Douglas Holtz-Eakin Quotes

Often in life, the most important question we can ask ourselves is: do we really have the problem we think we have?

Winston Churchill used to say that we, Americans, try every other option before we finally do the right thing. After everything else is exhausted we eventually do the right thing and I think that's true for Congress as well. And it's important for Americans to remember that politics has always been messy.

Sometimes you think you want to know something, but it's actually more exciting and more resonant when you have to try [and figure it out].

If you are going to try and change things, you had better have your wits about you.

Usually my 'a-ha' moments are when I'm not trying to think of how to solve a particular problem.

I'm a really big believer - this is not a statement about President [Barack] Obama, but whoever is president - that good policy is really important.

Well I'm trying to think what I put in... I think I put in 'why?' to see if I'd confuse the computer.

Eventually, I decided that thinking was not getting me very far and it was time to try building.

Abraham Maslow taught me, that when you're working with a patient, never let them spend more than a few moments on the problem, because what you think about is what expands, and if they're talking about the problem all the time, when they leave your session, the problem will expand. Get 'em to put their attention on what they intend to create, or on solutions.

Try fighting with your head for a change... it's a good one, even if it does resist learning.

For me science fiction is a way of thinking, a way of logic that bypasses a lot of nonsense. It allows people to look directly at important subjects.

He [Rubio] is so knowledgeable about this issue ... I'm glad to see somebody with his background step forward and say it's important and we need to look at it.

If you strike upon a thought that baffles you, break off from that entanglement and try another, so shall your wits be fresh to start again.

There is a cultural taste which tries very hard to get rid of the lice in a fur coat. There is another which tolerates the lice and thinks the coat can be worn with them in it. And finally there is a taste which regards the lice as the most important thing about the coat and consequently places the coat at the lice's disposal.

With vertical thinking one may look for different approaches until one finds a promising one. With lateral thinking one goes on generating as many approaches as one can even after one has found a promising one. With vertical thinking one is trying to select the best approach but with lateral thinking one is generating different approaches for the sake of generating them.

You just pick up a little bit of whatever the ones you think are appropriate, and you try and, you know, combine them. And then you bring in other people that are great for the things that you're not so good at.

I think it's important to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. The normal way we conduct our lives is we reason by analogy. [With analogy] we are doing this because it's like something else that was done, or it is like what other people are doing. [With first principles] you boil things down to the most fundamental truths…and then reason up from there.

I find trying to solve problems and save lives is far more important than my film career.

I think language is the most important thing that human beings have ever accomplished, and the only thing that's really going to get us all out of the troubles that we find ourselves in.

Sometimes I do have something in my head. But, for me, I think it usually ends up being about considering all of the elements, and trying to understand the distance from where we are to where we want to go.

We can keep doing the same thing, but it would be unreasonable to expect a different result. It's very important, I think, for us to stop and look at what we're doing.We've been applying a flamethrower to the Middle East. And not just to the Middle East.

I think that most of the candidates [for presidency] can't run the railroad, and I still worry that whoever gets elected will have policies designed for political rather than practical reasons.

I think there were two criticisms you can make of Donald Trump's involvement in the Health Care Bill. First of all, there were times when he wasn't being helpful. Secondly, there were times when he was trying to be helpful. I'm not sure which one did more damage.

I think strong rhetoric and strong action are two separate things. Anyone can use tough words. Anyone can go over the top and say things that sound strong. But sounding strong is not enough. You have to know exactly how you're going to do it. And if you look at some of the policies he's talked about, they would not make America stronger.

Brian Walker and David Salt have written a thoughtful and powerful book to help resource users and managers put resilience thinking into practice and aim toward increasing the sustainability of our world. I urge public officials, scholars, and students in public policy programs to place this volume on their list of must-read books. It is a powerful antidote to the overly simplified proposals too often offered as solutions to contemporary problems at multiple scales.