I never knew whether to pity or congratulate a man on coming to his senses.

People want to go out and travel around and meet cool people. I could just go live in Vermont, but is that what I really want?

I act on impulse and I go with my instincts.

In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.

Our problem right now is that we’re so specialized that if the lights go out, there are a huge number of people who are not going to know what to do. But within every dystopia there’s a little utopia.

Never get married in college; it’s hard to get a start if a prospective employer finds you’ve already made one mistake.

The way to develop decisiveness is to start right where you are, with the very next question you face.

Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time is because we’re hardwired not to always think clearly when we’re scared. And the country’s scared.

Quitting is the easiest thing to do.

It’s getting harder to make decisions to just want to do something to work… I’m trying to find things that are extremely challenging or mean something to me deeply.

It’s not worth doing something unless you were doing something that someone, somewere, would much rather you weren’t doing.

An act has no ethical quality whatever unless it be chosen out of several all equally possible.

Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand.

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.

I had three points I wanted to make: That not everybody in Hollywood is on the left, that Obama has broken a lot of the promises he made when he took office, and that the people should feel free to get rid of any politician who’s not doing a good job. But I didn’t make up my mind exactly what I was going to say until I said it.

We only consult the ear because the heart is wanting.

I accept chaos, I’m not sure whether it accepts me.

Wise men don’t need advice. Fools won’t take it.

You pity the fool because you don’t want to beat up a fool! You know, pity is between sorry and mercy. See, if you pity him, you know, you won’t have to beat him up. So that’s why I say fools, you gotta give another chance because they don’t know no better. That’s why I pity them!

It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

It has not yet become obvious to me that there’s no real problem. I cannot define the real problem; therefore, I suspect there’s no real problem, but I’m not sure there’s no real problem.

Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions – Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead.

In business, if you realize you’ve made a bad decision, you change it.

Jump out the window if you are the object of passion. Flee it if you feel it. Passion goes, boredom remains.

In crises the most daring course is often safest.

I don’t ever make moves under pressure.

You never know with these things when you’re trying something new what can happen. This is all experimental.

It is difficult for the common good to prevail against the intense concentration of those who have a special interest, especially if the decisions are made behind locked doors.

The business aspect is one of the most important things about having a music career, because every choice you make in a management meeting affects your life a year-and-a-half from now.

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.

Some people feel affronted when something they thought to be true doesn’t happen. If that’s the case, then your sense of risk is much higher, and that leads to risk aversion. You need to be able to be comfortable in uncertainty.

If you gonna wear the mohawk, you stick with it. You don’t just be dibby-dabbing. You make up your mind.

There is probably a perverse pride in my administration… that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who’s occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can’t be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.

It’s hard to speculate what tomorrow may bring.

The day-to-day making of policy is arguing all the time. You’re trying to get the right approach and the right answer, and there are moments that aren’t very pleasant. But in the end, you look at the overall product.

Would you bet your paycheck on a weather forecast for tomorrow? If not, then why should this country bet billions on global warming predictions that have even less foundation?

If you only do things where you know the answer in advance, your company goes away.

Conscientious people are apt to see their duty in that which is the most painful course.

It’s a question of whether we’re going to go forward into the future, or past to the back.

The more a person seeks security, the more that person gives up control over their life.

As a leader, you have to have the ability to assimilate new information and understand that there might be a different view.

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.

Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what’s right.

I can honestly say that I was never affected by the question of the success of an undertaking. If I felt it was the right thing to do, I was for it regardless of the possible outcome.

Younger people have greatest fears. Why is that? Because they don’t know the plot. They don’t know their own individual plot… they don’t know what’s going to happen to them.

Example is leadership.

Political courage is not political suicide.

I have considered voting Conservative because I am so against the Labour party.

Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong – these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.

You can’t have a value structure without a hierarchy. They’re the same thing because a value structure means one thing takes precedence over another.

There were the questions of what kind of First Lady I would be, what issues would I focus on. Those were the questions that were being pounded on me through the campaign. A lot of times, I wondered what in the world Barack was even getting us into.

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

Your philosophy determines whether you will go for the disciplines or continue the errors.

Faith keeps many doubts in her pay. If I could not doubt, I should not believe.

In any decision for action, when you have to make up your mind what to do, there is always a ‚should‘ involved, and this cannot be worked out from, ‚If I do this, what will happen?‘ alone.

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.

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.

Wise kings generally have wise counselors; and he must be a wise man himself who is capable of distinguishing one.

I never worry about action, but only inaction.

Really I feel less keen about the Army every day. I think the Church would suit me better.

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.