There are some mistakes only someone with a Ph.D. can make. Daniel Patrick Moynihan More Quotes by Daniel Patrick Moynihan More Quotes From Daniel Patrick Moynihan If we get into the mind-set where the good becomes the enemy of the best, we will get nothing. Daniel Patrick Moynihan mind-set mind enemy The Lord looks after drunks and Americans. Daniel Patrick Moynihan lord looks Things become complicated if there are enough people to complexify them. Daniel Patrick Moynihan complicated enough people It has proved politically wiser to set goals than to start programs. Daniel Patrick Moynihan setting-goals program goal ...there is simply nothing so important to a people and its government as how many of them there are, whether their number is growing or declining, how they are distributed as between different ages, sexes, and different social classes and racial and ethnic groups, and again, which way these numbers are moving. Daniel Patrick Moynihan government sex moving When a person goes to a country and finds their newspapers filled with nothing but good news, he can bet there are good men in jail. Daniel Patrick Moynihan jail men country The issue of race could benefit from a period of benign neglect. Daniel Patrick Moynihan issues benefits race Stubborn opposition to proposals often has no other basis than the complaining question, 'Why wasn't I consulted?' Daniel Patrick Moynihan proposal stubborn complaining The atmosphere in which social legislation is considered is not a friend of truth. Daniel Patrick Moynihan atmosphere politics social The US wished things to turn out as they did, and worked to bring this about. The department of state desired that the UN prove utterly ineffective in whatever measures it undertook. This task was given to me, and I carried it forward with no inconsiderable success. Daniel Patrick Moynihan given tasks states As the family goes, so go the children. Daniel Patrick Moynihan marriage children If you don't have 30 years to devote to social policy, don't get involved. Daniel Patrick Moynihan get-involved social years Secrecy is for losers. Daniel Patrick Moynihan secrecy loser A responsible government does not triple the national debt in eight years. Daniel Patrick Moynihan responsible-government eight years What the press never does say is who the leaker is and why he wants the story leaked. Yet, more often than not, this is the more important story: What policy wins if the one being disclosed loses? Daniel Patrick Moynihan important winning doe It is perhaps common in the world for individuals and nations to suffer for their noble qualities more than for their ignoble ones. For nobility is an occasion for pride, the most treacherous of sentiments. Daniel Patrick Moynihan quality pride suffering Liberty lives in protest and democracy prospers under conditions of change. When we travel about the world and come to a country whose newspapers are filled with bad news we feel that liberty lives in that land. When we come to a country whose newspapers are filled with good news, we feel differently. Daniel Patrick Moynihan democracy land country The nature of the new world system was not so different from the old. It was for the moment more stable, but a reasonable forecast would be that Africa in particular had a century of border wars ahead of it. Daniel Patrick Moynihan borders different war The status quo is working. Daniel Patrick Moynihan status-quo The United States in the 1980s may be the first society in history in which children are distinctly worse off than adults. Daniel Patrick Moynihan united-states adults children
