Lorna > Recent Status Updates

“Californy, here we come, I thought. With nothing between but the entire USA,sea to shining sea.”

“And suddenly he was seeing it, that first Bosphorus spring with Anna, everything in blossom, Judas trees and lilac and yellow laburnum, cherry and soft-green chestnut trees, pulling branches down to smell, dizzy with it.”

Oliver said, “Sometimes it simply comes down to the serendipity of whom one meets and when.”

“And still the damn bombs fell and clusters of waterproof fire ignited the landscape, and all the darkness and evil of hell was forcefully and cruelly visited upon the earth.”

“The eyes of a bibliophile are competent guides. They essentially sparkle when they alight upon books, as do a gourmand’s when he samples a chef’s fine creations, or those of a wine connoisseur when he is presented with a row of dusty Bordeaux bottles.”

“The debate over the war in Vietnam was a reflection of differences not only of outlook but of age. The coming to maturity of children born after World War II—the baby boomers—had transformed the country, including, not least of all, staid and traditional Georgetown.”

“In that brave new world, Wisner represented the CIA’s past. Bussell was its future.”

“But Phil Graham’s sympathy for the poor and downtrodden was actually rooted in a larger concern—namely, that it would be impossible for America to win the Cold War if the country were seen as indifferent to the plight of its minorities.”

“While Joe and Stewart would continue to warn against McCarthyism, the Wisconsin senator’s moment in history had indeed passed. The Alsops deserved some credit for the outcome, having been among the first to take on McCarthy, well before Ed Murrow. When McCarthy died on May 2, 1957, the two brothers silently and guiltily, raised champagne glasses in a toast.”

“In the paranoid atmosphere created by Joe McCarthy, even Washington’s spies feared being spied upon.”

“Already accustomed to the rules of the covert world, Kennan had written the memo authorizing Umpire on plain paper rather than official State Department stationery so that Lovett and his boss, Marshall, would have the sine qua non of every Cold War bureaucracy: plausible deniability.”

In the highlight of the evening, Phil delivered a champagne-fueled toast to the place where most of them lived. “Georgetown was an entity to itself,” he began, “home to the great, the near great and the once great in government and in journalism. . . “

“This is a book about extraordinary—and extraordinarily colorful—collection of individuals, living at a remarkable time, in a city aptly described as ‘the capital of the Cold War.’”

Kennedy ended with the grim prediction that he had made in response to one of Khrushchev’s threats as the summit concluded: “It’s going to be a cold winter.”

“A bribe is a sacred promise,” Carney said, “a bulwark against chaos.”

“The only permanent tenants were hustle and impermanence.”

“By now, his work, like Picasso’s, was becoming truly experimental, pushing the boundaries of formal constraints. . . .”

“Picasso could not now help but perceive Matisse as a potential rival.”

“In 1900, Matisse, aged thirty, was well in advance of Picasso in terms of integration into the Parisian art scene, and already a familiar figure in Montmartre.”

“One joy scatters a hundred griefs.”

“There is soft happiness in sadness and deep sadness in happiness.”

“In the midst of chaos, there is opportunity,” Auntie Fong recites.

“This held even truer for Chinese women when I was young. No matter what our backgrounds or where we came from, we women were at the mercy of larger historic events.”

“I’ve been so focused on physically escaping this life that it isn’t until this moment that I understand there are other means of escape—with my mind and with my heart. I’m on a different path now—one that leads to light. I envision for myself the four great gifts of happiness, prosperity, longevity, and peace.”