Richard A. Clark Quotes

Government is the art of the momentarily feasible, of the least bad attainable, and not of the rationally most desirable.

We have to learn how to work within the limits that are possible, not what is desirable.

I'm a pragmatist.

That is what all of us must learn to do in the United States; to limit objectives, to get ourselves away from the absolute, to find out what is within our powers.

You can do anything you want, as long as it works.

It would be an inconvenient rule if nothing could be done until everything can be done.

In order to govern, the question is not to follow out a more or less valid theory but to build with whatever materials are at hand. The inevitable must be accepted and turned to advantage.

The common agenda both sides seem to share is: Whatever works.

I'm just not a purist. You set goals and you have to work with everyone to figure out how to get what you can.

My only definition is that I am a pragmatist.

Reagan is held up to us as an example of never raising taxes. Correction: Reagan raised taxes six of his eight years as president. Why? He was a pragmatist, not doctrinaire. He saw problems emerging, and when his policies faltered he changed his views. Flexibility, not rigidity.

I am an expert in the 'art of the possible.'

One thing I've always liked about the military is there's a certain amount of pragmatism.

It is best to live however one can be.

When you're failing, there's a very powerful incentive to put ideology aside and just do what seems to work.

I'm very pragmatic.

An ideologue believes that what is right will work. A pragmatist believes that what works is right.

Americans are very practical folks. Accustomed to hard choices in their own lives, they are willing to give us in intelligence a lot of slack as we make the hard choices our profession demands.

I'm pragmatic.

We want to be as routine-oriented as we can, but it's just not always feasible.

I think I'm pragmatic.

Principle is OK up to a certain point, but principle doesn't do any good if you lose.

Common sense does not ask an impossible chessboard, but takes the one before it and plays the game.

I'd describe myself as a pragmatist tinged with idealism.

One learns to itch where one can scratch.