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
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.
rivers trash-talk aspersion
... trash talk ... Washington floats on a river of aspersion.
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.
self sympathetic
Friendship allows you to see your own life but with a second sympathetic self.
victory republican rage
Memo to young journalists: Democratic victories are always ascribed to hope; Republican ones to rage.
team party player
There are plenty of team players in government who do whatever the leader says. There are too few difficult members, who have complicated minds, unusual perspectives, the toughness to withstand the party-line barrages and a practical interest in producing results.
people trying want
I want to try to make big films that hopefully connect with people.
reality people want
People want reality that tells them how right they are all the time.
people doubt favors
The more people doubt their own beliefs the more, paradoxically, they are inclined to proselytize in favor of them.