Kagan Quotes & Sayings

If you put it as 'complex nervous systems' it sounds pretty deflationary. What's so special about a complex nervous system? But of course, that complex nervous system allows you to do calculus. It allows you to do astrophysics ... to write poetry ... to fall in love. Put under that description, when asked 'What's so special about humans ... ?', I'm at a loss to know how to answer that question. If you don't see why we'd be special ... because we can do poetry [and] think philosophical thoughts [and] we can think about the morality of our behavior, I'm not sure what kind of answer could possibly satisfy you at that point.
... I could pose the same kinds of questions of you ... So God says, 'You are guys are really, really special.' How does his saying it make us special? 'But you see, he gave us a soul.' How does our having a soul make us special? Whatever answer you give, you could always say ... 'What's so special about that? — Shelly Kagan

That was 1993 grunge in suburbia. This was 2003 hell in Harlem. (Dark City Lights) — Eve Kagan

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

Americans, in foreign policy, are torn to the point of schizophrenia. They are reluctant, than aggressive; asleep at the switch, then quick on the trigger; indifferent, then obsessed, then indifferent again. They act out of a sense of responsibility and then resent and fear the burden of responsibility they have taken on themselves. Their effect on the world, not surprisingly, is often the opposite of what they intend. Americans say they want stability in the international system, but they are often the greates disrupters of stability. They extol the virtues of international laws and institutions but then violate and ignore them with barley a second thought. They are recolutionary power but think they are a status quo power. They want to be left alone but can't seem to leave anyone else alone. They are continually surprising the world with their behavior, but not nearly as much as they are continually surprising themselves. — Robert Kagan

That year the Ribeiro's daffodils seeded early and they seeded cockroaches. Now, ecologically speaking, even a cockroach has its place
but these suckers bit. That didn't sound Earth-authentic to me. Not that I care, mind you, all I ask is useful. I wasn't betting on that either. — Janet Kagan

The sign of a great man is that the closer you get, the greater he seems. — Israel Meir Kagan

You have to liberate yourself first from the prejudices of the world in which you live. — Donald Kagan

Remember this, my darling - remember this. What you achieve on earth is only a small part of the deal. If there's a secret I could whisper, and that you could keep, it would be that it's all inside you already. Every single thing you need. Earth is just a stopover. A kind of game. Make it a star game. If I could give you a gift, it would be to teach you how to stay free inside that game, to find the glory inside yourself, beyond the roles and the drama, so you can dance the dance of the game of life with a little more rhythm, a little more abandon, a little more shaking-those-hips. — Annie Kagan

Britain has taken itself out as a major player in the international system, at least for a while, with the kind of cuts that they've made in their national security budget. — Robert Kagan

I think most people live in a space where they are looking for meaning in life and good in the world and that is not necessarily reflected in straight news coverage right now. — Daryn Kagan

Suppose a state said that, Because we think that the focus of marriage really should be on procreation, we are not going to give marriage licenses anymore to any couple where both people are over the age of 55. Would that be constitutional? — Elena Kagan

International order is not an evolution; it is an imposition. It is the domination of one vision over others- in this case, the domination of liberal principles of economics, domestic politics, and international relations over other, nonliberal principles. It will last only as long as those who imposed it retain the capacity to defend it. — Robert Kagan

I think that if there are positions that you can't argue ... then the responsibility is probably to resign. If one's own conscience is opposed to the requirements and responsibilities of the job, then it's time to leave the job. — Elena Kagan

INTROVERTS are especially vulnerable to challenges like marital tension, a parent's death, or abuse. They're more likely than their peers to react to these events with depression, anxiety, and shyness. Indeed, about a quarter of Kagan's high-reactive kids suffer from some degree of the condition known as "social anxiety disorder," a chronic and disabling form of shyness. — Susan Cain

I can see that you are a true historian because you really always ought to ask that question about anybody at a different place or a different time: What's the same and what's different? — Donald Kagan

I do not espouse the unitarian position. President Clinton's assertion of directive authority over administration, more than President Reagan's assertion of a general supervisory authority, raises serious constitutional questions. — Elena Kagan

There have been 111 Justices in the Supreme Court of the United States. Only three have been women. If she is confirmed, Solicitor General Kagan will bring the Supreme Court to an historical high-water mark, with three women concurrently serving as Justices. — Patrick Leahy

