Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

Mediocrity can talk, but it is for genius to observe.

No one person controls Microsoft. The board and the shareholders decide whether they want to have me as CEO.

I’m trying to keep a level head. You have to be careful out in the world. It’s so easy to get turned.

So live with men as if God saw you and speak to God, as if men heard you.

Well private money can take risks in a way that government money often isn’t willing to.

The risk for me would be in not taking one – that’s the only thing that’s really risky for me.

I am not one who was born in the possession of knowledge; I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it there.

If we could just find out who’s in charge, we could kill him.

Any man can call time out, but no man can say how long the time out will be.

Telling us to obey instinct is like telling us to obey ‚people.‘ People say different things: so do instincts. Our instincts are at war… Each instinct, if you listen to it, will claim to be gratified at the expense of the rest.

Life levels all men. Death reveals the eminent.

The first man gets the oyster, the second man gets the shell.

Great minds are related to the brief span of time during which they live as great buildings are to a little square in which they stand: you cannot see them in all their magnitude because you are standing too close to them.

Compromise used to mean that half a loaf was better than no bread. Among modern statesmen it really seems to mean that half a loaf; is better than a whole loaf.

Experience teaches only the teachable.

My parents pretty much realized that I would do whatever I wanted, and that was it, really.

Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand.

No greater thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.

A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.

I think one of the basic reasons men make good friends is that they can make up their minds quickly.

Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down.

To compromise simply means that you go a tiny bit below what you know is right.

Many receive advice, only the wise profit from it.

Play not with paradoxes. That caustic which you handle in order to scorch others may happen to sear your own fingers and make them dead to the quality of things.

If some years were added to my life, I would give fifty to the study of the Yi, and then I might come to be without great faults.

My mother used to tell me man gives the award, God gives the reward. I don’t need another plaque.

He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes a book.

The person who has lived the most is not the one with the most years but the one with the richest experiences.

A man can’t be too careful in the choice of his enemies.

Every man has a right to risk his own life for the preservation of it.

Remember, no one decides who they’re going to vote for based on the vice president. I mean that literally.

The new ruler must determine all the injuries that he will need to inflict. He must inflict them once and for all.

The wisest hustler can suddenly fall for the worst tramp and lose all of his money on her. The hustler is aware of his own weaknesses and openings to con. This awareness is his edge.

The time to take counsel of your fears is before you make an important battle decision. That’s the time to listen to every fear you can imagine! When you have collected all the facts and fears and made your decision, turn off all your fears and go ahead!

My books are like water; those of the great geniuses are wine. (Fortunately) everybody drinks water.

It is difficult for the common good to prevail against the intense concentration of those who have a special interest, especially if the decisions are made behind locked doors.

To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge.

All difficult things have their origin in that which is easy, and great things in that which is small.

I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone – and I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions that move the ball forward.

I always tell people that if I move anywhere it would be Toronto.

Let’s just be smart this time. I’m looking for smart.

As I approve of a youth that has something of the old man in him, so I am no less pleased with an old man that has something of the youth. He that follows this rule may be old in body, but can never be so in mind.

All this worldly wisdom was once the unamiable heresy of some wise man.

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.

I think Clinton, after getting into office and into Washington, was shocked at being bludgeoned. So he spent time trying to be all things to all people – one way guaranteed not to be successful or respected in a lion’s den. You can’t just play around with all those big cats – you’ve got to take somebody on.

I can tell you, honest friend, what to believe: believe life; it teaches better that book or orator.

I’ll be judged on the body of work and not the popularity of any one decision.

The wise man should restrain his senses like the crane and accomplish his purpose with due knowledge of his place, time and ability.

There’s many a man has more hair than wit.

A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.

It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.

Young men soon give, and soon forget, affronts; old age is slow in both.

Since the team understands that the leader is de facto in charge, in that respect, a leader has nothing to prove. But in another respect, a leader has everything to prove: Every member of the team must develop the trust and confidence that their leader will exercise good judgment, remain calm, and make the right decisions when it matters most.

As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence.

All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.

Fortunately we’re not a public company – we’re a private group of companies, and I can do what I want.

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

Play the game for more than you can afford to lose… only then will you learn the game.

I don’t write policy for my government.

The truth. It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and must therefore be treated with great caution.