The seductiveness of war derives in part from its location on this boundary of the human, the inhuman, and the superhuman. It requires us to confront the relationship among the noble, the horrible, and the infinite; the animal, the spiritual, and the divine. Drew Gilpin Faust Read Quote
For all its ubiquity and its universality, war offers the attraction of the extraordinary – the escape from the gray everyday, from the humdrum into higher things. Drew Gilpin Faust Read Quote
I think that issues of gender have been discussed widely at Harvard. But I think I was chosen clearly on the merits, and I wish to operate as president on the merits. I think, on one level, we might say that I can affirm that women have the aptitude to do science or to do anything, including being president of Harvard. Drew Gilpin Faust Read Quote
We are in an international marketplace for talent, and American colleges and universities need to be able to attract students and faculty from around the world if we want to sustain our excellence. Drew Gilpin Faust Read Quote
High school students ought to seek out campus communities where they feel not only empowered to engage their talents, but also challenged to leave their comfort zones. The ability to embrace new opportunities emerges, in part, from a willingness to take risks and to fail. Drew Gilpin Faust Read Quote
When I address admitted students each spring, I ask them to consider two questions: Why would Harvard be the right place for the person I am? Why would it be the right place for the person that I want to become? These questions, in my mind, get at the heart of any admissions process. Drew Gilpin Faust Read Quote
As a kid, I was growing up in an era of celebration of the Civil War centennial, with a lot of ‘Lost Cause’ emphasis on the Confederacy. I used to play Civil War soldiers with my brothers as a child, and my older brother always insisted that he got to be Lee, and I got be Grant. I never knew that Grant won until quite some time had passed. Drew Gilpin Faust Read Quote
Americans in the Civil War period were very interested in Heaven and what it might be like, because they were having to face the fact that many of their loved ones were gone and many of their loved ones, they hoped, were in this other realm called Heaven. Drew Gilpin Faust Read Quote
I think the expectation of me was that I’d grow up, get married, have a family, probably not even have a job outside the home. I had bold notions sometime in my childhood that I wanted to be veterinarian… I wasn’t sure I’d ever do it. Drew Gilpin Faust Read Quote