I think most Americans believe that although it's better not to use military force if you can avoid it, that the world simply doesn't provide us the luxury of giving away military force as an important tool of foreign policy. — Robert Kagan

It is absolutely true that I have served in two Democratic administrations. You can tell something from me and my political views from that. — Elena Kagan

Without history we are the prisoners of the accident of where and when we were born. — Donald Kagan

Kagan has given us painstakingly documented evidence that high reactivity is one biological basis of introversion but his findings are powerful in part because they confirm what we've sensed all along. Some of Kagan's studies even venture into the realm of cultural myth. For example, he believes, based on his data, that high reactivity is associated with physical traits such as blue eyes, allergies, and hay fever, and that high-reactive men are more likely than others to have a thin body and narrow face. — Susan Cain

American radicals cannot afford to become their own worst enemies. In unity lies their only hope. — Elena Kagan

In Our Underachieving Colleges, [Derek] Bok acts as both diagnostician and healer, wielding social-science statistics and professional studies to trace the etiology of today's illnesses and to recommend palliative treatments for what he has discovered. — Donald Kagan

My favorite business book of all time is experience. — Noah Kagan

To ask whether it's nature or nurture, says Kagan, is like asking whether a blizzard is caused by temperature or humidity. It's the intricate interaction between the two that makes us who we are. — Susan Cain

Perhaps most important, judges will have goals. And because this is so, judges will often try to mold and steer the law in order to promote certain ethical values and achieve certain social ends. Such activity is not necessarily wrong or invalid. — Elena Kagan

love was nothing but a prison for fools. — Roberta Kagan

You have no tail!" said Brightspot. her own whipped suddenly forward; she stared, first at it, then at Wilson."How do you manage? — Janet Kagan

Foreign policy is like hitting a baseball: if you fail 70 percent of the time, you go to the Hall of Fame. — Robert Kagan

The dance is sweeter than the song.' "Let — Janet Kagan

All comparisons between America's current place in the world and anything legitimately called an empire in the past reveal ignorance and confusion about any reasonable meaning of the concept empire, especially the comparison with the Roman Empire. — Donald Kagan

Friends are friends," Brightspot said, "whether I've known them for a long time or a short time. — Janet Kagan

The BEST way to get famous is make amazing stuff. That's it. — Noah Kagan

My view [is] that what morality boils down to is, 'Don't harm, and do help.' And now the question is, 'Can creatures like chickens and cows be harmed?' And the answer is, 'Of course they can.' Consequently, I think it's immoral to harm them. And that seems to me to provide a very strong moral reason to be vegetarian, to not wear leather ... it seems to me that our treatment of animals is morally appalling ... and that we ought to radically revise the way we live, precisely because they feel pain, they can be hurt, and we're constantly hurting these creatures! — Shelly Kagan

Consuming is the opposite of producing. — Noah Kagan

So who's more adult- somebody who works like mad to avoid a problem or somebody who works like mad to solve it? — Janet Kagan

The thing that I would say is that U.S. power is not eternal. I am not saying that it won't come to an end. Because it will. — Robert Kagan

I think people ought to be called what they want to be called. — Janet Kagan

Talking doom and gloom all day no longer fit who I was as a person. — Daryn Kagan

If I don't run for a few days, I feel like my insides are dirty. The run kind of scrubs my veins and arteries, and then all starts to feel right with the world. I'm not one of those fanatical people that if I miss a run, I go nuts. But when it's something you love, you make sure you have the time to do it. — Daryn Kagan

Like all Jews, I was probably at a Chinese restaurant! — Elena Kagan

If you're really invested in feeling bad about the world, there are a lot of media outlets out there that you can turn to. — Daryn Kagan

In fact, corporate and union moneys go overwhelmingly to incumbents, so limiting that money, as Congress did in the campaign finance law, may be the single most self-denying thing that Congress has ever done. — Elena Kagan

It's important to be informed but I also think it's important to be inspired. I'm creating a space where people can be inspired. — Daryn Kagan

Therefore, it is forbidden to say anything to anyone that might cause animosity between any two people. — Israel Meir Kagan

Darkness is not chased away with sticks, not even cannons. One simply lights a small candle and the darkness flees before it. — Israel Meir Kagan

