Robert Caro Quotes & Sayings

“We're taught Lord Acton's axiom: all power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. I believed that when I started these books, but I don't believe it's always true any more. Power doesn't always corrupt. Power can cleanse. What I believe is always true about power is that power always reveals.”

“Ballet is sort of a mystery to me. And I don't want to unravel that mystery.”

“The right of a minority is so important in a democracy.”

“You can use a biography to examine political power, but only if you pick the right guy.”

“There used to be this feeling under Eisenhower and Kennedy and Roosevelt and Truman that government was a solution. Trust in the presidency fell precipitously under Johnson - real lows. And it's never come back. It's a trend that, if you're liberal, is really discouraging.”

“Everyone believed the Senate could not really be led. It used to take so long to rise up through seniority. In two years Lyndon Johnson is assistant leader of his party. In four years he is the leader of his party.”

“At the ballet, you really feel like you're in the presence of something outside the rest of your life. Higher than the rest of your life.”

“I really wanted there to be something in my life that I enjoy just for the beauty of it.”

“In a democracy, supposedly we hold power by what we do at the ballot box, so therefore the more we know about political power the better our choices should be and the better, in theory, our democracy should be.”

“I try to have a mood or a rhythm for a chapter.”