I understand everybody in this country doesn’t agree with the decisions I’ve made. And I made some tough decisions. But people know where I stand.

Every President I think I’ve ever known, except Truman, has thought they didn’t quite get done what they wanted done. And toward the end of their Administrations, they were disappointed and wished they had done some things differently.

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.

Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision.

All good leaders are connectors. They relate well and make people feel confident about themselves and their leader.

If an individual wants to be a leader and isn’t controversial, that means he never stood for anything.

Every President wants to do right.

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

In every walk of life, you must have leaders. An education in the spiritual world, in the labor field, in the agricultural field, we must have leaders.

Every man, every woman who has to take up the service of government, must ask themselves two questions: ‚Do I love my people in order to serve them better? Am I humble and do I listen to everybody, to diverse opinions in order to choose the best path?‘ If you don’t ask those questions, your governance will not be good.

A conductor can’t be too arrogant with an orchestra and try to impose himself too much.

As president, you can get all kinds of advice from all kinds of people. But 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.

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

The colonel replied that he didn’t care how my men had got the job done. He was happy that it had been accomplished. He said that, obviously, no matter how much or how little I knew technically, I was able to get the best out of people I worked with.

As President Nixon says, presidents can do almost anything, and President Nixon has done many things that nobody would have thought of doing.

Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people.

This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector.

Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.

Blessed are the people whose leaders can look destiny in the eye without flinching but also without attempting to play God.

Anywhere in Latin America there is a potential threat of the pathology of caudillismo and it has to be guarded against.

Being the boss anywhere is lonely. Being a female boss in a world of mostly men is especially so.

If you’re a quarterback, you want everything on your shoulders. You want to be the one to make the decisions.

Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.

What kind of people do they think we are? Is it possible they do not realize that we shall never cease to persevere against them until they have been taught a lesson which they and the world will never forget?

How do leaders serve their people? They may pay good wages and treat employees with respect.

I know of no single formula for success. But over the years I have observed that some attributes of leadership are universal and are often about finding ways of encouraging people to combine their efforts, their talents, their insights, their enthusiasm and their inspiration to work together.

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.

How can we help President Obama?

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

If we have to use force, it is because we are America. We are the indispensable nation. We stand tall. We see further into the future.

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

History has proven that each generation of Howard graduates will forge the way forward for our country and our world.

We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

Don’t blame the marketing department. The buck stops with the chief executive.

What matters in the Sun-tzu universe are not positions of strength and power, but situations in which you have options, full of potential force.

My desire to devolve authority has nothing to do with a wish to shirk responsibility.

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.

The man who can dominate a London dinner-table can dominate the world.

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.

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

It is unnecessary to say that Fidel Castro possesses the high qualities of a fighter and statesman: our path, our struggle, and our triumph we owed to his vision.

If I had chosen the populist course, it would have been a breach of the trust placed in me by the people.

You can play fast but not in a hurry. As a point guard, I can dictate that.

We should work with the principle that a work that can be done at a lower level should never be escalated to a higher level.

The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men.

No woman in my time will be prime minister or chancellor or foreign secretary – not the top jobs. Anyway, I wouldn’t want to be prime minister; you have to give yourself 100 percent.

Romney and Ryan would do a much better job running the country, and that’s what everybody needs to know.

In other words, don’t expect to always be great. Disappointments, failures and setbacks are a normal part of the lifecycle of a unit or a company and what the leader has to do is constantly be up and say ‚we have a problem, let’s go and get it‘.

A good leader doesn’t get stuck behind a desk.

One of my direct subordinates, one of my guys that worked for me, he would call me up or pull me aside with some major problem, some issue that was going on. And he’d say, ‚Boss, we’ve got this, and that, and the other thing.‘ And I’d look at him and I’d say, ‚Good.‘

I totally disagree with the view that the Tibet struggle will die, and there will be no hope for Tibet, after the Dalai Lama passes away.

Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

From a young age, I learned to focus on the things I was good at and delegate to others what I was not good at. That’s how Virgin is run. Fantastic people throughout the Virgin Group run our businesses, allowing me to think creatively and strategically.

To some degree it matters who’s in office, but it matters more how much pressure they’re under from the public.

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.

I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but for predecessors as well.

With tech companies, whoever’s the leader is always questioned, you know. They say, ‚Is this the end of them?‘ And – there’s more – more times people think that’s the case than it really is the case.

A leader who doesn’t hesitate before he sends his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader.

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.‘

The best government is that which teaches us to govern ourselves.

People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.