Peter Morgan Quotes

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.

Ego is certainly there in many of the greatest and most dizzying tales of success - but it's there in some of the greatest stories of failure and self-implosion as well.

Richard Nixon will always go down as a failure because of one stupid, moral - and that goes back to that last chapter, on principles.

Nixon officials foreshadowed both the historic distinction and seamy underside of the presidency.

Success tempts many to their ruin.

Leaders who fail to prune their pride will meet demise. That's not a guess, it's a guarantee. With pride, it's not a matter of 'if' we will fall, but 'when.' There are no exceptions.

We've seen a lot of people self-destruct because of a small taste of success.

Nixon probably was a nice guy.

We've seen the hubris. And now we're seeing the scandals.

It was accountability that Nixon feared.

Success can set the table for tragedy if the victors are not careful.

I used to think the Civil War was our country's greatest tragedy, but I do remember that there were a few redeeming features in the Civil War in that there was some spirit of sacrifice and heroism displayed on both sides. I see no redeeming features in Watergate.

You roll back the stones and you find the slithering things of the world of Richard Nixon.

Reveal Richard Nixon … lay him and his motives bare … destroy him in his shot for the Presidency.

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

When I'm considering an idea, and there is an element of hubris involved, I generally feel comfortable that it's going to be a good story. Pride goeth before a fall. It's an element of a lot of big stories.

It is curious how vanity helps the successful man and wrecks the failure.

By their own follies they perished, the fools.

He who prides himself upon wealth and honor hastens his own downfall.

Donald Trump is toast.

Trickery succeeds sometimes, but it always commits suicide.

They that soar too high, often fall hard.

Success has ruined many a man.

All great power has to do to destroy itself is persist in trying to do the impossible.

Who soars too near the sun, with golden wings, melts them.