David Hoffman Quotations

I always live in the present - I love the present. I cherish the future.

Sputnik quickly became one of the three great shocks to hit America - historians say the equal of Pearl Harbor or 9/11.

For days after the launch, Sputnik was a wonderful curiosity. A man-made moon visible by ordinary citizens, it inspired awe and pride that humans had finally launched an object into space.

Nixon tried to wrap the Soviet Union into a web of agreements that would constrain its behavior. What happened is that many people lost faith in that approach, not the least because of how the Soviets handled it.

In fact, the same difficulties faced by Reagan in the 1980-s are still there [in the beginning of 21 century]: how do you hit a bullet with a bullet? The technology is getting better, but it still is focused on one interceptor knocking down one missile. In war, there would be many more challenges, more chaos, more uncertainty.

Despite his deeply-held ideology, Reagan was willing to talk to Gorbachev. He willing to do business with him. We should realize that engaging with adversaries is often one of our great strengths. As long as we use the engagement to stand up for the things we care about, there is no harm in talking.

I find it hard to argue with Reagan's old slogan: Trust, but verify.

Scholars have been arguing for a long time whether the Soviet Union could have been turned into some kind of social democracy. I doubt it myself. I think what Gorbachev didn't quite understand, until it was too late, is that his efforts at change unleashed new, certrifical forces he hadn't counted on. He opened the door a crack and a huge wind blew it open.

Gorbachev was acutely aware of the [USSR] economic problems, and it was central to all he did. He wanted to change the system in hopes of saving it. In the end he could not.

I have no doubt that aggressively going after wrongdoing can result in real improvement. Fewer wrongdoers in city government means more honest employees; it means better city services; it means more efficient government. And punishing wrongdoing can have a strong ripple effect that deters others from going down the wrong path.

With the growing recognition of the value of herbs, it is surely time to examine the professional therapeutic use of these herbs. There are profound changes happening in the American culture and herbal medicine, 'green medicine,' is playing an ever-increasing role in people's experience of this transformation.

The only problem with getting married is that we can't fornicate anymore.

She was scared and anxious and now she's probably as depressed as hell. That's the way I would be.

Situated on one of the last remaining significant parcels of pristine property on the East Coast, it is not difficult to see why there has been such an intense response to North Beach.

Media is so ubiquitous in America that we take it for granted. It's like turning on your tap and water comes out. You turn on your radio and you expect to hear music or commentary. But there are large portions of the world where people have no credible information whatsoever, and it's no surprise that these tend to be the same areas where there is endemic poverty, injustice and a lack of democracy.

No confession, no prints, no murder weapon and no eyewitnesses. It was purely a case built on motive.

I don't know where it (evidence) will lead, but I'm going to go there.

I don't want to answer any questions today about any investigations. I was honored by the vote of the City Council -- that they confirmed me. I'm looking forward to getting started on Oct. 17,

We've gone from 50 to 60 bicycle commuters Downtown in 2002 to several hundred in 2005. We've also gotten lots more requests for information on cycling in the city.

To get a group of people like that to take you seriously is a big task. I think Brian would have a much easier time of that than I did.

It adds something athletic to your travels more dimension than just being a visitor.

I think Brian would be an excellent choice.

I want you to pay close attention to the rumor, innuendo, opinion and what purports to be news as opposed to what people actually know.

I will investigate aggressively and creatively and will follow the evidence wherever it leads.

Our timing was amazing. One of the first calls I got after the hurricane was from Conrad Schmidt, asking about them. Our windows, which faced north and south, came through intact.

Typically, what happens is there will be times when people can go across, but we don't know when those times will be. It's really sort of a safety concern, but we'll try to accommodate people who want to walk across the dam.

The rationale behind any recipe that includes cold cereal as an ingredient breaks down to one thing: mouth feel. Its inherent crunchiness makes it ideal as the base of a coating, crust, topping, layer, stuffing or binder.

We'd like to get this behind us, and we're confident we're going to prevail.

We shouldn't be getting in the way (of the federal probe), but we shouldn't be narrow-minded about what it means to have an overlapping investigation,

Every time Ray went on stage, he put everything he had into it - didn't matter whether he was sick or tired. Now, whenever I walk on stage, I try to do the same thing.

We've received a lot of funding from Democratic and Republican administrations. It makes for some strange bedfellows.

We certainly believe we meet the test (for having authority to sell at market rates), and we'll see where it goes from here.

Computer graphics programs enabled us to visualize these surfaces, but we couldn't bring them back into the mathematical fold. I think the information about how to solve this problem was lurking in the pictures all the time, but we just had to think about it for a long time and have the theory catch up with the evidence we had.

The vice president is going to help move this race onto the national stage.

The vice president coming to Everett will help move the race onto the national stage where it belongs.

The store will take some of the bulk of work from the lunch people because we will sell some snacks as well.

Sarah Kolb was looking straight ahead, looking frightened and not participating in any way.

As Doug says, the people are not owned by anyone. When Doug is elected, he will serve the people.

As city attorney, my client is the city of Monticello. The actual conflict of interest would not have arisen until the city determined to pursue action against Mr. Donaldson. Once I disclosed the potential conflict in my memorandum dated Dec. 13, the only other action I took was at the instruction of the City Council to prepare the request for an opinion from the Municipal League. Once I received Mr. Rodgers letter informing me of his disagreement with the way I framed my questions I forwarded his letter to the Municipal League.

As a former naval captain, having the vice president out is a big honor for Doug.

It was the first time Soviets and Americans got to hear uncensored discussions of real-life things about each other on television.

It suggests that he's not particularly hostile to securities plaintiffs and many judges are.

It's one of those experiences that cuts across generations, across socio-economic lines. An upper-middle-class kid going to college can sit down with a cop and talk about Cocoa Puffs. There isn't one of us who hasn't tasted Cap'n Crunch or Trix or Lucky Charms or Froot Loops.

Even with a lot of the accounting stuff out, they've still got to make the jury understand the underlying fraud, and that's where I think Sean will shine.

I'm disappointed. Quite frankly, I've known Sarah for a year now and it's gotten a little personal. ... She's a human I like and I see her quite differently from the general picture.

I like the fact that it's a small school with very talented people and a lot of smart kids.

I may take that approach and call Mr. Gregory.

Instead of sitting in his office, he wanted to walk, so we would walk outside the court. There would be lots of tourists outside waiting to get into the court, anxious to see the action, and we would walk right by, with them not recognizing him, ... That was very much the way the chief was -- very unassuming, very straightforward about the way he went about his work. He was a very genuine, Midwestern man.

I don't read anything into it. They were out five hours. What does that mean? It means they haven't reached a verdict.

He's got a master plan. People might not see it right now, but the guy knows what he's doing. There's absolutely no doubt about that.

The Empire State Building is making a concerted effort to reclaim some of its past glory.

The civil war began when Azerbaijan shut down the Armenian-language television station. It's the same thing that precipitated the siege of Sarajevo when (former President Slobodan) Milosevic turned around the television transmitters so people didn't have access to news -- not to mention radio's infamous role in fomenting violence in Rwanda. The longer I work on media issues, the clearer it is that the free flow of information is critical to avoiding war.

The mayor has asked only one thing of me -- to take all necessary steps to find wrong doing in city government and to expose it. If this requires big plans, I stand ready to put them in place.