I’m the president of the United States. I’m not the emperor of the United States.

How do leaders serve their people? They may pay good wages and treat employees with respect.

Republicans are men of narrow vision, who are afraid of the future.

Tyranny naturally arises out of democracy.

Mitt Romney subscribes to the cynical logic that says the American dream belongs to some of us but not all of us.

Blessed are the people whose leaders can look destiny in the eye without flinching but also without attempting to play God.

When a new source of taxation is found it never means, in practice, that the old source is abandoned. It merely means that the politicians have two ways of milking the taxpayer where they had one before.

As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I know that the men and women of our intelligence community put their lives on the line every day, and they do very dangerous work to keep our country safe.

Concede that the new government of Louisiana is only to what it should be, as the egg is to the fowl; we shall sooner have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it.

I don’t follow politics much.

You know we’re going to control the insurance companies.

Everything rises and falls on leadership.

Since I’m the president and Democrats have controlled the House and the Senate, it’s understandable that people are saying, you know, ‚What have you done?‘

The world is weary of statesmen whom democracy has degraded into politicians.

Freedom does not die from frontal attack. It dies because men in power no longer believe in a system based upon liberty.

No foreign policy – no matter how ingenious – has any chance of success if it is born in the minds of a few and carried in the hearts of none.

Unlike Europe, China can’t be intimidated. Europe backs down if the United States looks at it the wrong way. But China, they’ve been there for 3,000 years and are paying no attention to the barbarians and don’t see any need to.

When you’re one of the leaders of the team, there are no days off.

When I took over as president, I studied the Constitution, and the more I studied it, the more I realised that it does not prevent the president of India from giving the nation a vision. So when I went and presented this vision in Parliament and in legislative assemblies; everyone welcomed it, irrespective of party affiliations.

Some people will have to be afraid. Those who plunder the nation, deliver injustice, will have to feel scared of me. And I am not afraid of admitting this. Government cannot be so lenient that it forgives them.

I believe that in every country the people themselves are more peaceably and liberally inclined than their governments.

‚Bombing Afghanistan back into the Stone Age‘ was quite a favourite headline for some wobbly liberals. The slogan does all the work. But an instant’s thought shows that Afghanistan is being, if anything, bombed out of the Stone Age.

Politics is just like show business. You have a hell of an opening, coast for a while, and then have a hell of a close.

We’re not a fragile people. We’re not a frightful people. Our power doesn’t come from some self-declared savior promising that he alone can restore order as long as we do things his way. We don’t look to be ruled.

I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone – and I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions that move the ball forward.

I have been on the road and visited numerous places and met people from all over the globe. I can say that it looks nearly the same everywhere I have been: The climate crisis is ignored by people in charge, despite the science being crystal clear.

I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too.

The more nobly a man wills and acts, the more avid he becomes for great and sublime aims to pursue. He will no longer be content with family, country, and the remunerative aspect of his work. He will want wider organisations to create, new paths to blaze, causes to uphold, truths to discover, an ideal to cherish and defend.

Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.

I am in politics because of the conflict between good and evil, and I believe that in the end good will triumph.

In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.

By disgracing and degrading the presidency of the United States, by fleeing the White House like a diseased cur, Richard Nixon broke the heart of the American Dream.

The FBI should not be a political body.

Whoever won’t fight when the President calls him, deserves to be kicked back in his hole and kept there.

I have a reputation for taking on governors a lot more powerful than me.

Clever tyrants are never punished.

If an individual wants to be a leader and isn’t controversial, that means he never stood for anything.

Which government is the best? The one that teaches us to govern ourselves.

It is a virtual reflex for governments to plead security concerns when they undertake any controversial action, often as a pretext for something else.

Governments are supposed to lie to their citizens.

People are finding it harder and harder to relate to foreign policy.

The eye of the master will do more work than both his hands.

There are nuclear-weapons-free zones in several parts of the world already, except that they’re not implemented fully, because the U.S. won’t allow it.

Before I went to jail, I was active in politics as a member of South Africa’s leading organization – and I was generally busy from 7 A.M. until midnight. I never had time to sit and think.

Anyone who knows history, particularly the history of Europe, will, I think, recognize that the domination of education or of government by any one particular religious faith is never a happy arrangement for the people.

Governments need to have both shepherds and butchers.

I want a president with a record of public service, someone whose life’s work shows our children that we don’t chase fame and fortune for ourselves: we fight to give everyone a chance to succeed.

Among a people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist.

Being president is like being a jackass in a hailstorm. There’s nothing to do but to stand there and take it.

Show me a poorly uniformed troop and I’ll show you a poorly uniformed leader.

In America the President reigns for four years, and Journalism governs forever and ever.

We Conservatives hate unemployment.

Barack Obama is probably the most exciting candidate that either the Democratic or Republican party has produced at least since I’ve been around. He’s fresh, he’s new, he’s insightful.

If I don’t run for president, we’ll all be OK.

Constitutions should consist only of general provisions; the reason is that they must necessarily be permanent, and that they cannot calculate for the possible change of things.

The government’s job is good governance for everybody. My government will make policies; if you fit into it, come on board, or stay where you are. My job is not to spoon-feed anyone.

I would rather drink weedkiller than support Obamacare.

Let me tell you what I literally told every world leader I’ve met with, and I’ve met them all: It’s never, never, never been a good bet to bet against America. We have the finest fighting force in the world.

The governments of the present day have to deal not merely with other governments, with emperors, kings and ministers, but also with the secret societies which have everywhere their unscrupulous agents, and can at the last moment upset all the governments‘ plans.

Science is the captain, and practice the soldiers.

Decisiveness is a characteristic of high-performing men and women. Almost any decision is better than no decision at all.