Robert Caro
Robert Caro
Robert Allan Carois an American journalist and author known for his celebrated biographies of United States political figures Robert Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth30 October 1935
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
predictions
My predictions are notably inaccurate
majority-leader united-states made
Lyndon Johnson, as majority leader of the United States Senate, he made the Senate work
real feelings real-feelings
There's a real feeling when you know you're getting it right. It's a physical feeling.
thinking order pages
There's a theory, and I think the theory is right, that in order to make a change you've got to make the whole language of the page harmonious. Well, that's a lot easier with a computer.
doors light world
You come in off the street, through the doors of the theater. You sit down. The lights go down and the curtain goes up. And you're in another world
years democracy taught
Robert Moses wasn't elected to anything. We're taught that in a democracy power comes from being elected. He had more power than anyone, and he held it for 48 years
book years sometimes
I sometimes feel that if your book sells more than 20 years, then there's something in it that you can say, gee, I did something that endures, that's timeless
writing tired trying
I write from seven to about noon. I used to try to write longer, but I read and I found that I was always getting myself tired by working in the afternoon and then I was just throwing out what I wrote in the afternoon, so writing then was counterproductive.
democracy important minorities
The right of a minority is so important in a democracy.
men political democracy
I never wanted to do biography just to tell the life of a famous man. I always wanted to use the life of a man to examine political power, because democracy shapes our lives
ballet rest-of-your-life like-you
At the ballet, you really feel like you're in the presence of something outside the rest of your life. Higher than the rest of your life.
believe book taught
We're taught Lord Acton's axiom: all power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. I believed that when I started these books, but I don't believe it's always true any more. Power doesn't always corrupt. Power can cleanse. What I believe is always true about power is that power always reveals.
good
What would be the good of rushing? You want these books to last.
real government feelings
There used to be this feeling under Eisenhower and Kennedy and Roosevelt and Truman that government was a solution. Trust in the presidency fell precipitously under Johnson - real lows. And it's never come back. It's a trend that, if you're liberal, is really discouraging.