Your mind simply can't focus forward and downward all at the same time. — Daryn Kagan

There is very little 'of course' when it comes to custom — Janet Kagan

Medicine I know. you tell me what a pulsar is and I'll tell you whatever you need to know about the organ of Zucker-kandl.
Sulu made a polite scoffing noise and explained anyway, ... — Janet Kagan

Well, I think he's right to notice that there is a difference in attitudes and even in the broadest sense of world view between Eastern Europe and Western Europe. Which is old and which is new is an interesting question, and I almost think that maybe he's got it backwards. — Robert Kagan

What my political views or my constitutional views are just doesn't matter. — Elena Kagan

If you don't take your clothes seriously, why should your viewers take you seriously? — Daryn Kagan

From the time I was a little boy I found myself reading history when I had a choice. I read a lot of things, but history had a special appeal for me. — Donald Kagan

Kagan hypothesized that infants born with an especially excitable amygdala would wiggle and howl when shown unfamiliar objects and grow up to be children who were more likely to feel vigilant whhen meeting new people. The four month olds who trhrashed their arms like punk rockers did so not because they were extroverts in the making, but because their little bodies reacted strongly
they were high-reactive to new sights, sounds and smells. The quiet infants were silent not because they were future introverts, just the opposite, but because they had nervous systems that were unmoved by novelty. — Susan Cain

Under our Constitution, military leaders have no choice but to endorse the president's decision after giving him their best advice. — Robert Kagan

I left Russia in 1993 optimistic that democracy had taken hold despite the obstacles. — Robert Kagan

My politics would be, must be, have to be, completely separate from my judgment. — Elena Kagan

I've led a school whose faculty and students examine and discuss and debate every aspect of our law and legal system. And what I've learned most is that no one has a monopoly on truth or wisdom. I've learned that we make progress by listening to each other, across every apparent political or ideological divide. — Elena Kagan

And what my constitutional values are are wholly irrelevant to the job, and so neither you nor anyone else will know what they are. — Elena Kagan

So', she said, lifting her beer in a toast to the newest comer to LostRoses. 'Do you have a name or was your mother too appalled by your looks to claim you? — Janet Kagan

Once again the historian who wishes to understand this difficult period must try to read between the lines. It — Donald Kagan

If I am confirmed, I will commit to show Heller and the principles articulated in it the full measure of respect that is due to all constitution decisions of the court. — Elena Kagan

The world says that time is money, but I say that money is time. In order to earn enough money to satisfy his desires, one must sacrifice inordinate amounts of time. For me, that sacrifice is too great. — Israel Meir Kagan

We, to some degree, are like what we are because we inherited certain things from the Greeks and the Romans. One of them that's so striking is the whole area of politics. — Donald Kagan

It's not that there are no masters, but that there are many. And the job of the solicitor general is to balance those masters and to accommodate them all, each in their proper places, wisely and well and in so doing to represent the people of the United States. — Elena Kagan

Everyday I meet folks who show me how to look at challenges differently. — Daryn Kagan

I think the nine justices think the solicitor general is the 35th clerk. — Elena Kagan

Kagan's law of first contact,'You'll surprise you more than they will. — Janet Kagan

A true measure of an entrepreneur / successful-person is how they deal with adversity. — Noah Kagan

Based on all criteria - military power, economic influence, cultural dominance - America remains number one, even though other, new players are increasingly challenging it in that role. — Robert Kagan

When you have a hammer, all problems start to look like nails. — Robert Kagan

Blew it up his nose. That woman should have cards printed: 'Dr. Evan Wilson, Imaginative Medicine a Specialty. — Janet Kagan

A startup can focus on only one metric. So you have to decide what that is and ignore everything else. — Noah Kagan

I have no regrets. I don't believe in looking back. What I am proudest of? Working really hard ... and achieving as much as I could. — Elena Kagan

Times might be tough, your head and thoughts might be spinning, but I find it's physically impossible to do that spiral thing when your mind is focused on giving and creating opportunity. — Daryn Kagan

Genes and family may determine the foundation of the house, but time and place determine its form. — Jerome Kagan

My two must-haves are my cell phone and my MacBook Pro laptop, which allows me to update my Web site from wherever I am, whether I'm in Africa or in Sun Valley skiing. — Daryn Kagan

