Dobbs Quotes & Sayings

I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person I'm preaching to. — J.R. "Bob" Dobbs

We expect a horse race, ... The reality is that competition drives all innovation. Intel did nothing with its 386 chip for five years until AMD introduced its own version in 1991. — Lou Dobbs

The orchid hypothesis by David Dobbs in a wonderful article in The Atlantic. This theory holds that many children are like dandelions, able to thrive in just about any environment. But others, including the high-reactive types that Kagan studied, are more like orchids: they wilt easily, but under the right conditions can grow strong and magnificent. — Susan Cain

And yet it was also true that the tumor could not be removed by our doctor, and as a result of that a strange medication had been given him that enabled my brother to become even more of an enigma than he was before, and as a result of that there came to exist not only the machine and the inertia that came with it, but a change of perspective among the townsfolk that was a result of their interactions with the various phases of my brother. And so it was that when the flood began to rear its terrible head, not only was there the inertia that we all had to deal with, but a sense of the sublime that we had begun to feel for the waters which had roared upon the horizon. — Justin Dobbs

Quickly, she pulls out a photograph from the same drawer. Two girls; one English, one Japanese. Their hair is in plaits, knees in the same position, peeking out under school skirts. There is no gap between their bodies. They look entirely different. Chinatsu is delicate, so flawless that she seems like a drawing, whereas Fleur is scrawny and ablaze with freckles. And yet, they look like sisters; the same posture, the same sadness in their eyes. She remembers that day. It was the worst and best of her life. — Sarah Dobbs

intent was honest, he really did want to help and he did have a lot of knowledge about antiques since he'd been running his family pawn shop for almost a decade. She knew they could trust him and she filed the information away for later in case they got desperate for money. — Leighann Dobbs

(a statement someone makes to Maisie regarding attitudes prior to WWII):
"...the corridors of power are littered with Fascist leanings; anything to save the upper classes through disenfranchisement of the common man while allowing the common man to think you're on his side. — Jacqueline Winspear

I know this isn't easy for anyone - nothing worth doing is every easy" Brenda to Maisie Dobbs — Jacqueline Winspear

She went up on tiptoes, just so she could look down on him. — Michael Dobbs

with every doubling of a city's population, each inhabitant becomes, on average, 15 percent wealthier, more productive, and more innovative. — Richard Dobbs

Morality, Sir, is the monologue of the unexcited and the unexcitable, the revenge of the unsuccessful, the punishment of those who tried and failed, or who never had the courage to try at all. — Michael Dobbs

The higher up the tree a cat climbs, the farther it will fall. It's the same for politicians, except politicians don't bounce. — Michael Dobbs

Some people come to the edge of the cliff and they look over, then run away in fear. They never realize it's possible to fly, to soar, to be free. They spend their lives crawling along cliff tops without finding the courage. — Michael Dobbs

JFK's great virtue, and the essential difference between him and George W. Bush, was that he had an instinctive appreciation for the chaotic forces of history. — Michael Dobbs

If CEOs insist that middle class Americans compete with cheap foreign labor, why not outsource the jobs of CEOs? If business is all about cost, they should be the first to volunteer. — Lou Dobbs

Thank you, Joe Dobbs ga Badass ga Male Model ga Chiseled Pecs. — Sara King

There is no need to outrun the lion. All that is necessary for a man to do in order to survive is to outrun his friends. — Michael Dobbs

We're all confounded by a lack of time. — Lou Dobbs

In extraordinary circumstances and against the odds, Churchill became Prime Minister instead of Halifax, and that one decision changed the course of history. — Michael Dobbs

For some it is the end of the rope. For others it is only the beginning. — Michael Dobbs

Madam Li nods. She reaches over the table for Chinatsu's hand. It would look like a gesture of sympathy for a friend. Chinatsu uncurls her right hand and allows the money to be retrieved. The initial wedge of money that Madam Li takes now is more than she ever takes later on. It almost entirely depletes the stash of money she's been saving for years. The woman's magician-eyes are framed by the steam snaking from their tea. Cat-green, they are striking and marred by yellow jelly spots in the whites.
'You no drink you no eat. What you, pregnant?'
'Would I be here?'
Madam Li screws her chin back into her neck. The chair creaks as she sits back, spine straight. 'Well, if you not going eat drink speaking truth, fuck off.'
Chinatsu's eyebrows flick up. She bursts out laughing. — Sarah Dobbs

