I don’t like to see a president who is just out campaigning all year long or for the last four years. I’d like to see somebody who’s going in the office. In fact, I’d like to not see them because that way you’d be sure that they’d be working.

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.

When you’re around me and really see that all I do is live and breathe for my work, it’s not strange, it’s just Gaga.

I despise people who go to the gutter on either the right or the left and hurl rocks at those in the center.

I wanted to sell a million records, and I sold a million records. I wanted to go platinum; I went platinum. I’ve been working nonstop since I was 15. I don’t even know how to chill out.

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.

It’s not just a matter of whether you support Obama or Romney. It’s who they have coming with them. I always keep my powder dry, as they say in the military.

Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.

Political chaos is connected with the decay of language… one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end.

Our brand of democracy is hard. But I can promise that a year from now, when I no longer hold this office, I’ll be right there with you as a citizen – inspired by those voices of fairness and vision, of grit and good humor and kindness that have helped America travel so far.

Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint.

I love that we can trust Barack to do what he says he’s going to do, even when it’s hard – especially when it’s hard.

Govern a great nation as you would cook a small fish. Do not overdo it.

We are right to take alarm at the first experiment upon our liberties.

I was losing interest in politics, when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. What I have done since then is pretty well known.

At Microsoft there are lots of brilliant ideas but the image is that they all come from the top – I’m afraid that’s not quite right.

If I can be a leader, I will.

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.

Except for the title ‚father,‘ there is no title, including ‚vice president,‘ that I am more proud to wear than that of United States senator.

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.

In action a great heart is the chief qualification. In work, a great head.

Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.

Listen, I think that people want a president who is going to be interested in the things that keep them up at night, the things that are weighing on them, the things that are debilitating and can be addressed.

A lot has happened over the years. And while this nation has been tested by war, and it’s been tested by recession and all manner of challenges – I stand before you again tonight, after almost two terms as your president, to tell you I am more optimistic about the future of America than ever before.

By 1960, the South Africans knew that they were becoming a pariah state.

One of the finest statesmen of the present time is also a first-class scout, and that is Mr. Roosevelt, the late President of the United States of America.

We learned about dignity and decency – that how hard you work matters more than how much you make… that helping others means more than just getting ahead yourself.

Trump is a national disgrace and an international pariah.

Democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.

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

When the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service. They will become flatterers instead of legislators; the instruments, not the guides, of the people.

I spend a great deal of time with the President. We have a very close, personal, loyal relationship. I’m not, as they say, a potted plant in these meetings.

People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook. I earned everything I’ve got.

I think that people are tired. They’re tired of the same old kind of politics. People want a new tone to politics.

Ronald Reagan used to alarm his Soviet counterparts by saying that surely they’d both unite against an invasion from Mars.

Politics is just like show business. You have a hell of an opening, coast for a while, and then have a hell of a close.

Most members of Congress are politicians. They’re bores.

I am confident that when the facts and policies have been examined, when the record of performances have been reviewed, Barack Obama and Joe Biden will once again be elected to lead our beloved country to a better future.

I claim that human mind or human society is not divided into watertight compartments called social, political and religious. All act and react upon one another.

A good Catholic meddles in politics, offering the best of himself, so that those who govern can govern. But what is the best that we can offer to those who govern? Prayer!

There is no more independence in politics than there is in jail.

I hope that no American will waste his franchise and throw away his vote by voting either for me or against me solely on account of my religious affiliation. It is not relevant.

I would hear stories about Steve Jobs and feel like he was at 100 percent exactly what he wanted to do, but I’m sure even a Steve Jobs has compromised. Even a Rick Owens has compromised. You know, even a Kanye West has compromised. Sometimes you don’t even know when you’re being compromised till after the fact, and that’s what you regret.

Men of lofty genius sometimes accomplish the most when they work least, for their minds are occupied with their ideas and the perfection of their conceptions, to which they afterwards give form.

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.

When you give everyone a voice and give people power, the system usually ends up in a really good place. So, what we view our role as, is giving people that power.

To rule is easy, to govern difficult.

Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.

The United States tyrannizes and pillages the globalized world with its political, economic, technological, and military might.

And they that rule in England, in stately conclaves met, alas, alas for England they have no graves as yet.

Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.

One of the things that was really an issue was I did not want to just be a woman secretary of state. I wanted to be a secretary of a state who was a woman, but not just chosen for that particular reason.

Therefore, the good of man must be the end of the science of politics.

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

That government is best which governs least.

I have my flaws too, but I am a professional who doesn’t like to miss or lose.

It’d be stupid for me to sit here and say that there aren’t kids who look up to me, but my responsibility is not to them. I’m not a baby sitter.

Obama himself has been highly supportive of Mubarak.

When I started Virgin from a basement in west London, there was no great plan or strategy. I didn’t set out to build a business empire… For me, building a business is all about doing something to be proud of, bringing talented people together and creating something that’s going to make a real difference to other people’s lives.

Nixon was no more a saint than he was a great president.