To me, a leader is someone who holds her- or himself accountable for finding potential in people and processes. And so what I think is really important is sustainability.

I want to put a ding in the universe.

Always first draw fresh breath after outbursts of vanity and complacency.

I use a stream-of-consciousness approach; if you don’t censor yourself, you end up with what you’re most concerned about, but you haven’t filtered it through your conscious mind. Then you craft it.

Observe all men, thyself most.

Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed… Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.

Teach me to feel another’s woe, to hide the fault I see, that mercy I to others show, that mercy show to me.

Everyone has been in love, at some point or another.

Whatever position I occupied, it was the result of colleagues – of my comrades in the movement – who had decided in their wisdom to use me for the purpose of focusing the attention of the country and the international community on me.

I put a lot of pressure on myself. I think something’s not good enough, and I won’t stop until I feel like I’ve made it. I’m never satisfied.

I still have mixed feelings about what growing up is – this thing that happens to everyone, so I’ve heard.

Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.

You think that the heads of state only have serious conversations, but they actually often begin really with the weather or, ‚I really like your tie.‘

People who don’t know the true character of God – who don’t believe He is merciful, gracious and slow to anger – can never have a close, personal, intimate relationship with Him.

Sometimes, I want to talk on a song and be angry, because I am angry. Then there’s always a part of me that remembers that this record lives past my being angry, and so do I really want to be angry about that? Is that feeling going to have longevity?

I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.

I try to not focus on what people expect from me.

Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain.

Never do things others can do and will do if there are things others cannot do or will not do.

Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness.

The superior man is distressed by the limitations of his ability; he is not distressed by the fact that men do not recognize the ability that he has.

Whatever talents I possess may suddenly diminish or suddenly increase. I can with ease become an ordinary fool. I may be one now. But it doesn’t do to upset one’s own vanity.

I think our politicians could learn a lot from Mandela.

In this age, I don’t care how tactically or operationally brilliant you are: if you cannot create harmony – even vicious harmony – on the battlefield based on trust across service lines, across coalition and national lines, and across civilian/military lines, you need to go home, because your leadership is obsolete.

We should remember that there are nations which meet more than 30 to 60% of their power requirements through the nuclear power system.

I was set free because my greatest fear had been realized, and I still had a daughter who I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

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

I just feel so much more comfortable and confident every game I play.

Who can exhaust a man? Who knows a man’s resources?

There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands.

So when these people sell out, even though they get fabulously rich, they’re gypping themselves out of one of the potentially most rewarding experiences of their unfolding lives. Without it, they may never know their values or how to keep their newfound wealth in perspective.

How simple a thing it seems to me that to know ourselves as we are, we must know our mothers names.

My music seems to have a bigger mission than I have, which is very soothing but also very strange because people see more in me than I see, which can be terrifying.

It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.

Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring minds.

God has his plans and his reasons. Sometimes we are supposed to go through things so that we learn lessons.

And I love that even in the toughest moments, when we’re all sweating it – when we’re worried that the bill won’t pass, and it seems like all is lost – Barack never lets himself get distracted by the chatter and the noise. Just like his grandmother, he just keeps getting up and moving forward… with patience and wisdom, and courage and grace.

If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.

Your Highest Self is not just an idea that sounds lofty and spiritual. It is a way of being. It is the very first principle that you must come to understand and embrace as you move toward attracting to you that which you want and need for this parenthesis in eternity that you know as your life.

You have to be smart. The easy days are over.

I think that people just have this core desire to express who they are. And I think that’s always existed.

We all have limitations. I don’t have the right genes to be an Olympic weightlifter. I don’t have the right genetics to be an Olympic sprinter. Or gymnast. Sure, if I trained my whole life, perhaps I could have become fairly decent in those sports.

Good leaders must communicate vision clearly, creatively, and continually. However, the vision doesn’t come alive until the leader models it.

Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.

The good things of prosperity are to be wished; but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired.

The things that transfixed you as a child, that you found most exciting was not a passing fancy, but a message about what you’re supposed to do.

Against my will, in the course of my travels, the belief that everything worth knowing was known at Cambridge gradually wore off. In this respect my travels were very useful to me.

I think my worst problem is actually living in the moment and understanding everything that’s going on. I feel like I’m in my own bubble.

I always thought it was wrong for me to take credit for the work that I did. I don’t think that anymore.

What a wee little part of a person’s life are his acts and his words! His real life is led in his head, and is known to none but himself.

I don’t think I’m bad for people. If I did think I was bad for people, I would go back to driving a truck, and I really mean this.

Help others and give something back. I guarantee you will discover that while public service improves the lives and the world around you, its greatest reward is the enrichment and new meaning it will bring your own life.

I’m a genetic optimist.

Have you not learned that strength comes to an ordinary soul when given an extraordinary calling?

I must govern the clock, not be governed by it.

Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.

Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.

Friendship with ones self is all important, because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world.

At the end of the day, I understand that life has road blocks, and life is like school – you’ll be tested; we gotta pass it.

I don’t want to just revolve. I want to evolve. As a man, as a human, as a father, as a lover.

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I, therefore, intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt.