Robert Shea Quotes

All interesting heroes have an Achilles' heel.

In world mythology, there are countless examples of tragic characters whose greatest strength is also the source of their undoing. But the ancient Greeks and Romans also held the view that acceptance is the beginning of wisdom.

The story of Willie Stark fascinated me because it was tackling the story of a man who outwardly has all the success one could possibly want and who is destroyed by his personal demons.

Show me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy.

The tragedy of Eliot Spitzer is almost Greek: Ascendant son of wealth and privilege dedicates his life to social justice, warns of the corruption lurking among us, and falls victim to his inner demons at the very moment of vindication.

What enables us to achieve our greatness contains the seeds of our destruction.

Whom the gods wish to destroy they first call promising.

The very strength of a nation eventually proves to be its weakness.

Every good villain has his or her own vulnerability.

It was a Greek tragedy. Nixon was fulfilling his own nature. Once it started it could not end otherwise.

Obama is defining himself in a way that will destroy him.

It is the definition of tragedy. You have all those really good arguments for maintaining a status quo that will destroy you…. We are setting ourselves on fire with the best of arguments.

Self-destruction is such an interesting thing for a dramatist, and what's particular to Nixon is how human the failings were that led to his downfall.

Arrogance always destroys opportunity

Every hero is a Samson. The strong man succumbs to the intrigues of the weak and the many; and if in the end he loses all patience he crushes both them and himself.

Pride breakfasted with plenty, dined with poverty, and supped with infamy.

To the end of history, social orders will probably destroy themselves in an effort to prove they are indestructible.

Any effort that has self-glorification as its final endpoint is bound to end in disaster.

It'll all end in tears and oil.

I will be my undoing If I become my obsession.

Humanity adores only those who cause it to perish.

Pride goeth before the fall....but you've already fallen, haven't you?

destruction is ultimately self-destruction.

The top line is that hubris is a disease that comes from success.

What will finally destroy us is not communism or fascism, but man acting like God.