"a diplomat ... is not worthy of the name unless he can say 'no' and make the other person like it - or at least not be offended by it."
"The steadily inward look leads us all to death, nations as well as persons, and is equally infantile in them all. Perhaps the most useful thing I have learned in my lifetime is that the process of maturing gradually turns the mind away from the small-self to the greater-self that is only served by serving others."
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Source: Margo Kaufman (1997). “This Damn House!: My Subcontract with America”, Dell Books
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