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

Life is not long, and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent.

If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help… Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.

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.

Well begun is half done.

I would venture to guess that the biggest reason creative types don’t produce isn’t because they don’t have vision… or talent… in most cases, it’s a lack of discipline.

Back in the day, what motivated me was overcoming myself. Now I believe in being a leader. I’ve done it all – I’m good. Now, it’s about setting an example for others to follow. I can’t just talk it – I have to live it.

The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work.

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.

People and organizations don’t grow much without delegation and completed staff work because they are confined to the capacities of the boss and reflect both personal strengths and weaknesses.

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

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

But even the President of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked.

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

I play a complicated position in an intensely team-oriented game.

If I can be a leader, I will.

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

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.

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

Time abides long enough for those who make use of it.

The faults of a superior person are like the sun and moon. They have their faults, and everyone sees them; they change and everyone looks up to them.

Everything rises and falls on leadership.

What matters in the Sun-tzu universe are not positions of strength and power, but situations in which you have options, full of potential force.

Some single mind must be master, else there will be no agreement in anything.

Behind every successful man is a woman, behind her is his wife.

Every man, every woman who has to take up the service of government, must ask themselves two questions: ‚Do I love my people in order to serve them better? Am I humble and do I listen to everybody, to diverse opinions in order to choose the best path?‘ If you don’t ask those questions, your governance will not be good.

I’ve been a mogul and executive since the beginning of my career. People are just born with that skill.

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.

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.

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 I took over as president, I studied the Constitution, and the more I studied it, the more I realised that it does not prevent the president of India from giving the nation a vision. So when I went and presented this vision in Parliament and in legislative assemblies; everyone welcomed it, irrespective of party affiliations.

Put two or three men in positions of conflicting authority. This will force them to work at loggerheads, allowing you to be the ultimate arbiter.

I believe that many of my young guys lived because I didn’t waste their lives because I didn’t have the vision in my mind of how to destroy the enemy at least cost to our guys and to the innocents on the battlefields.

In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.

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

Trouble springs from idleness, and grievous toil from needless ease.

Never do things others can do and will do if there are things others cannot do or will not do.

When I finish something, I want it out that day. Pop music is like the daily paper. Its got to be there then, not six months later.

Most people don’t like change. They revolt against it unless they can clearly see the advantage it brings. For that reason, when good leaders prepare to take action or make changes, they take people through a process to get them ready for it.

Leadership is influence.

This is a world of action, and not for moping and droning in.

What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.

I know of no single formula for success. But over the years I have observed that some attributes of leadership are universal and are often about finding ways of encouraging people to combine their efforts, their talents, their insights, their enthusiasm and their inspiration to work together.

Life being very short, and the quiet hours of it few, we ought to waste none of them in reading valueless books.

Our friends at the Republican convention were more than happy to talk about everything they think is wrong with America, but they didn’t have much to say about how they’d make it right. They want your vote, but they don’t want you to know their plan.

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

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.

There is one kind of robber whom the law does not strike at, and who steals what is most precious to men: time.

In every society some men are born to rule, and some to advise.

A man is not paid for having a head and hands, but for using them.

A little over 5% of the world’s population produces almost 29% of the world’s goods and services.

I’ve actually not read any books on time management.

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

We must use time creatively.

I’m more than comfortable just sitting back and scoring 21, 22 points or whatever and getting 10, 11 assists whatever the case might be. More than comfortable with that. It’s just a matter of the pieces that you have around you and what you can do to elevate everybody else.

I never drink coffee at lunch. I find it keeps me awake for the afternoon.

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

The important thing is that your teammates have to know you’re pulling for them and you really want them to be successful.

Delay is preferable to error.

Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you.