the descendant of a dissident refugee from Elizabeth I to present his credentials to Elizabeth II.

Judgment is more than skill. It sets forth on intellectual seas beyond the shores of hard indisputable factual information.

While the spoken word can travel faster, you can’t take it home in your hand. Only the written word can be absorbed wholly at the convenience of the reader.

The function of a briefing paper is to prevent the ambassador from saying something dreadfully indiscreet. I sometimes think its true object is to prevent the ambassador from saying anything at all.

I’m very curious to know what the hell they’re saying on the phone, but I’d be more worried if they weren’t talking.

Universities should be safe havens where ruthless examination of realities will not be distorted by the aim to please or inhibited by the risk of displeasure.

You and I know that there is a correlation between the creative and the screwball. So we must suffer the screwball gladly.

Maybe you are the “cool” generation … If coolness means a capacity to stay calm and use your head in the service of ends passionately believed in, then it has my admiration.

It is the natural desire of each nation to use the other as an instrument of its own purposes and policies. By dint of our mutual dependence, your influence is amplified by our power. Our power is made more responsible and more effective by your influence.

Perhaps the most fundamental value of a liberal education is that it makes life more interesting.
It allows you to think things which do not occur to the less learned ... it makes it less likely that you will be bored with life.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Kingman Brewster Jr. (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.