“How gratifying to be there when arrogance collapses. How much more so to be the instrument. (Alfred Gillette)”

“If I haven't done badly, it's because I've become indispensable to too many like David Abbott. I have in my head a thousand facts they couldn't possibly recall. It's simply easier for them to place me where the questions are, where problems need solutions. (Alfred Gillette)”

“I loathe him. He stands for everything I hate in Washington. The right schools, houses in Georgetown, farms in Virginia, quiet meetings at their clubs. They've got their tight little world and you don't break in--they run it all. The bastards. The superior, self-inflated gentry of Washington. They use other men's intellects, other men's work, wrapping it all into decisions bearing their imprimaturs. And if you're on the outside, you become part of that amorphous entity, a 'damn fine staff.' (Alfred Gillette)”

“...Summer nights held a special kind of loneliness that gave rise to strange imaginings. One walked the beach alone and thought too much.”

“There'll come a moment when you think you can make it, and you'll try.”

“You're on your own now. You are not helpless. You will find your way.”

“The easiest thing in the world is to convince yourself that you're right. As one grows old, it is easier still.”