Woodrow Wilson called for leaders who, by boldly interpreting the nations conscience, could lift a people out of their everyday selves. That people can be lifted into their better selves is the secret of transforming leadership. – James MacGregor Burns

I am delighted with the strong vote I have received. My message of positive leadership, patriotism and commitment clearly was resonating with tens of thousands of ordinary Irish people. – Michael D. Higgins

All poets adore explosions, thunderstorms, tornadoes, conflagrations, ruins, scenes of spectacular carnage. The poetic imagination is therefore not at all a desirable quality in a chief of state. – W. H. Auden