Rahm Emanuel Quotes

Excuses change nothing, but make everyone feel better.

You cannot solve a problem that you do not admit exists.

Each success buys an admission ticket to a more difficult problem.

When a government faces an evil that might be avoided, the usual pattern is to first debate whether or not the evil is real or imagined; then determine how evil it really is; then is it an appropriate function of government to avoid it? Then what are the alternative ways to avoid it? Then what are the costs to avoid it? And finally, is the benefit of avoiding the evil worth the cost? In those cases where it is, it is by this time too late to avoid the evil and discussions shift to ameliorating the evil.

I convinced myself I hadn't seen anything, ... I had done this many times before ... I was adept at erasing reality.

It is natural to man to indulge in the illusion of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, till she transforms us into beasts.

Wishful thinking is no substitute for reality.

Competing pressures tempt one to believe that an issue deferred is a problem avoided. More often it is a crisis invited.

Denial of death at some point becomes a delusion.

The neocons are not only denying reality but are attacking it.

Optimism is cowardice.

We need to connect the dots between climate, poverty, energy, food and water. These issues cannot be addressed in isolation

The lesson is very clear. We all make mistakes.

Desperate maladies require desperate remedies.

The question really is what action we take which lessens the chances of a nuclear exchange, which obviously is the final failure…. You have:, A blockade without any declaration of war A blockade with a declaration of war Strikes One, Two and Three We’ve got invasion

Everybody’s kicking the can down the road of too much public and private debt. The can is becoming heavier and heavier…

Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn’t.

… problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not.

The need to incorporate longer term time scales into our societal choices is very real—and right in the lap of our generation.

Denial is a powerful force.

The biggest lessons I learned were probably the times where I had the biggest setbacks and the biggest challenges - when I had the biggest jumps forward and lessons learned.

When you can't change what's bothering you, one typical response is to convince yourself that it doesn't actually bother you.

I'm very good at denial.

A sensitive person is seldom happy with the world the way it is. And since you cannot change it, you think, 'Might as well numb the anguish.' If you're using something to escape reality, then it's something you need to address.

There are times in my life where I'm frantic and I think to myself, 'Okay, what would Raven do now?' As dumb as that sounds, it's in my head.