Quotable Notables

"Ronald Reagan probably works less hard in his job than anyone in this room."

Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. '38, former Kennedy aide.

"I don't remember saying the Odyssey tradition is giving out. I said many idiotic things, but that would be the worst."

John H. Finley '25, Eliot Professor of Greek Literature Emeritus, rising from the audience and addressing them after a former student quoted him during a symposium.

"Europe is always worried--I'm a European myself, I know."

"When you're in bed with an elephant, the situation is uncomfortable. You're afraid of being crushed by the elephant but you're also afraid of being abandoned by it."

Dillon Professor of the Civilization of France Stanley Hoffman.

"We all know that FDR and JFK earned degrees at Harvard, or as it's known in some quarters, the Eureka College of the East."

Richard G. Darman '64, deputy secretary of the treasury, at a symposium.

"An academic is someone who wonders whether something that works in practice also works in theory."

Ford Professor of Social Sciences Daniel Bell during a symposium.