“Beaten armies always shout, “TREASON!”
— John Taliaferro
“He did not so much follow his father’s example as his father’s vision.”
— John Taliaferro
“In Washington, the venerable were often vulnerable.”
— John Taliaferro
“The author observes that the friendship of John Hay and Charles Francis Adams benefited from a physical distance that required correspondence, meaning that feelings only implied in person had to be explicitly expressed.”
— John Taliaferro
“When we get to Heaven, we can try a monarchy, perhaps.” John Hay”
— John Taliaferro
“Henry Adams observes that John Hay has the ability to take the world as a whole rather than pulling it to pieces in criticism. He also observes that, in the routine of a stressful job, this perspective is challenged”
— John Taliaferro
“Because we have only one (life) we go about blundering along him nervous haste.”
— John Taliaferro
“In this slipshod age, we need object lessons in language and thought. – Edith Wharton on an address by John Hay”
— John Taliaferro
“The Admiral so regrets failure, he cannot THINK of success.”
— John Taliaferro
“I like to introduce myself, because THEN I can get in all the facts.” The usually self-deprecating John Hay on the ironic formality of signing his own commission as Secretary of State.”
— John Taliaferro
“He had no desire to grandstand for his country or himself.”
— John Taliaferro
“If he could be hard on kings and cabinets, he was invariably kind to his colleagues.”
— John Taliaferro
“John Hay points to our our history of getting lost in suffering when, “so close together were pain and antidote.”
— John Taliaferro
“Good luck belongs to those who know how and are not afraid.” John Hay to President Theodore Roosevelt”
— John Taliaferro
“Behind those thick glasses (of TR’s) was a man who did not blink.”
— John Taliaferro
“John Hay on Lincoln: “He always worked with things as they were, while never relinquishing the desire to make them better.”
— John Taliaferro
“John Hay indicates that dealing with people directly as a holder of political office “requires a stronger heart and a more obedient nervous system than I possess.”
— John Taliaferro