Quote of the Day (Garry Wills, on the School Shootings That Make America ‘The Disgrace of Nations’)

“We are the disgrace of nations because we can’t stop killing our children—along, of course, with their teachers, relatives, and innocent bystanders. We don’t even seem to want to stop doing it, not effectively, at any rate. We say we should, but we don’t. We just can’t. We are worse than the drunk who says he should stop drinking but doesn’t. At least drinking is (or was) pleasant in its early stages. But how can killing be pleasant at first?”—Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Garry Wills, “The Court Kills,” The New York Review of Books, Apr. 4, 2023

(Photo of Garry Wills by Lauren Gerson, taken on March 10, 2015 at the LBJ Presidential Library, where he was joining the Friends of the LBJ Library to discuss his book, The Future of the Catholic Church with Pope Francis.)

Quote of the Day (Garry Wills, on a Summer Lesson in Work and Leadership)

“I had a chip on my shoulder, since my father had left my mother to marry a (much younger) Hollywood model. While I was in California for a high school contest, he asked me to work at his nascent business for the rest of the summer. But for that offer, I would not have stayed—I needed a job in any event. He knew that the way to recruit a resisting son-employee was to give me independence—not only in things like deliveries, but in sales and purchasing of household equipment. If I failed, that might break down my resistance. If I didn't, pride in the work might renew a bond that had been broken. Paradoxically, by giving me independence he got me to do his will. That is the way leadership works—reciprocally engaging two wills, one leading (often in disguised ways), the other following (often while resisting). Leadership is always a struggle, often a feud.”—Historian-journalist Garry Wills, “What Makes a Good Leader,” The Atlantic Monthly, April 1994

Happy Labor Day, friends—and remember the inherent value of work (even, God help us, Judge Reinhold's job at Captain Hook Fish and Chips in Fast Times at Ridgemont High).

(Photo of Garry Wills by Lauren Gerson, taken on March 10, 2015 at the LBJ Presidential Library, where he was joining the Friends of the LBJ Library to discuss his book, The Future of the Catholic Church with Pope Francis.)

Quote of the Day (Garry Wills, on One Cause of the Deterioration in Writing)

“One of the causes of the deterioration in writing is that it’s not done for the ear. I’ve had very articulate students hand in muddled and inconsequent papers. Then I ask them to read their papers aloud and they realize that the sentences don’t really connect or that parts are not in any intelligible order, because they have not in any way thought of writing as a sound.” —Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and journalist Garry Wills interviewed by Cal Fussman for “The Men of Our Time,” Esquire, October 2015

(Photo of Garry Wills by Lauren Gerson, taken on March 10, 2015 at the LBJ Presidential Library, where he was joining the Friends of the LBJ Library to discuss his book, "The Future of the Catholic Church with Pope Francis.")

Quote of the Day (Garry Wills, on Knowing Jesus Through St. Paul)

“It was Paul who brought the good news to many communities. He still brings it to us….[W] hat Paul meant was not something other than or contrary to what Jesus meant, but we can best find out the latter by studying the former. His letters stand closer to Jesus than do any other words in the New Testament. They were the first to be penned, the first to be saved.”—Garry Wills, What Paul Meant (2006)

(The image accompanying this post is a painting of St. Paul by El Greco.)