Presidents quickly realize that while a single act might destroy the world they live in, no one single decision can make life suddenly better or can turn history around for the good.

A revolution can be neither made nor stopped. The only thing that can be done is for one of several of its children to give it a direction by dint of victories.

I think our politicians could learn a lot from Mandela.

I think that somehow, we learn who we really are and then live with that decision.

I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances.

A conductor can’t be too arrogant with an orchestra and try to impose himself too much.

The best leaders understand the motivations of their team members and know their people – their lives and their families. But a leader must never grow so close to subordinates that one member of the team becomes more important than another, or more important than the mission itself.

The men who have succeeded are men who have chosen one line and stuck to it.

I would hear stories about Steve Jobs and feel like he was at 100 percent exactly what he wanted to do, but I’m sure even a Steve Jobs has compromised. Even a Rick Owens has compromised. You know, even a Kanye West has compromised. Sometimes you don’t even know when you’re being compromised till after the fact, and that’s what you regret.

Of all the things I’ve done, the most vital is coordinating those who work with me and aiming their efforts at a certain goal.

An act has no ethical quality whatever unless it be chosen out of several all equally possible.

Every nation in every region now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.

I don’t think there’s any point going for second or third.

It’s easier to aim to please and say what others want to hear than to form an opinion and fight for it, even if it means taking a risk or losing your job.

In action a great heart is the chief qualification. In work, a great head.

I had rather be first in a village than second at Rome.

Conscientious people are apt to see their duty in that which is the most painful course.

No man will ever carry out of the Presidency the reputation which carried him into it.

We still think of a powerful man as a born leader and a powerful woman as an anomaly.

I think women want to take care of themselves, and I think having a voice in how that is done is very important.

I believe God wants you to have money to pay your bills, send your kids to college and do charity work and build orphanages. There’s the teaching that we’re supposed to be poor to show that we’re humble. I don’t buy that. I think we’re supposed to be leaders. We’re supposed to excel.

My job is not to represent Washington to you, but to represent you to Washington.

Every family should have the right to spend their money, after tax, as they wish, and not as the government dictates. Let us extend choice, extend the will to choose and the chance to choose.

Until the men of action clear out the talkers we who have social consciences are at the mercy of those who have none.

We need a president who will choose to do what’s best for the country, even when it doesn’t personally benefit them.

A good name is rather to be chosen than riches.

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to trust your team. It’s a lesson I’ve had to relearn quite a few times.

Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people.

Every time I try to retire, or even think of retiring from acting, my agent comes up with a script.

Quitting is the easiest thing to do.

The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.

The time has come for all evangelists to practice full financial disclosure. The world is watching how we walk and how we talk. We must have the highest standards of morality, ethics and integrity if we are to continue to have influence.

There are people who are really good managers, people who can manage a big organization, and then there are people who are very analytic or focused on strategy. Those two types don’t usually tend to be in the same person. I would put myself much more in the latter camp.

If you can ask a young man to give his life for his country, you can lead people.

The presidency has made every man who occupied it, no matter how small, bigger than he was; and no matter how big, not big enough for its demands.

A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.

The last thing I wanted to do was to be a wartime President.

I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.

Inability to make decisions is one of the principal reasons executives fail. Deficiency in decision-making ranks much higher than lack of specific knowledge or technical know-how as an indicator of leadership failure.

If you only do things where you know the answer in advance, your company goes away.

My parents didn’t want to move to Florida, but they turned sixty and that’s the law.

A hero is born among a hundred, a wise man is found among a thousand, but an accomplished one might not be found even among a hundred thousand men.

Rhetoric is a poor substitute for action, and we have trusted only to rhetoric. If we are really to be a great nation, we must not merely talk; we must act big.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

Leadership is absolutely vital if there are comparable countries which can affect the security of the world you live in. Between Lincoln and Roosevelt’s time, America was protected by huge oceans and, in practice, by the British navy. Today, it’s different, and the obsession of the Obama administration has been for retrenchment.

Too often the great decisions are originated and given form in bodies made up wholly of men, or so completely dominated by them that whatever of special value women have to offer is shunted aside without expression.

All leaders in the Lord’s Church are called by proper authority. No prophet or any other leader in this Church, for that matter, has ever called himself or herself. No prophet has ever been elected.

Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends.

Personally, I’d like to see more of our leaders take a technocratic approach to solving our biggest problems.

If someone you know makes a bad decision or uses bad judgment, it doesn’t mean you have to allow that to alter your attitude. Why should you allow anyone else’s bad decisions to send you into a tailspin of misery?

I don’t think it’s a good idea to plan to sell a company.

This nuclear option is ultimately an example of the arrogance of power.

In crises the most daring course is often safest.

I don’t want to spend money the club doesn’t have; I don’t want to hold a player that doesn’t want to stay.

The only possible effect one can have on the world is through unpopular ideas.

You want me to own a team and deal with these rich, spoiled stubborn athletes, and try to get them to perform? No thank you.

Solutions are not the answer.

But for me to have the opportunity to stand in front of a bunch of executives and present myself, I had to hustle in my own way. I can’t tell you how frustrating it was that they didn’t get that. No joke – I’d leave meetings crying all the time.

No woman in my time will be prime minister or chancellor or foreign secretary – not the top jobs. Anyway, I wouldn’t want to be prime minister; you have to give yourself 100 percent.

I just think overall there’s not as many female ministers than there are male ministers.

With Benghazi, I don’t see anyone saying, ‚Hey look, I am overall responsible for this and therefore, I take responsibility for what happened. It’s my fault.‘ I haven’t heard that yet. Meanwhile, the other side of the coin, the Osama bin Laden raid, it seems everyone made that decision, and that’s just unbelievable to me.