I hate letting my teammates down. I know I’m not going to make every shot. Sometimes I try to make the right play, and if it results in a loss, I feel awful. I don’t feel awful because I have to answer questions about it. I feel awful in that locker room because I could have done something more to help my teammates win.

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

Nobody knows me.

A lot of people have a sense-of-entitlement mentality that somebody else ought to do these things for them. People are mad at the government for not getting jobs for them. I don’t understand why it’s the government’s responsibility.

Information helps you to see that you’re not alone. That there’s somebody in Mississippi and somebody in Tokyo who all have wept, who’ve all longed and lost, who’ve all been happy. So the library helps you to see, not only that you are not alone, but that you’re not really any different from everyone else.

You must keep raising this game to higher and higher levels, as on the pool table – mastering eventually the psychological angles. Your playing is a pleasure, all the way to the end, to death, when the game is over.

How can we help President Obama?

I have never yet seen any plan which has not been mended by the observations of those who were much inferior in understanding to the person who took the lead in the business.

History reminds us that dictators and despots arise during times of severe economic crisis.

Presidents quickly realize that while a single act might destroy the world they live in, no one single decision can make life suddenly better or can turn history around for the good.

Duty cannot exist without faith.

Concede that the new government of Louisiana is only to what it should be, as the egg is to the fowl; we shall sooner have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it.

My husband and I had to raise five of my younger brothers and sisters. They lived with us. We sent them to school.

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.

Did you know there’s a difference between being busy and being fruitful? Did you ever stop to think that just being busy – running around in circles all day but not accomplishing anything – is the same as wasting your time? It’s frustrating to expend so much energy and time and not have any fruit from your effort!

As a leader, the first person I need to lead is me. The first person that I should try to change is me.

Solidarity is an attitude of resistance, I suppose, or it should be.

I just wanted to write something about running, but I realized that to write about my running is to write about my writing. It’s a parallel thing in me.

For me, the way I stay consistent is through stand-up comedy.

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

My model for business is The Beatles: They were four guys that kept each others‘ negative tendencies in check; they balanced each other. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts.

I make impact plays. I make game-changing plays.

Leaders are responsible not for running public opinion polls but for the consequences of their actions.

It’s OK for China to invent cancer drugs that cure patients in the United States. We want them to catch up. But as the leader, we want to keep setting a very, very high standard. We don’t want them to catch up because we’re slowing down or, even worse, going into reverse.

I fear that many a man’s good resolutions only need the ordinary fire of daily life to make them melt away. So, too, with fine professions and the boastings of perfection which abound in this age of shams.

Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We, of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.

Self-centered leaders manipulate when they move people for personal benefit. Mature leaders motivate by moving people for mutual benefit.

It is not so much our friends‘ help that helps us, as the confidence of their help.

I want a president with a record of public service: someone whose life’s work shows our children that we don’t chase form and fortune for ourselves; we fight to give everyone a chance to succeed.

One must steer, not talk.

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.

When your dream is bigger than you are, you only have two choices: give up or get help.

These are all personal crises, I’m sure, that I manifest in a song format and project into physical situations. You make little stories up about how you feel. It’s as simple as that.

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

A general is just as good or just as bad as the troops under his command make him.

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

If misery loves company, misery has company enough.

A lot of times, people make other people responsible for their joy: ‚You’re not making me happy, you’re not doing this, you’re not doing that.‘

I would just say there is one misperception of our veterans, and that is they are somehow damaged goods. I don’t buy it.

My dad was like a stage mother he always pushed me to do what I wanted.

Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not himself find peace.

I have two Golden Boot awards at home. It would be nice to win another, but I wouldn’t mind it if I didn’t.

At the end of the day, when it comes time to make that decision, as president, all you have to guide you are your values, and your vision, and the life experiences that make you who you are.

I do all the evil I can before I learn to shun it? Is it not enough to know the evil to shun it? If not, we should be sincere enough to admit that we love evil too well to give it up.

I’m sure everyone knows now that only a few have performed in Madison Square Garden. That list is so small. Now I’m on that list. I’m a part of a very small group, which is unbelievable. You relish in that moment for a second.

A public man must never forget that he loses his usefulness when he as an individual, rather than his policy, becomes the issue.

A man will speedily sit down and sympathize with a friend’s griefs, but if he sees him honored and esteemed, he is apt to regard him as a rival and does not so readily rejoice with him. This ought not to be; without effort, we ought to be happy in our brother’s happiness.

We are rarely proud when we are alone.

I try not to think about my life. I have no life. I need therapy.

My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.

Encouragement to others is something everyone can give. Somebody needs what you have to give. It may not be your money; it may be your time. It may be your listening ear. It may be your arms to encourage. It may be your smile to uplift. Who knows?

You think that the heads of state only have serious conversations, but they actually often begin really with the weather or, ‚I really like your tie.‘

I try to do the fancy things out there by going with both hands, making crossover moves, and having a certain creativity and flair to my game.

I feel like my message is to let people know that God is a good God, that He’s on their side, and no matter what happens, He has a great plan for them.

Especially when you’re at a high level in an organization, criticism can be devastating to an employee. I prefer to praise employees for what they’re doing right, and it tends to lead to them doing more of the same. Not always, but it’s the way I choose to bet.

Honestly, I’ve been thinking lately about how boring I am. When I do get time to myself, I watch TV.

To some extent I happily don’t know what I’m doing. I feel that it’s an artist’s responsibility to trust that.

Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.

We don’t believe in planners and deciders making the decisions on behalf of Americans.

When you want a thing done, ‚Don’t do it yourself‘ is a good motto for Scoutmasters.

I don’t keep people around me that aren’t family. You don’t get to stay. Unless you’re eating at the table with us, you’re not part. We eat together, we cry together, we live together, we die together. Everything that we do is for each other, and we care for another.