#al

The early commentators who put down the pre-presidential Roosevelt as an empty-headed young lightweight, all ambition and no talent, now seem comically wrong to a modern book-reading, movie-going, television-watching, legend-loving American public conditioned to think of him as one of the presidential giants on the order of Washington and Lincoln. ↗

— Russell Baker

#american #american public #commentators #conditioned #down

The goal of all inanimate objects is to resist man and ultimately defeat him. ↗

— Russell Baker

#goal #him #inanimate #man #objects

The only thing I was fit for was to be a writer, and this notion rested solely on my suspicion that I would never be fit for real work, and that writing didn't require any. ↗

— Russell Baker

#fit #i #never #notion #only

There is a growing literature about the multitude of journalism's problems, but most of it is concerned with the editorial side of the business, possibly because most people competent to write about journalism are not comfortable writing about finance. ↗

— Russell Baker

#because #business #comfortable #competent #concerned

Those who remember Washington's cold war culture in the 1980s will recall the shocked reactions to Reagan's intervention. People interested in foreign policy were astonished when in 1985 he met alone at Geneva - alone, not a single strategic thinker at his elbow! - with the Soviet Communist master Gorbachev. ↗

— Russell Baker

#astonished #cold #cold war #communist #culture

Would I buy a cell phone for my 12-year-old?... No. I should have closer control over my child than that. He really shouldn't be in places where he needs to contact me by cell. ↗

— Stephen Baker

#cell #cell phone #child #closer #contact

I always wished I had a chance to meet an NFL player or even a college player when I was growing up in Los Angeles. ↗

— Stephen Baker

#angeles #chance #college #even #growing

Of all the toys available, none is better designed than the owner himself. A large multipurpose plaything, its parts can be made to move in almost any direction. It comes completely assembled, and it makes a sound when you jump on it. ↗

— Stephen Baker

#any #assembled #available #better #comes

To bathe a cat takes brute force, perseverance, courage of conviction - and a cat. The last ingredient is usually hardest to come by. ↗

— Stephen Baker

#brute #brute force #cat #come #conviction

Actors are able to trick themselves into treating anything as if it's fantastic. It's a kind of madness really. ↗

— Tom Baker

#anything #fantastic #into #kind #madness