Why waste a life in search of an epitaph? 'Fondly Remembered'. Who other than a halfwit has that chiselled above his head? — Michael Dobbs

The nature of ambition is that it requires casualties. — Michael Dobbs

The time for change is when it can no longer be resisted. In other words, when you have a man by the balls and are pulling hard, he will invariably follow in your footsteps. — Michael Dobbs

You might think that, I could not possibly comment — Michael Dobbs

Communism was not defeated by any one individual or even a combination of individuals. In the last resort communism defeated itself. — Michael Dobbs

It is the members of this business elite ... that pose the greatest danger to our American way of life. They are the ones who've bought and paid for members of both political parties ... — Lou Dobbs

These days there was little room left in Hal's life for his younger brother, and Charlie felt - what did he feel, deep down, when he allowed himself to be honest? Angry, stinking bloody one-bottle-a-time furious - not with Hal, of course, but with life. It hadn't worked out for him, and he didn't understand why. — Michael Dobbs

Tell me, McFadden, what do you think of our beloved Mr. Chamberlain? Mac didn't care for such direct questions. All his adult life had been spent in the mentality of the gulag, never openly complaining, always seeming to conform, never risking a row. Perhaps that's why he had agreed to marry, not so much to avoid disappointing the lady but more because it was the simplest way to fit into the flow of things. — Michael Dobbs

Impressionable men in the squadron like Dobbs and Captain Flume were so deeply disturbed by Hungry Joe's shrieking nightmares that they woudl begin to have shrieking nightmares of their own, and the piercing obscenities they flung into the air every night from their separate places in the squadron rang against each other in the darkness romantically like the mating calls of songbirds with filthy minds. — Joseph Heller

Loyalty is like the Doctrine of Celibacy - easy to proclaim but damned difficult to live by. — Michael Dobbs

Hansen's disease" - that's the other modern name, I guess, for leprosy - "Hansen's disease was so rare in the America that in 40 years only 900 people were afflicted. Suddenly, in the past three years, America has more than 7,000 cases of leprosy — Lou Dobbs

The upsides of the high-reactive temperament have been documented in exciting research that scientists are only now beginning to pull together. One of the most interesting findings, also reported in Dobbs's Atlantic article, comes from the world of rhesus monkeys, a species that shares about 95 percent of its DNA with humans and has elaborate social structures that resemble our own. — Susan Cain

Yugi's eyebrow is black and sparse. From the marks on the woman's skin, Yugi can see all the places he has been. His fingerprints blur the white column of her throat with red. His right hand trembles. He clutches his wrist to still the shakes. It's not nerves. It's adrenalin. Still, he needs a moment. The women here were far less savvy, much more grotesque in a warped sort of way. And yet they were somehow innocent. It was almost crueller. — Sarah Dobbs

Drawing and painting is like a quickie in bed. Were as novel writing is a long term relationship, much more fulling. — Tara Dobbs

Allowing unelected judges to declare laws enacted by popularly elected legislatures unconstitutional and invalid seemed flagrantly inconsistent with free popular government. Such judicial usurpation, said Richard Dobbs Spaight, delegate to the Constitutional Convention from North Carolina, was "absurd" and "operated as an absolute negative on the proceedings of the Legislature, which no judiciary ought ever to possess." Instead of being governed by their representatives in the assembly, the people would be subject to the will of a few individuals in the court, "who united in their own persons the legislative and judiciary powers," making the courts more despotic than the Roman decemvirate or of any monarchy in Europe. — Gordon S. Wood

Nothing lasts, not forever. Not laughter, not lust, not even life itself. Not forever. Which is why we make the most of what we have. — Michael Dobbs

