Quotes by Jon Meacham

About Jon Meacham:

Jon Ellis Meacham is executive editor and executive vice president at Random House. He is a former editor-in-chief of Newsweek, a contributing editor to Time Magazine, editor-at-large of WNET, and a commentator on politics, history, and religious faith in America. He won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for his work American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

In the closed circle of the war cabinet, pounded by terrible report after terrible report, there had been uncertainty about whether he could fend off the drift to exploring a deal with Hitler. The determination of the larger group trumped the tentati...

Jon Meacham

Always take all the time to reflect that circumstances permit, but when the time for action has come, stop thinking. (Andrew Jackson)

Jon Meacham

Jackson lead as he lived, sometimes with his heart, sometimes with his mind, sometimes with both.

Jon Meacham

Politics was at once clinical and human, driven by principles and passions that he (the leader) had to master and harness for the good of the whole.

Jon Meacham

Steadiness of faith, was, in the long run, as illuminating and essential as sophistication of thought.

Jon Meacham

As much as Jefferson loved France residence abroad gave him greater appreciation for his own nation. He was a tireless advocate for things American while abroad, and a promoter of things European while at home. Moving between two worlds, translating ...

Jon Meacham

No government can be maintained without the principle of fear as well as duty.

Jon Meacham

For Jefferson, William and Mary was largely about what university life is supposed to be about: reading books, enjoying the company of like-minded, and savoring teachers who seemed to be ambassadors from other, richer, writer worlds. Jefferson believ...

Jon Meacham

He turned the presidency – and the President's House – into something it had not been before: a center of curiosity and inquiry, of vibrant institution that played informal but important roles in the broader life of the nation, from science to li...

Jon Meacham

The political nature of man made it highly unlikely that a society designed to meet regularly would remain peaceable. "The way to make friends quarrel is to pit them in disputation under the public eye," Jefferson said.

Jon Meacham

Broadly put, philosophers think: politicians maneuver. Jefferson's genius was that he was both and could do both, often simultaneously. Such is the art of power.

Jon Meacham

Leadership meant knowing how to distill complexity into a comprehensible message to reach the hearts as well as the minds of the larger world.

Jon Meacham

Jefferson was ambivalent about executive power – until he bore executive responsibility.

Jon Meacham

There is usually a moment in the life of a new president when he begins to see himself not as an aspirant desperate to win but as a statesman above the squalor and sweat of actual vote getting. Rising men do not like to be reminded of the smell of th...

Jon Meacham

A politician's task was to bring reality and policy into the greatest possible account with the ideal and the principled.

Jon Meacham

Jefferson was the rare leader who stood out from the crowd without intimidating it.

Jon Meacham

Sometimes paranoids have enemies, and conspiracies are only laughable when they fail to materialize.

Jon Meacham

The Jefferson style – cultivate his elders, make himself pleasant to his contemporaries, and used his pen and his intellect to shape the debate – arm him well for the national arena.

Jon Meacham

History tells us that America does best when the private sector is energetic and entrepreneurial and the government is attentive and engaged. Who among us, really, would, looking back, wish to edit out either sphere at the entire expense of the other...

Jon Meacham

Given that religious faith is an intrinsic element of human experience, it is best to approach and engage the subject with a sense of history and a critical sensibility.

Jon Meacham

Author Bio

  • NameJon Meacham
  • DescriptionAmerican journalist and biographer
  • BornMay 20, 1969
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionJournalist; Historian
  • AwardsPulitzer Prize For Biography Or Autobiography