Every sentence spoken by Napoleon, and every line of his writing, deserves reading, as it is the sense of France.

All my authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

If you study the writings of the mystics, you will always find things in them that appear to be paradoxes, as in Zen, particularly.

If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.

How can we help President Obama?

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

The minute you got the Nobel Peace Prize, things that I said yesterday, with nobody paying too much attention, I say the same things after I got it – oh! It was quite crucial for people, and it helped our morale because apartheid did look invincible.

When the players go home, I can’t tell them what to do, so you need to create an atmosphere of trust. I don’t want to think, ‚What are they doing now? Do I need to call them?‘

I’m a mentor to anybody who’s interested.

Be not the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.

Many years ago, I concluded that a few hair shirts were part of the mental wardrobe of every man. The president differs from other men in that he has a more extensive wardrobe.

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.

You can play fast but not in a hurry. As a point guard, I can dictate that.

My job is to play quarterback, and I’m going to do that the best way I know how, because I owe that to my teammates regardless of who is out there on the field with me.

The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.

A President needs political understanding to run the government, but he may be elected without it.

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.

One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice-president, and that one word is ‚to be prepared‘.

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.

My celebrity status allows me an opportunity, allows me a pulpit to preach and reach out to the people. Not even always preaching but just leading, motivating them by being a leader.

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.

In politics nothing is contemptible.

We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.

Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.

A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests.

What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?

Great men are like eagles, and build their nest on some lofty solitude.

When you’re not engaged in the day-to-day struggles that everybody feels, you slowly start losing touch. And I think it’s important for the people in the White House to have a finger on the pulse.

I’m no longer just a candidate. I’m the President. I know what it means to send young Americans into battle, for I have held in my arms the mothers and fathers of those who didn’t return. I’ve shared the pain of families who’ve lost their homes, and the frustration of workers who’ve lost their jobs.

Never forget that no military leader has ever become great without audacity.

He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.

Men always want to be a woman’s first love – women like to be a man’s last romance.

I believe time wounds all heels.

That is never too often repeated, which is never sufficiently learned.

Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.

All the president is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing, and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.

Twice and thrice over, as they say, good is it to repeat and review what is good.

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

I cannot lead you into battle. I do not give you laws or administer justice but I can do something else – I can give my heart and my devotion to these old islands and to all the peoples of our brotherhood of nations.

There is probably a perverse pride in my administration… that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who’s occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can’t be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.

Everything rises and falls on leadership.

I’m no leader; I’m a little humble follower.

Fools admire, but men of sense approve.

Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.

There are less than 1 per cent of anorexic girls, but there more than 30 per cent of girls in France – I don’t know about England – that are much, much overweight. And it is much more dangerous and very bad for the health.

A president either is constantly on top of events or, if he hesitates, events will soon be on top of him. I never felt that I could let up for a moment.

It is wise to persuade people to do things and make them think it was their own idea.

There is no wealth but life.

Do I think faith will be an important part of being a good president? Yes, I do.

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.

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

The people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them.

When restraint and courtesy are added to strength, the latter becomes irresistible.

Surveys show our standing around the world is higher than when I was elected to this office, and when it comes to every important international issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead – they call us.

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.

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.

When I checked into SEAL Team One many years ago, one of the things that I noticed was there was this old guy, who was younger than I am today, who I decided that I was going to be like. I wanted to emulate what he was doing, and one of those things was he got to work before anybody else.

Just as discipline and freedom are opposing forces that must be balanced, leadership requires finding the equilibrium in the dichotomy of many seemingly contradictory qualities between one extreme and another.

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

Clever tyrants are never punished.

Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.