The design is based on the old St. Stephen's Chapel, where the earliest parliamentarians sat, like choirboys in facing pews, yet there is little that is angelic in the modern set-up. Members face each other in confrontation, as antagonists. They are separated by two red lines on the carpet, whose distance apart represents the distance of two sword lengths, yet this is misleading, for the most imminent danger is never more than a dagger's distance away, on the benches behind. — Michael Dobbs

The fact is whether one looks at this [outsourcing] in terms of men and women, working men and women in this country who are simply being screwed, or whether one looks at this in terms of corporations who are benefiting, the fact is it is certainly not helping the American economy. — Lou Dobbs

With the boot removed, the leg and the man attached, is also gone. All that remains in the clearing is the teenager in the pond. His arms are drifting forwards, curving towards meeting as if in prayer, nudged along by the internal rhythm of the pond. The muck is settling, the water clearing.
His name was Daniel. — Sarah Dobbs

Politicians are much like aging authors and older women. The dangerous phase in their lives is when they are no longer content with the respect of friends but demand the adulation of an audience. — Michael Dobbs

Francis Underwood was entirely based on Richard III. When Michael Dobbs wrote 'House of Cards' in the original British series, Richard III is what he based the character on. — Kevin Spacey

he normally had his pastry shipped from Boston's north end — Leighann Dobbs

If you spend a lot of time on sportsmanship, you're going to spend a lot of time losing. — Glenn Dobbs

The invasion of illegal aliens is threatening the health of many Americans. — Lou Dobbs

I'm one of those fellas who's got lots of regrets, but I don't regret having regrets. — Lou Dobbs

It's not respect but fear that motivates a man; that's how empires are built and revolutions begin. It is the secret of great men. When a man is afraid you will crush him, utterly destroy him, his respect will always follow. Base fear is intoxicating, overwhelming, liberating. Always stronger than respect. Always. — Michael Dobbs

We won the bloody war. Never again, we said. Then Hitler comes along and starts building his squadrons of panzers and fighter planes - purely for defense, he assures everyone, and we believe him. Even when he marches into the Rhineland we believe him. Two years later he's trampling all over bloody Austria, and now he's ripping Czechoslovakia to pieces. And still our Prime Minister says he trusts him! His — Michael Dobbs

I am not one of those people who like to play. I don't. I'm neither coy, nor do I, in any way, want to ask anyone to put up with somebody playing Hamlet. — Lou Dobbs

Since he was much weaker than his enemy, he could afford to display no weakness at all. — Michael Dobbs

Politics. The word is taken from the Ancient Greek. "Poly" means "many." And ticks are tiny, bloodsucking insects. — Michael Dobbs

You talk about a tide of history. Well, there are some occasions when one man seems to stand his ground and just refuses to accept getting washed away. That's how we arrogant Americans won the New World. And that's how you, Mr Churchill, have saved the Old World. But for you, the whole of Europe would by now be one vast concentration camp. Nobody's ever going to forget that. — Michael Dobbs

With the exception of the New York Times, Fox news, and Lou Dobbs of CNN, and talk radio, the rest of the mainstream media has basically been silenced like a bunch of dumb monkeys. — Curt Weldon

Loyalty is like instant coffee: it's cheap and ultimately unsatisfying. — Michael Dobbs

He talked about the future with such certainty, he might have been talking about the past. — Michael Dobbs

I am not a person who is particularly patient with anyone so I am certainly not going to be patient with myself I think. — Lou Dobbs

Neither does the British Empire for which Churchill fought with all his heart. And no one believes what they read in the newspapers any more. — Michael Dobbs

Inside the room there sat a rocker, which she sat on, and which had rocked her while she sipped the beer, because in spite of herself she had become so giddy to have so quickly relieved her heart that she allowed herself to lean backwards while in the rocker, which had made it possible for the rocker to rock her, although it was not her intention to be so rocked. Also there stood an ironing board with a still hot iron on it that was burning a yellow shift, and there was, among several items that were not as noticeable to the woman, and yet were noticeable enough to at least bear mention, a fake man.
"I hope you don't mind me asking," said the woman who lived in the room, but then while in her chair she nodded off. — Justin Dobbs

