David Frum Quotes

I was driven to give the best possible performance I could based on the material that was given to me and that material was documentary footage of the President speaking to people.

There is not alternative to speechwriters. You can’t run for president and write your own speeches.

Nearly every politician plagiarizes their speeches, because nearly every politician has a speech writer do the work for them.

Modern political speechwriting is certainly a skill, and one that requires experience and practice to master.

We need a new stump speech.

The curse of speech writing is being part of a team.

was not, like the fabled Goddess of Wisdom, the offspring of a single brain. It ought to be regarded as the work of many heads and many hands.

The way that I write speeches is to do bits and pieces and then knit them together

Kennedy had a much better speech writer than I do.

Part of my job as a presidential speechwriter (along with great writers like Jon Favreau and David Axelrod) was finding that sliver where 'presidential' and 'actually funny' overlap.

When a president speaks, it's to multiple audiences.

I met Jon Lovett, who was just coming off of three years of being a presidential speech writer and had just arrived here to be a comedy writer in Hollywood. I thought he was super green, in terms of this world, but he knows so much about the world that we're attempting to write about.

Perhaps in His wisdom the Almighty is trying to show us that a leader may chart the way, may point out the road to lasting peace, but that many leaders and many peoples must do the building.

Hillary is in Iowa to listen to what the people are saying - because if you want her to speak, that will cost you $200,000. So she's there listening.

It's very exciting to be a part of a team of collaborators in general.

I was home alone watching George Bush speak on television. So it was just really the two of us. And as I listened to him, I realized, that one of us... was nuts! And for the first time ever, I went, 'Wow, it's not me!'

Tapestries are made by many artisans working together. The contributions of separate workers cannot be discerned in the completed work, and the loose and false threads have been covered over. So it is in our picture of particle physics.

I enjoy collaborating with other people.

We know it well that none of us acting alone can achieve success.

No man ever did or can do a great work alone.

Some people can do one thing magnificently, like Michelangelo, and others make things like semiconductors or build 747 airplanes -- that type of work requires legions of people. In order to do things well, that can't be done by one person, you must find extraordinary people.

I like the idea of collaboration - it pushes you. It's a richer experience.

Make sure of two things. Be careful - microphones are always hot, and understand that in Washington, D.C., a gaffe is when you tell the truth. So, be careful.

All the greatest achievements of mind have been beyond the power of unaided individuals.

President Reagan was a master communicator. In this particular speech he did a brilliant job moving between the stately role of U.S. President and a national eulogist. The pain of the event was etched on his face. In 4 short minutes, he addressed five different audiences. He spoke to the collective mourners, families of the fallen, NASA employees, school children, and even took a poke at Russia. He communicated comfort and patriotism within a very short timeframe. That's not easy to do.