I believe the most solemn duty of the American president is to protect the American people. If America shows uncertainty and weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch.

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.

When it comes to the qualifications that we should demand of our president, to start with, we need someone who will take the job seriously.

Every loss of life is terrible.

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.

I always wonder when it was that I was embraced.

I’m the president of the United States. I’m not the emperor of the United States.

I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.

I don’t run restaurants that are out of control. We are about establishing phenomenal footholdings with talent.

My mother had a saying: ‚Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you’re not the last.‘

Here in the West, people often don’t like listening to their leaders, even if they are right.

The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that… it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.

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

When you’re around the kids, you feel like you act the most grown up just because you’re supposed to lead. I say things, like every other parent, that reminds you of your own parents. One thing I do know about being a parent, you understand why your father was in a bad mood a lot.

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.

I used to say to my late wife, ‚I have great faith in the American people.‘

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

Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time.

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.

A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.

God not only plays dice, He also sometimes throws the dice where they cannot be seen.

The squandering of oil and gas is associated with one of the greatest tragedies, not in the least resolved, which is suffered by humankind: climate change.

There is always something infinitely mean about other people’s tragedies.

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.

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

The more I see the less I know for sure.

Leaders in all spheres who are living with HIV should be encouraged, not coerced, to lead by example and disclose their HIV status.

And I think it’s that time. And I think if you just step aside and Mr. Romney can kind of take over. You can maybe still use a plane. Though maybe a smaller one. Not that big gas guzzler you are going around to colleges and talking about student loans and stuff like that.

I will keep America moving forward, always forward, for a better America, for an endless enduring dream and a thousand Points of Light. This is my mission, and I will complete it.

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

Most businesses think that product is the most important thing, but without great leadership, mission and a team that deliver results at a high level, even the best product won’t make a company successful.

All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.

If you are a leader, you should never forget that everyone needs encouragement. And everyone who receives it – young or old, successful or less-than-successful, unknown or famous – is changed by it.

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.

Little children are still the symbol of the eternal marriage between love and duty.

We are afraid to care too much, for fear that the other person does not care at all.

People invest in businesses that they believe have the leadership, mission and team to grow and operate profitably.

Whatever position I occupied, it was the result of colleagues – of my comrades in the movement – who had decided in their wisdom to use me for the purpose of focusing the attention of the country and the international community on me.

We also can’t try to take over and rebuild every country that falls into crisis. That’s not leadership; that’s a recipe for quagmire, spilling American blood and treasure that ultimately weakens us. It’s the lesson of Vietnam, of Iraq – and we should have learned it by now.

If you call yourself a leader, then you have to be decisive. If you’re decisive, then you have the chance to be a leader. These are two sides to the same coin.

I set up situations that involve abandoning control and finding out what happens.

What we have to do, what at any rate it is our duty to do, is to revive the old art of Lying.

Simulated disorder postulates perfect discipline; simulated fear postulates courage; simulated weakness postulates strength.

Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth’s surface relative to other matter; second, telling other people to do so.

I can’t explain 9/11, except the evil of man.

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.

There is a time for departure even when there’s no certain place to go.

Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.

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

I believe the American people have a genuine and justifiable fear of government intrusion in what they instinctively know is going to be an ever more intrusive world.

Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in the desert.

Every possession and every happiness is but lent by chance for an uncertain time, and may therefore be demanded back the next hour.

I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one or the other.

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.

When I was a little girl, I always dreamed of being a star. I didn’t really know what all that meant. I didn’t know.

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

You can tell the tree by the fruit it bears. You see it through what the organization is delivering as far as a concrete program. If the tree’s fruit sours or grows brackish, then the time has come to chop it down – bury it and walk over it and plant new seeds.

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.

When you are winning a war almost everything that happens can be claimed to be right and wise.

I believe in Coach Louis Wong. He is so much more than just a football coach.

We cannot wish for that we know not.