Every first-term president has to learn something after he comes into office. Nobody can be completely ready for the inevitable crises.

If you’re going to change things, you have to be with the people who hold the levers.

I have a cult-like following because I exemplify what it is to be a human being.

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

I always tell people that you should only hire people to be on your team if you would work for them.

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

The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be… The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

I love that for Barack, there is no such thing as ‚us‘ and ‚them‘ – he doesn’t care whether you’re a Democrat, a Republican, or none of the above… he knows that we all love our country… and he’s always ready to listen to good ideas… he’s always looking for the very best in everyone he meets.

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.

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.

I want to be just a pure spiritual leader.

A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don’t have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed.

I think I was identified as a failed president because I wasn’t re-elected.

We can’t allow the world’s worst leaders to blackmail, threaten, hold freedom-loving nations hostage with the world’s worst weapons.

The President is not only the leader of a party, he is the President of the whole people. He must interpret the conscience of America. He must guide his conduct by the idealism of our people.

For Forms of Government let fools contest; whatever is best administered is best.

There’s no difference between one’s killing and making decisions that will send others to kill. It’s exactly the same thing, or even worse.

In the long-run every Government is the exact symbol of its People, with their wisdom and unwisdom; we have to say, Like People like Government.

Some day I shall be President.

Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.

High office teaches decision making, not substance. It consumes intellectual capital; it does not create it. Most high officials leave office with the perceptions and insights with which they entered; they learn how to make decisions but not what decisions to make.

I think whether you’re having setbacks or not, the role of a leader is to always display a winning attitude.

It is a fine thing to have ability, but the ability to discover ability in others is the true test.

One civilization after another has been wrecked upon the attempt to secure sufficient leadership from a single group or class.

Anywhere in Latin America there is a potential threat of the pathology of caudillismo and it has to be guarded against.

Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together.

Certainly in the next 50 years we shall see a woman president, perhaps sooner than you think. A woman can and should be able to do any political job that a man can do.

There’s a lack of people in power that are motivated by the idea of helping people.

I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is opposed to every instinct in my body. But as president I must put the interests of America first Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow.

But I do not believe that the world would be entirely different if there were more women leaders. Maybe if everybody in leadership was a woman, you might not get into the conflicts in the first place. But if you watch the women who have made it to the top, they haven’t exactly been non-aggressive – including me.

When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.

The time comes upon every public man when it is best for him to keep his lips closed.

Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.

Having the support from everyone, the bosses, whoever within the team, definitely makes it much easier for me as a driver.

As a leader, you have to have the ability to assimilate new information and understand that there might be a different view.

Of course we all know Biden is the intellect of the Democratic Party. Kind of a grin with a body behind it.

This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector.

Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

The people who are doing the work are the moving force behind the Macintosh. My job is to create a space for them, to clear out the rest of the organization and keep it at bay.

History has proven that each generation of Howard graduates will forge the way forward for our country and our world.

I don’t want to tell President Obama how to make a speech. He’s a much better speech maker than I am. But I think always to tell the truth in a sometimes blatant way, even though it might be temporarily unpopular, is the best approach.

The man who occupies the first place seldom plays the principal part.

A company is a group organized to create a product or service, and it is only as good as its people and how excited they are about creating. I do want to recognize a ton of super-talented people. I just happen to be the face of the companies.

No one ever teaches well who wants to teach, or governs well who wants to govern.

I think our politicians could learn a lot from Mandela.

The leaders come up from the volunteers that do the work, and it’s amazing because then they do these incredible things in their community that they never thought they had the power to make that happen.

War should be the only study of a prince. He should consider peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes as ability to execute, military plans.

You cannot be President of the United States if you don’t have faith. Remember Lincoln, going to his knees in times of trial in the Civil War and all that stuff.

I think a number of the leaders are, whether you like it or not, in the hip-hop generation. And when they understand enough, they’ll do wonders. I count on them.

Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish – too much handling will spoil it.

People make a big fuss over you when you’re President. But I’m very serious about doing everything I can to make sure that it doesn’t go to my head.

Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.

How can we help President Obama?

We must think and act like a nation of a billion people and not like that of a million people. Dream, dream, dream!

When you want a thing done, ‚Don’t do it yourself‘ is a good motto for Scoutmasters.

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

Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.

I speak directly to the people, and I know that the people of California want to have better leadership. They want to have great leadership. They want to have somebody that will represent them. And it doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or a Republican, young or old.

The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.

The wicked leader is he who the people despise. The good leader is he who the people revere. The great leader is he who the people say, ‚We did it ourselves.‘

Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.