Especially when you’re at a high level in an organization, criticism can be devastating to an employee. I prefer to praise employees for what they’re doing right, and it tends to lead to them doing more of the same. Not always, but it’s the way I choose to bet.

It is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it… anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

The men who have guided the destiny of the United States have found the strength for their tasks by going to their knees. This private unity of public men and their God is an enduring source of reassurance for the people of America.

The Creator has not thought proper to mark those in the forehead who are of stuff to make good generals. We are first, therefore, to seek them blindfold, and then let them learn the trade at the expense of great losses.

Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.

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

The British people know that, given strong leadership, time, and a little bit of hope, the forces of good ultimately rally and triumph over evil.

Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country.

Self-centered leaders manipulate when they move people for personal benefit. Mature leaders motivate by moving people for mutual benefit.

It’s much worse to read criticism about your son than yourself.

If you can’t tolerate critics, don’t do anything new or interesting.

I began revolution with 82 men. If I had to do it again, I do it with 10 or 15 and absolute faith. It does not matter how small you are if you have faith and plan of action.

After the first International Days of Protest in October, 1965, Senator Mansfield criticized the ‚sense of utter irresponsibility‘ shown by the demonstrators.

I do believe that any successful business starts from the top and works its way down.

To supervise people, you must either surpass them in their accomplishments or despise them.

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.

The onus is on the managers to send out an attacking formation and to tell their players to be bold.

You know I vowed when I became President not to talk about the loneliest toughest job in the world and I didn’t.

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.

You’ve all seen over the last eight years what President Obama means to this country. He is the embodiment of honor, resolve, and character – one of the finest presidents we have ever had.

I loved being Secretary of State, that’s probably evident to everyone who watched me.

Decadence is a difficult word to use since it has become little more than a term of abuse applied by critics to anything they do not yet understand or which seems to differ from their moral concepts.

I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end… I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me.

Unless and until you inspire the people, you will not get results. Imposition will never give you the results. Inspiration will always give you the results.

There is but one way for a president to deal with Congress, and that is continuously, incessantly, and without interruption. If it is really going to work, the relationship has got to be almost incestuous.

The true measure of the value of any business leader and manager is performance.

I think that a president needs to have a variety of views presented. But also, there has to be a team effort, because otherwise, I think it creates a dissonance and difficulty.

At Microsoft there are lots of brilliant ideas but the image is that they all come from the top – I’m afraid that’s not quite right.

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

To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.

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.

When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing more to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.

Hillary doesn’t play. She has more experience and exposure to the presidency than any candidate in our lifetime – yes, more than Barack, more than Bill. So she is absolutely ready to be Commander-in-Chief on day one. And, yes, she happens to be a woman.

Political courage is not political suicide.

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.

When you are president, being able to clearly articulate detailed plans to help the people of this country is a good thing. Knowing what you’re doing is a good thing. And let me tell you, Hillary Clinton absolutely knows what she’s doing.

It is as hard and severe a thing to be a true politician as to be truly moral.

Let the refining and improving of your own life keep you so busy that you have little time to criticize others.

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

He who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled.

I do not doubt that we would become more useful if we praised God more, and others would join us, for they would see that God has blessed us.

Since it is difficult to join them together, it is safer to be feared than to be loved when one of the two must be lacking.

Practice Golden-Rule 1 of Management in everything you do. Manage others the way you would like to be managed.

I am often asked if, when I was secretary, I had problems with foreign men. That is not who I had problems with, because I arrived in a very large plane that said United States of America. I had more problems with the men in our own government.

No accurate thinker will judge another person by that which the other person’s enemies say about him.

I had never been in charge of anything. I’d always worked for someone. I worked for a furniture warehouse. I did masonry. I always had a boss yelling at me. So I’d never been in charge of an organization.

Kings will be tyrants from policy, when subjects are rebels from principle.

Their is no defense against criticism except obscurity.

Many people, including some conservatives, have been very impressed with how brainy the president and his advisers are. But that is not quite as reassuring as it might seem.

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.

Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.

Power is the measure of the degree of control you have over circumstances in your life and the actions of the people around you. It is a skill that is developed by a deep understanding of human nature, of what truly motivates people, and of the manipulations necessary for advancement and protection.

When you give everyone a voice and give people power, the system usually ends up in a really good place. So, what we view our role as, is giving people that power.

Policy makers who have never served in the military continue to use the military to lead social change in this country.

I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.

Unless a reviewer has the courage to give you unqualified praise, I say ignore the bastard.

Use power to help people. For we are given power not to advance our own purposes nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power and it is to serve people.

Conventional people are roused to fury by departure from convention, largely because they regard such departure as a criticism of themselves.

The presidency has many problems, but boredom is the least of them.

And I will do everything that I can as long as I am President of the United States to remind the American people that we are one nation under God, and we may call that God different names but we remain one nation.

Politicians must set their aims for the high ground and according to our various leanings, Democratic, Republican, Independent, we will follow. Politicians must be told if they continue to sink into the mud of obscenity, they will proceed alone.