The psychologist Jerome Kagan has argued that parenting has a threshold function: up until that threshold is crossed, the effects of a child's very early experience even out in the end. But parenting that crosses the threshold - abuse, stress, utter indifference - can sink in deep, especially if the baby remains in that environment. There's a lot to be said for this perspective on parenthood, not least that it offers well-meaning parents some relief from scaremongering. It also accounts for the astounding flexibility of the human infant: he is game for the craziest parenting stuff you can come up with. — Nicholas Day

There is no federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage. — Elena Kagan

Bad things do happen in the world, like war, natural disasters, disease. But out of those situations always arise stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. — Daryn Kagan

I owe a debt of gratitude to two other living Justices. Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg paved the way for me and so many other women in my generation. Their pioneering lives have created boundless possibilities for women in the law. I thank them for their inspiration and also for the personal kindnesses they have shown me. — Elena Kagan

At each stage of development the child needs different resources from the family. During the first year, a variety of experience and the availability of the parents for attachment are primary. During the second and third years, stimulation of language development is critical. During the years prior to school entrance, information that persuades children they are loved becomes critical, and during the school years it is important for children to believe that they can succeed at the tasks they want to master. — Jerome Kagan

I believe it is still true that conflicts among major powers usually stem from geopolitical rivalries but rarely from economic competition. — Robert Kagan

To have the opportunity to lead the Solicitor General's office is the honor of a lifetime. As you know, this is an office with a long and rich tradition, not only of extraordinary legal skill but also of extraordinary professionalism and integrity. That is due, in large measure, to the people who have led it. — Elena Kagan

War has been more common than peace, and extended periods of peace have been rare in a world divided into multiple states — Donald Kagan

His fingers wrapped around the smooth metal handle, and he eased the knife from its sweat-patinaed leather sheath and weaved the blade skillfully through the air. While it didn't have the impression of a Fae-forged blade, he did feel something alive within the mortal steel as if the old blade had drunk deeply of blood and continued to thirst. — Jacqueline Patricks

Americans are from Mars, Europeans are from Venus: they agree on little and understand each other less and less. — Robert Kagan

Obviously the administration intends to publicize all the weapons of mass destruction U.S. forces find - and there will be plenty. — Robert Kagan

No one ever got rich checking their email more often. — Noah Kagan

Joy and serenity are not slavishly tied to our physiology. We are not programmed neurons over which we have no control. We are collaborators in the generation of our thoughts and emotions. — Jerome Kagan

The hard part is what separates good from great. — Noah Kagan

A renowned genius once asked a student, "What are you watching when you sit on a hillside in the late afternoon as the colors turn from yellow to orange and red and finally darkness?" He answered, "You are watching the sunset." The genius responded, "That is what is wrong with our age. You know full well you are not watching the sun set. You are watching the world turn." — Jeremy Kagan

The dimple in his left cheek was ironic-it gave the impression that he was sweet as a cupcake. (Dark City Lights) — Elaine Kagan

It was a very cool thing to be a smart girl, as opposed to some other, different kind. And I think that made a great deal of difference to me growing up and in my life afterward. — Elena Kagan

She is such a blade - -beautiful, powerful, and deadly to her enemies- - as well as her bond-mate due to her fatal flaw. The questions are - How deep is her flaw and can it be healed? After all, a mortal is not a mearcair blade to be discarded if forged improperly. (Kagan Donmall regarding Tessa Montgomery) — Jacqueline Patricks

If a caterpillar doesn't know its future has wings, it hardly experiences itself as land-bound. — Robert Kagan

There are few people who define the word, 'rock star' better than U2's Bono. He's revered the world over not just for leading one of the biggest bands ever, but for his very public work on behalf of the underprivileged in Africa. — Daryn Kagan

When it comes to setting national priorities, determining threats, defining challenges, and fashioning and implementing foreign and defense policies, the United States and Europe have parted ways. — Robert Kagan

During the latency years, American children need experiences that promote academic talents, a sense of responsibility, and most important, a belief that they can attain the goals valued by self and community. They need reassurance that these goals are attainable. — Jerome Kagan

It is true that I have known Straussians almost all my life. And the one thing I was taught about them from the earliest age is that they are wrong. — Robert Kagan