John W. Gardner

The man who once cursed his fate, now curses himself – and pays his psychoanalyst.

John W. Gardner

The play of conflicting interests in a framework of shared purposes is the drama of a free society. It is a robust exercise, and often a noisy one. It is not for the faint-hearted, or the tidy-minded.

John W. Gardner

The ultimate goal of the educational system is to shift to the individual the burden of pursuing his education.

John W. Gardner

We have to face the fact that most men and women out there are more stale than they know, more bored than they care to admit.

John W. Gardner

All that we know about the interaction between leaders and constituents or followers tells us that communication and influence flow in both directions; and in that two-way communication, nonrational, nonverbal, and unconscious elements play their part.

John W. Gardner

America’s greatness has been the greatness of a free people who shared certain moral commitments. Freedom without moral commitment is aimless and promptly self-destructive.

John W. Gardner

Americans have always believed that-within the law-all kinds of people should be allowed to take the initiative in all kinds of activities. And out of that pluralism has come virtually all of our creativity. Freedom is real only to the extent that there are diverse alternatives.

John W. Gardner

Creativity requires the freedom to consider ‘unthinkable’ alternatives, to doubt the worth of cherished practices. Every organization, every society is under the spell of assumptions so familiar that they are never questioned, least of all by those most intimately involved.

John W. Gardner

I am entirely certain that twenty years from now we will look back at education as it is practiced in most schools today and wonder that we could have tolerated anything so primitive.

John W. Gardner

If the modern leader doesn’t know the facts, he is in grave trouble, but rarely do the facts provide unqualified guidance.

John W. Gardner