Acheson "never for one moment believed that the holding of office was a source of power – it was an obligation of service." - Dean Acheson

President Truman used to say that budget figures revealed far more of proposed policy than speeches.

President (Truman) observed (that) 'to asure the Arabs that they would be consulted (prior to official US recognition of Israel) was by no means inconsistent with my generally sympathetic attitudes toward Jewish aspirations.' The Arabs may be forgiven for believing that this did not exactly state the inconsistency as they saw it.

I must plead guilty as any of escaping into immediate busywork to keep from the far harder task of peering into a dim future, which, of course, should be one of a diplomat's main duties.