W. Ryan Melson

“At the supreme moment of his career, Crazy Horse took in the situation with a glance, then acted with great decisiveness. He fought with his usual reckless bravery on Custer Hill, providing as always an example for the other warriors to admire, draw courage from, and emulate, but his real contribution to this greatest of all Indian victories was mental, not physical. For the first time in his life, Crazy Horse’s presence was decisive on the battlefield not because of his courage, but because of his brain. But one fed on the other. His outstanding generalship had brought him at the head of a ferocious body of warriors to the critical point at the critical moment. Then with his courage he took advantage of the situation to sweep down on Custer and stamp his name, and that of Custer, indelibly on the pages of the nation’s history.”
― Stephen E. Ambrose, Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors

“When a gale strikes, a leader’s place is not belowdecks, but at the helm. He should strive to maintain a measure of detachment, both from the emotion of others around him and from the crisis itself, observing it clinically, dispassionately. And he must focus his thinking strictly on the decisions he needs to make, rather than on the consequences that might follow if his decisions are wrong. This detachment and focus will afford him as much isolation as circumstances allow, and they will make him resistant to the emotional tumult around him. From there, the leader must draw upon his inner strength.”
― Raymond M. Kethledge, Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude

“The moral values and integrity of our nation, and the long, difficult, fraught history of our efforts to uphold them at home and abroad, are the test of every American generation. Will we act in this world with respect for our founding conviction that all people have equal dignity in the eyes of God and should be accorded the same respect by the laws and governments of men? That is the most important question history ever asks of us.”
― John McCain, The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations

“I kept thinking, ‘I’m not what they think I am. I don’t have all the answers. I’m not magic.’ But then you grow with it and you learn that it really doesn’t matter what other people think of you. You’re just one human being, and you’re doing the best you can.”
― Robert Hilburn, Johnny Cash: The Life