Quotessence
Home / Authors / David Brooks
David Brooks

David Brooks Quotes

Commentator

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleThinkingTrumpIfsWorldCountryPolicyPresidentSchoolRepublican

Famous David Brooks Quotes

“For the Democrats, they're trying to avoid having the Sanders-Clinton debate over and over again. But, to some degree, they're sentenced to that debate. Clinton is much more embracing of the global economy and the international world order. Sanders and Warren are much less so. And they have got to figure out which side the party is on, if they're going to have a clear message. I think this is probably one you probably can't straddle.”

IfsThinkingWorldTryingOrderSidesPartyEconomyClearFiguresDegreesMessagesClintonDemocratInternationalDebateWorld OrderGlobal Economy
Author:David Brooks
Create image

“Basically, global capitalism, basically to support it, or is it to be opposed? Is international order to be supported, or is it to be opposed? Republicans have taken a very clear line. Democrats can have a different version of the line, or they can just say, no, we are the party of international peace and activism, and we're the party that's going to have a civilized capitalism.”

DifferentOrderLinesPartySupportTakenClearRepublicanCapitalismDemocratInternationalActivismVersionsCivilizedInternational PeaceJust Say No
Author:David Brooks
Create image

“What's sort of remarkable is that, especially in the Israel and the Russia cases, you have got a U.S. citizen, Donald Trump, siding with a foreign leader against the U.S. president. There is a reason why president-elects have tried to remain mute during their transitional periods, relatively, because you just don't want to be for somebody - some other country against your own government, and especially when you're about to take the helm of that government.”

CountryReasonPresidentLeaderRemarkable
Author:David Brooks
Create image

“Russian hackers interfered in our elections, and we like penalized a few of them. Whatever they're doing underground, we don't know. No, this is going to be a big issue. And I have to say the Barack Obama - the Donald Trump position is, A, mystifying, but, B, doomed. He has a nice little Vladimir Putin romance going on right now. I think we're going to get out the hankies, because this is going to turn into an ugly relationship within a year or two.”

ThinkingRomanceNiceElectionUglyBarackHackers
Author:David Brooks
Create image

“The things that make them similar - their machismo, their expansionary braggadocio - is going to turn them I think into bitter and dangerous enemies. We will look back on this moment where we thought Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump were sort of close as a moment of bitter irony, when they get into a schoolyard display against each other, amping up each other's worst tendencies and putting the two countries in some sort of scary position.”

ThinkingCountryMomentsEnemyWorstDangerousScaryBitterIronyMachismo
Author:David Brooks
Create image

“Of course I don't know what's going on in that meeting on in the mind of Donald Trump. But I do know one of the things President Barack Obama was struck by was how much time he spent on cyber-security as president. And one of the things he said was that, in the years ahead, the next president will be spending even more time. And cyber-security isn't a thing that goes away after this election. It's a constant flow.”

MindPresidentElectionMeetingsBarackPresident Barack Obama
Author:David Brooks
Create image

“The fact that there could be an ISIS West Bank, the fact that the Palestinian government in Gaza doesn't even acknowledge Israel's right to exist, the fact of constant terror, delegitimization campaigns in the Palestinian schools, these are all much bigger facts. And for the Barack Obama administration to focus on this one fact, almost, not to the expense, but to diminish some of the others which are much more important, is to cast all the blame on Israel and to take the U.N. policy toward Israel, which has been longstanding, and sort of surrender to it.”

ImportantSchoolFocusPolicyBlameTerrorSurrenderBarackAcknowledgePalestinianGaza
Author:David Brooks
Create image

“Bibi Netanyahu, froze the settlements and offered to go toward a two-state solution. The Palestinians didn't take him up on it. Historically, we have had a series of these offers. And the settlements themselves are not the keystone here. It seems to me myopic and bizarre that at the last moment, the Barack Obama administration would surrender the whole balanced array of policies that are obstacles to peace and focus on the one that is most detrimental to Israel.”

MomentsFocusPolicySolutionsObstaclesSurrenderBarackPalestinianBizarreSettlement
Author:David Brooks
Create image

“We know the 65-point policy points, to the extent that they exist, but is Hillary Clinton willing to be vulnerable, is she willing to be funny, is she willing to be both authoritative, but also real? And so less what she says than the emotional tone she sets. It takes a lot of confidence to be a vulnerable speaker on this stage. And sometimes she hasn't always projected the confidence it takes to be in some ways weak. But that's what I think people were looking for, that moment of human connection.”

PeopleThinkingRealSometimesMomentsPolicyEmotionalWeakClintonVulnerableSpeakers
Author:David Brooks
Create image

“There was this famous clash of civilization thesis from Samuel Huntington, a political theorist. And the idea was that Western civilization is at war with Islam and maybe some of the other civilizations around the world. And I don't agree with that. But I do think there is such a thing as Western civilization. I think it starts with the Greeks and the Romans. Then it goes through the Enlightenment - or the Reformation, the Enlightenment. It goes through the scientific age. And it somewhat defines some of the cultures and mores of Europe and North America and some other countries.”

ThinkingWorldWarCountryAgePoliticalCultureEnlightenmentAgreeIslamWesternGreekClashThesis
Author:David Brooks
Create image

“Donald Trump understands sense of belonging. And a lot of people think globalization, any time you make any particularity, you're sort of offending some other group. And a lot of people in this country think they belong to America anymore, and he at least appeals to some sense of belonging. I like the idea that we belong to Western traditions, so I'm glad he appeals to that sort of thing.”

PeopleThinkingCountryTraditionWesternGladBelongingGlobalization
Author:David Brooks
Create image

“I think the twenty-first century happened, basically. That this century started on 9/11. And basically, it's been a century of counter reaction to globalization and the meritocracy. And a good century for 72 nations have gotten more authoritarian. We've had Brexit. We have Le Pen rising in France. We've just got a lot of these types all around the world. And the people who are suffering from globalization and the meritocracy are saying, "No more. You know, we get a voice too."”

PeopleThinkingWorldSufferingPensGlobalizationMeritocracy
Author:David Brooks
Create image

“We still are America though. We're still a country that is a country of social mobility. We're still a country of immigrants. We're still a country with common ancestors. And reviving the civics of America and the idea that we're going to be united, at least not right now, but in some common future, and talking in that hopeful way that Martin Luther King did, that Abraham Lincoln did, seems to me that's the way.”

CountryCommonHopefulAncestorLuther
Author:David Brooks
Create image