“And there is distrust in Washington. I am surprised, frankly, at the amount of distrust that exists in this town. And I'm sorry it's the case, and I'll work hard to try to elevate it.”

“I have learned an important principle:Simple things work, often to our dumbfounded surprise,for we tend to distrust the simple and strive for the complex.”

“Distrust everything I say. I am telling the truth.”

“...innocence is not safe in a civilization like ours, where a man must practice a 'ruled undemonstrative distrustfulness' in order to defend himself against traps. This 'ruled undemonstrative distrustfulness' is not confined to business men, but exists everywhere. We all exercise it. I know I do, and I should be surprised if you, who are listening to me, didn't. All we can do (and Melville gives us this hint) is to exercise it consciously, as Captain Vere did. It is unconscious distrustfulness that corrodes the heart and destroys the heart's insight, and prevents it from saluting goodness.”

“She's everything I wanted when I was young and everything I distrust now that I'm not.”

“It is impossible to distrust one's writing without awakening a deeper distrust in oneself.”