I think our democracy has it exactly right: two terms, eight years. It’s enough. Because it’s important to have one foot in reality when you have access to this kind of power.

The spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military force.

Even people on the liberal side are starting to worry about going off a fiscal cliff.

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

Senator Kerry has been in Washington long enough to take both sides on just about every issue.

The three most powerful and most apparent means used by Rome to retain her power over the minds of her votaries are Ignorance, Superstition, and Persecution.

Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.

The attempt to combine wisdom and power has only rarely been successful and then only for a short while.

If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists – to protect them and to promote their common welfare – all else is lost.

Much that passes as idealism is disguised hatred or disguised love of power.

People do not make wars; governments do.

Earn your success based on service to others, not at the expense of others.

The money in politics is a cash cow for the media.

I don’t think President Trump is a racist.

I guess you’d call me an independent, since I’ve never identified myself with one party or another in politics. I always decide my vote by taking as careful a look as I can at the actual candidates and issues themselves, no matter what the party label.

My game is really played above time. I don’t say that like I’m saying I’m ahead of my time. I’m saying, like, if I’m on the court and I throw a pass, the ball that I’ve thrown will lead my teammate right where he needs to go, before he even knows that that’s the right place to go to.

At the bottom of education, at the bottom of politics, even at the bottom of religion, there must be for our race economic independence.

If I don’t run for president, we’ll all be OK.

I think Clinton, after getting into office and into Washington, was shocked at being bludgeoned. So he spent time trying to be all things to all people – one way guaranteed not to be successful or respected in a lion’s den. You can’t just play around with all those big cats – you’ve got to take somebody on.

I took the Canal Zone and let Congress debate; and while the debate goes on, the canal does also.

I think the first British actor who really worked well in cinema was Albert Finney. He was a back-street Marlon Brando. He brought a great wittiness and power to the screen. The best actor we’ve had.

Never forget that no military leader has ever become great without audacity.

The FBI should not be a political body.

I will continue to believe that Israel’s security is paramount.

The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be… The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

The time comes upon every public man when it is best for him to keep his lips closed.

The rulers of the state are the only persons who ought to have the privilege of lying, either at home or abroad; they may be allowed to lie for the good of the state.

To be able to endure odium is the first art to be learned by those who aspire to power.

I want to be just a pure spiritual leader.

The Trump phenomenon is in large part a reaction of Middle America to attacks on its values by intellectual and academic communities. There are other reasons, but this is a significant one.

I’ve had some ‚riotous excursions of the human spirit‘ alongside the young Sailors and Marines, and it’s time to leave the stage to the young leaders who got their rank the old-fashioned way – they earned their stripes in combat.

My experience with power, you can maintain it, or you get it taken from you. You get you some newfound power and go crazy, and it get taken from you quick.

In my country we go to prison first and then become President.

Politics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen.

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

The power of an air force is terrific when there is nothing to oppose it.

When things haven’t gone well for you, call in a secretary or a staff man and chew him out. You will sleep better and they will appreciate the attention.

Many things shall change in Cuba, but they shall change because of our efforts and despite the United States. Perhaps that empire shall crumble first.

Rhetoric is a poor substitute for action, and we have trusted only to rhetoric. If we are really to be a great nation, we must not merely talk; we must act big.

Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.

I perhaps ought to say that individually I never was much interested in the Texas question. I never could see much good to come of annexation, inasmuch as they were already a free republican people on our own model.

I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.

The more you observe politics, the more you’ve got to admit that each party is worse than the other.

The path to the CEO’s office should not be through the CFO’s office, and it should not be through the marketing department. It needs to be through engineering and design.

I don’t think I would run for president.

What we call Man’s power over Nature turns out to be a power exercised by some men over other men with Nature as its instrument.

I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people. The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves.

As commanders and staff officers, we are coaches and sentries for our units: how can we coach anything if we don’t know a hell of a lot more than just the TTPs?

A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests.

I think that there is never an indispensable leader, you know? I think that there is a time with dignity that one needs to leave.

I don’t want a brat on my team.

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

I have seen how leaders rule by intimidation. Leaders who demonize and dehumanize entire groups of people often do so because they have nothing else to offer. And I have seen how places that stifle the voices and dismiss the potential of their citizens are diminished: how they are less vital, less hopeful, less free.

Idealism is the noble toga that political gentlemen drape over their will to power.

He who dreads hostility too much is unfit to rule.

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

A president either is constantly on top of events or, if he hesitates, events will soon be on top of him. I never felt that I could let up for a moment.

It is a fine thing to have ability, but the ability to discover ability in others is the true test.

Leadership is hard. It’s a skill. It’s a technique.

There is no gambling like politics.

Power does not change you, it unmasks you.