I just think you ought to talk straight with your people.

Putin goes to bed at night knowing he can break all the rules, and the West will follow all the rules.

Groups that rose from poverty to prosperity seldom did so by having their own racial or ethnic leaders to follow.

One’s only rival is one’s own potentialities. One’s only failure is failing to live up to one’s own possibilities. In this sense, every man can be a king, and must therefore be treated like a king.

I think what’s important is for us to decipher what is honest and what is dishonest and be accepting of those things and not operating from fear.

Power is poison. Its effect on Presidents had always been tragic.

In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood.

If I made a commitment, I stood by that commitment – and try to make it real. Because when you become leaders, the most important thing you have is your word, your trust. That’s where respect comes from.

I love that for Barack, there is no such thing as ‚us‘ and ‚them‘ – he doesn’t care whether you’re a Democrat, a Republican, or none of the above… he knows that we all love our country… and he’s always ready to listen to good ideas… he’s always looking for the very best in everyone he meets.

I promised myself that I would write as well as I can, tell the truth, not to tell everything I know, but to make sure that everything I tell is true, as I understand it. And to use the eloquence which my language affords me.

We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less.

Before I lost my voice, it was slurred, so only those close to me could understand, but with the computer voice, I found I could give popular lectures. I enjoy communicating science. It is important that the public understands basic science, if they are not to leave vital decisions to others.

Many years ago, I concluded that a few hair shirts were part of the mental wardrobe of every man. The president differs from other men in that he has a more extensive wardrobe.

It constitutes a superhuman effort to lead any people in times of crisis. Without them, the changes would be impossible.

There is one way to have a short but exciting conversation with me, and that is to move too slow.

I boldly assert, in fact I think I know, that a lot of friendships and connections absolutely depend upon a sort of shared language, or slang. Not necessarily designed to exclude others, this can establish a certain comity and, even after a long absence, re-establish it in a second.

Prayer is such a basic foundation of a Christian’s relationship with God. It’s how we communicate and fellowship with Him. But a surprising number of people, young and old, new and even long-time Christians, say they’re not satisfied with their prayer life.

I don’t say very much I don’t really think through. I know that sounds inconsistent with Joe Biden.

Certainly in the next 50 years we shall see a woman president, perhaps sooner than you think. A woman can and should be able to do any political job that a man can do.

Children say that people are hung sometimes for speaking the truth.

He that would live in peace and at ease must not speak all he knows or all he sees.

I have a family, loving aunts, and a good home. No, on the surface I seem to have everything except my one true friend. All I think about when I’m with friends is having a good time. I can’t bring myself to talk about anything but ordinary everyday things. We don’t seem to be able to get any closer, and that’s the problem.

If you’re lying, you’re lying.

Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.

Surveys show our standing around the world is higher than when I was elected to this office, and when it comes to every important international issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead – they call us.

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

Eloquence is a painting of the thoughts.

Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.

You carry Mother Earth within you. She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your environment. In that insight of inter-being, it is possible to have real communication with the Earth, which is the highest form of prayer.

If I’m going to get you to do stuff, I need to lead you. I can’t just order you to do it.

Man is always looking for someone to boast to; woman is always looking for a shoulder to put her head on.

I try to speak in a way that people can understand.

Leadership is influence.

When a man says he had pleasure with a woman he does not mean conversation.

‚No comment‘ is a splendid expression. I am using it again and again.

Everywhere I go I find that people… both leaders and individuals… are asking one basic question, ‚Is there any hope for the future?‘ My answer is the same, ‚Yes, through Jesus Christ.‘

The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly greater than that of any other animal.

It may happen sometimes that a long debate becomes the cause of a longer friendship. Commonly, those who dispute with one another at last agree.

The Creator has not thought proper to mark those in the forehead who are of stuff to make good generals. We are first, therefore, to seek them blindfold, and then let them learn the trade at the expense of great losses.

I began revolution with 82 men. If I had to do it again, I do it with 10 or 15 and absolute faith. It does not matter how small you are if you have faith and plan of action.

I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is opposed to every instinct in my body. But as president I must put the interests of America first Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow.

The government’s job is good governance for everybody. My government will make policies; if you fit into it, come on board, or stay where you are. My job is not to spoon-feed anyone.

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.

A president has an inescapable responsibility to provide direction: What are we trying to achieve? What are we trying to prevent? Why? To do that, he has to both analyze and reflect.

My name can’t be that tough to pronounce!

I really think that there was a great advantage in many ways to being a woman. I think we are a lot better at personal relationships, and then have the capability obviously of telling it like it is when it’s necessary.

The man of life upright has a guiltless heart, free from all dishonest deeds or thought of vanity.

Talk that does not end in any kind of action is better suppressed altogether.

The royal road to a man’s heart is to talk to him about the things he treasures most.

When I’m nervous, I stutter, and I had to keep stopping and starting.

Such a chimerical idea as telegraphing vocal sounds would indeed, to most minds, seem scarcely feasible enough to spend time in working over. I believe, however, that it is feasible and that I have got the cue to the solution of the problem.

Drawing is the honesty of the art. There is no possibility of cheating. It is either good or bad.

The precepts of the law are these: to live honestly, to injure no one, and to give everyone else his due.

When I was in college I did a lot of stupid things and I don’t want to make an excuse for that. Some of the things that people accuse me of are true, some of them aren’t. There are pranks, IMs.

Lying is not only saying what isn’t true. It is also, in fact especially, saying more than is true and, in the case of the human heart, saying more than one feels. We all do it, every day, to make life simpler.

Talking with a friend is nothing else but thinking aloud.

The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away.

We must think and act like a nation of a billion people and not like that of a million people. Dream, dream, dream!

A person hears only what they understand.

So, for example, a country was into recession right after I was sworn in, a dot-com bust had taken place. Then the attacks of September the 11th, and then of course the great financial meltdown in the -the fundamental question facing any presidency is how do you deal with the hand you’re dealt?

The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.