Lexy had images of running through the neighborhood in the dark, her ripped pajamas flapping behind her and frantically chasing her dog while neighbors peered through their windows at the crazy lady. — Leighann Dobbs

It seemed scarcely a moment since she had made it back home, — Michael Dobbs

This was suburban Surrey, the land of the A and B social classes in the terminology of pollsters, where passports lay at the ready and Range Rovers stood in the driveway. Range Rovers? The only time they ever encountered mud was when being driven carelessly over front lawns late on a Friday night or when dropping off their little Johnnies and Emmas at their private schools. — Michael Dobbs

Competition is the hallmark of a free enterprise economy. For the past thirty years, however, corporate America has been doing everything it can to cut competition, with major corporations merging and consolidating at every opportunity. — Lou Dobbs

It's happening: Lou Dobbs' dream come true and Silicon Valley's worst nightmare. We're already seeing the reverse brain drain as smart immigrants take their U.S. educations and experience building companies and creating technology back to their home countries. — Sarah Lacy

I'm an Englishman, after all, — Michael Dobbs

I knew what was waiting out there for me," he said. "Terrifying things. There were German patrol boats, mine fields, and nearly a thousand miles of stormy seas." "So why did you do it?" "Because also waiting for me was the most terrifying and wonderful thing of all. The future. — Michael Dobbs

Cruelty of any kind is unforgivable . That's why there is no point at all in being creek in half-measure. — Michael Dobbs

The idea that a reporter has to be 'fair and balanced' is ridiculous. The fact is, the truth usually is not fair and it's not balanced. Truth stands by itself. And the idea that something called fair and balanced is a substitute for truth and fact is mindless nonsense that has captured much of the national media. — Lou Dobbs

The immediate reactions of the two superpower leaders when confronted with the gravest international crisis of their careers were much the same, shock, wounded pride, grim determination, and barely repressed fear. — Michael Dobbs

His deepest need was that people should like him. An admirable trait that; in a spaniel. Or a whore. — Michael Dobbs

Fuck em if they can't take a joke — J.R. "Bob" Dobbs

Politics requires sacrifice. The sacrifice of others, of course. — Michael Dobbs

Why be so bloody miserable when you can pick up a good book or watch a great television drama? — Michael Dobbs

Silk handkerchief that erupted out of the breast pocket, an affectation he had adopted to distance himself from the Westminster hordes in their banal Christmas-stocking ties and Marks & Spencer suits. — Michael Dobbs

All members of a Cabinet are referred to as Right. Honorable Gentlemen. There are only three things wrong with such a title ... — Michael Dobbs

Loyalty may be good news, but it is rarely good advice. — Michael Dobbs

Then it was on toward Manhattan, with the train slowing down at intervening suburban stops like Dobbs Ferry and Manhattanville so Lincoln could offer his ritualistic bowing from the rear car - doing so even alongside Sing Sing, whose prisoners, wearing striped uniforms, saluted as the train passed by.113 — Harold Holzer

What value can we place on our parliamentary institutions if constituencies return only tame, docile and subservient members who try to stamp on every form of independent judgement? — Michael Dobbs

You might very well think that - I couldn't possibly comment. — Michael Dobbs

And even if fairies built a nest in the bottom of my garden and it should turn out that I have to live for a thousand years, there's not one of them when I'll be of a mind to trust you. — Michael Dobbs

Israel is extraordinary blessed to have [Benjamin Netanyahu] as prime minister at this pivotal time in history and so is the United States of America to hear his voice against this deal. — Lou Dobbs

God bless the Florida Supreme Court. — Lou Dobbs

This will not be easy,' he said. 'Neither is failure. — Michael Dobbs

A prime minister can chose his friends and his Cabinet but not his relatives. Part Chairman Lord Williams — Michael Dobbs

Democracy is like a great play. It lasts more than one act. You must be patient, — Michael Dobbs

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Truth lies in the hands of its editor. — Michael Dobbs