Ruth Porat Quotes

Nations in great crises and difficulties have often done that which in their prosperous and powerful hour they would not have done.

The state of emergency and critical nature of the times do not allow me, as they do not allow anyone, to embark on a blame game.

Drama's not safe and it's not pretty and it's not kind. People expect the basic template of television drama where there might be naughty villains, but everyone ends up having a nice cup of tea. You've got to do big moral choices and show the terrible things people do in terrible situations. Drama is failing if it doesn't do that.

Sometimes there are no good choices.

Ultimately all the options are ugly… These decisions are very, very difficult

When there aren't any smart decisions, I suppose you just have to pick the stupid decision you like best.

People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions. Conclusions are not always pleasant.

Life is a matter of really tough choices.

Difficult times require difficult decisions. But supporting this bill shouldn't be a difficult decision.

I think most people are not willing to make the tough choices.

Extraordinary measures were required and I realize that not all of these steps were popular.

I think that quite often you can only find a choice between bad and worse. But I think it's worth making the effort, and I like to expose my characters to that sort of situation.

Anything that's not positive, I don't have the energy to focus on it. Anything that's not going in the right direction, I don't have the time or the energy.

The government was unable to avert or to control the course of events.

Bad situations can always get worse.

Problems arise when we go through life relying too much or too little on particular traits, which, in turn, can lead to a crisis.

Commanders-in-chief make really tough decisions.

You become a leader in times of trouble. Leaders emerge when things don't go well. When everyone else starts pointing fingers, a leader takes responsibility.

There's so many things, when you're in national security, that you do that aren't perfect, but you do them because you think you're doing what the country needs to be safe.

Either you were a hoodlum, or you were a puddle on the sidewalk.

There are problems that just end up being really hard and by definition the only problems that come to my desk are the ones that nobody else can solve.

Human crises have a way of happening at inconvenient times.

The most difficult of decisions are often not the ones in which we cannot determine the correct course; rather the ones in which we are certain of the path but fear the journey.

sometimes in life doing what we shouldn't do is the emergency

Oftentimes, your choices are down to two less than ideal outcomes, but you have to choose which one is the best one for the country. I personally believe he continues to struggle to articulate that.