People think they have to be ambitious. But at a certain age, all you want is to be around nice, decent people. Graydon Carter More Quotes by Graydon Carter More Quotes From Graydon Carter Arrogance, ignorance, and incompetence. Not a pretty cocktail of personality traits in the best of situations. No sirree. Not a pretty cocktail in an office-mate and not a pretty cocktail in a head of state. In fact, in a leader, it's a lethal cocktail. Graydon Carter officeignorancepersonality We admire elephants in part because they demonstrate what we consider the finest human traits: empathy, self-awareness, and social intelligence. But the way we treat them puts on display the very worst of human behavior. Graydon Carter empathyelephantsself Christopher Hitchens was a wit, a charmer, and a troublemaker, and to those who knew him well, he was a gift from - dare I say it - God. Graydon Carter troublemakerwitdare I think the absence of socks on men wearing suits and brogues is a problem. They'll live to regret that. Graydon Carter regretmenthinking As you get older and fatter, good clothes can hide a lot. Graydon Carter clothes It's estimated that across Africa 100 elephants are killed for their tusks every day. It takes nothing more than simple math to get to what that adds up to in a year, and it's a distressing figure. Graydon Carter simplemathyears There are similarities between being an editor and a tailor. Tailors have a vast supply of fabrics, buttons and thread at their disposal and put it together to make a whole. That's what an editor does - looks at society at a given time and pulls together the interesting aspects into a single issue each month. Graydon Carter issueseditorsinteresting I walk down the street and people don't go, 'my God, there he is.' I lead as normal a life as you can lead in New York City. Graydon Carter citiesnew-yorkpeople The danger of leaving overwhelming wealth and power in the grasp of a small minority is a lesson that leaders such as ousted Tunisian president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak have learned a little too late, as the demonstrations across the Arab world indicate. Graydon Carter zinesleavingleader Only institutions that go about the old-fashioned business of taking in deposits from customer A and lending them out to customer B should be called banks. The rest should call themselves what they are. 'Parlors' would be appropriate, or 'dens' - words more suitable to venerable betting pursuits. Graydon Carter parlordepositswould-be Somewhere along the way, New York became all about money. Or rather, it was always about money, but it wasn't all about money, if you know what I mean. New York's not Geneva or Zurich yet, but we're certainly heading in that direction. London is, too. Graydon Carter zurichnew-yorkmean Cod is more responsible for the discovery of the New World than almost anything else. Drove the Vikings across the North Atlantic, and John Cabot discovered America by looking for cod. Graydon Carter discoveryamericaworld Many of the architects of the Vietnam War became near pariahs as they spent the remainder of their lives in the futile quest to explain away their decisions at the time. Graydon Carter vietnamdecisionwar Water-boarding can result in damage to the lungs and the brain, as well as long-term psychological trauma. Graydon Carter brainwaterlong We really care about photography at Vanity Fair. Graydon Carter vanitycarephotography In less than a year, the Bush administration will strut out of office, leaving the country in roughly the same condition a toddler leaves a diaper. Graydon Carter officecountryyears Television has the obvious benefits of regularity and intimacy. Graydon Carter intimacybenefitstelevision I might wear a dinner jacket once a year to our Oscar party - that's a big thing - but I don't go to parties. I'm social but I'm not a socialite person. Graydon Carter oscarspartyyears I think the movie business is in trouble. It's all movies that you've seen before. Everything's a remake; they want things that are familiar rather than things that surprise you. Graydon Carter surprisewantthinking In 2004, I wrote 'What We've Lost,' a book about the Bush administration. It sold only reasonably well, in part, I think, because the book was a horrific downer, an unrelenting account of the administration's actions, bungles, deceptions, half-truths, untruths, and downright corruptions. Graydon Carter deceptionbookthinking
