David Brooks
David Brooks
Conservative political columnist for the New York Times. He also wrote for the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Times and provided political commentary for National Public Radio (NPR) and the PBS NewsHour.
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth11 August 1961
CityToronto, Canada
CountryUnited States of America
David Brooks quotes about
people trying democratic
We are a democratic, egalitarian people who spend our days desperately trying to climb over each other.
people soul soldier
People generally don't suffer high rates of PTSD after natural disasters. Instead, people suffer from PTSD after moral atrocities. Soldiers who've endured the depraved world of combat experience their own symptoms. Trauma is an expulsive cataclysm of the soul.
self people calling
Most people don't form a self and then lead a life. They are called by a problem, and the self is constructed gradually by their calling.
slavery structure
Freedom without structure is its own slavery.
art people culture
Bragging about what a good deal you got is one of the many great art forms that my people, the Jews, have introduced to American culture.
reality fit models
If you just rely on one model, you tend to amputate reality to make it fit your model.
effectiveness people groups
The effectiveness of a group of people is not determined by their IQ but by how well they communicate.
government gains moral
The crossroads where government meets enterprise can be an exciting crossroads. It can also be a corrupt crossroads. It requires moral rectitude to separate public service from private gain.
country order accomplishment
Most poverty and suffering - whether in a country, a family or a person - flows from disorganization. A stable social order is an artificial accomplishment, the result of an accumulation of habits, hectoring, moral stricture and physical coercion. Once order is dissolved, it takes hard measures to restore it
education children school
The zooming wealth of the top 1 percent is a problem, but it's not nearly as big a problem as the tens of millions of Americans who have dropped out of high school or college. It's not nearly as big a problem as the 40 percent of children who are born out of wedlock. It's not nearly as big a problem as the nation's stagnant human capital, its stagnant social mobility and the disorganized social fabric for the bottom 50 percent.
ambition want film
I want to make big films. That's always been my ambition.
foundation emotion reason
Emotion is the foundation of reason.
important virtue hardest
Courage is the most important virtue because it is the hardest.
goal people guy
It's almost inherent, but I'm a massive [Stanley] Kubrick fan. I'm a big admirer of what guys like Christopher Nolan have been able to do. For me, to be able to try to make big films that reach a lot of people, and that hopefully have something to say, is a lofty goal, but that's my goal.