All the Great Prizes: The Life of John Hay, from Lincoln to Roosevelt

by John Taliaferro,
Tulsa World, June 23, 2013

"There are two important lines of human endeavor in which men are forbidden even to allude to their success," John Hay told the governor of New York state, the mayor-elect of New York City, and members of the chamber of commerce: "affairs of the heart and diplomatic affairs. In doing so, one not only commits a vulgarity which transcends all questions of taste, but makes all future success impossible."