I would rather have peace in the world than be President.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I did not take the oath I have just taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution of the world’s strongest economy.

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.

I have a different vision of leadership. A leadership is someone who brings people together.

For success of any mission, it is necessary to have creative leadership. Creative leadership is vital for government, non-governmental organisations as well as for industries.

I speak directly to the people, and I know that the people of California want to have better leadership. They want to have great leadership. They want to have somebody that will represent them. And it doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or a Republican, young or old.

Barack knows the American Dream because he’s lived it, and he wants everyone in this country to have that same opportunity, no matter who we are or where we’re from or what we look like or who we love.

Leaders who are kind of insecure or egocentric, they basically sabotage themselves.

Always do everything you ask of those you command.

There is nothing wrong with men possessing riches. The wrong comes when riches possess men.

Avoid popularity if you would have peace.

You know, you can only lead them from behind.

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.

To me, reading a fashion magazine is the last thing I need to do. I’ve got books I need to read.

The one thing I want to leave my children is an honorable name.

What is absurd and monstrous about war is that men who have no personal quarrel should be trained to murder one another in cold blood.

Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

Until the men of action clear out the talkers we who have social consciences are at the mercy of those who have none.

Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is harmony in the house; when there is harmony in the house, there is order in the nation; when there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world.

It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency – that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better. There’s no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee I’ll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office.

In America the President reigns for four years, and Journalism governs forever and ever.

The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war.

It is the superfluous things for which men sweat, – superfluous things that wear our togas theadbare, that force us to grow old in camp, that dash us upon foreign shores.

I’ve seen how the issues that come across a president’s desk are always the hard ones – the problems where no amount of data or numbers will get you to the right answer.

Divide and rule, the politician cries; unite and lead, is watchword of the wise.

The way people look at me these days – that’s the same way I looked at President Obama before I met him. We tend to forget that people who’ve attained a certain position are human.

A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better.

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.

I have only one yardstick by which I test every major problem – and that yardstick is: Is it good for America?

The issues that cross a president’s desk are never easy. The easy questions don’t even get to the president.

Wars are, of course, as a rule to be avoided; but they are far better than certain kinds of peace.

First, how do we give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy? Second, how do we make technology work for us, and not against us – especially when it comes to solving urgent challenges like climate change? Third, how do we keep America safe and lead the world without becoming its policeman?

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.

Humanitarianism consists in never sacrificing a human being to a purpose.

That’s the good thing about being president, I can do whatever I want.

If you are a leader, you should never forget that everyone needs encouragement. And everyone who receives it – young or old, successful or less-than-successful, unknown or famous – is changed by it.

It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?

I believe that many of my young guys lived because I didn’t waste their lives because I didn’t have the vision in my mind of how to destroy the enemy at least cost to our guys and to the innocents on the battlefields.

It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.

I don’t create companies for the sake of creating companies, but to get things done.

Those who know me know I’m passionate about lists, and top of my list of priorities is my family. My wife Joan and I do not consider our legacy to our children to be wealth or fame but the opportunity to pursue happiness by following their own path.

I’m not trying to get myself up a notch on the ladder by shoving somebody else down on the ladder, whether it’s a candidate or the president of the United States or anybody else. I just don’t believe that’s the way one oughta campaign, I’ve never done that.

He who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled.

Everyone looks at your watch and it represents who you are, your values and your personal style.

The superior man acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his action.

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

The army teaches boys to think like men.

No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of great men.

Traditions are a common part of our lives. They can be good, and not all traditions are wrong, but sometimes they can take the joy out of life.

Peace is more important than all justice; and peace was not made for the sake of justice, but justice for the sake of peace.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt that same kind of peace, the kind of serenity that I felt after acknowledging that maybe I was going to die of this TB.

I believe that Catholics involved in politics carry the values of their religion within them, but have the mature awareness and expertise to implement them. The Church will never go beyond its task of expressing and disseminating its values, at least as long as I’m here.

Many religious confessions share common values. They teach that we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us.

Each of us has a vision of good and of evil. We have to encourage people to move towards what they think is good… Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place.

Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set.

If every day you practice walking and sitting meditation and generate the energy of mindfulness and concentration and peace, you are a cell in the body of the new Buddha. This is not a dream but is possible today and tomorrow.

Most people don’t like change. They revolt against it unless they can clearly see the advantage it brings. For that reason, when good leaders prepare to take action or make changes, they take people through a process to get them ready for it.

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

A good conscience is a continual Christmas.

Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.

The purposes of the United States should not be doubted. The Security Council resolutions will be enforced – the just demands of peace and security will be met – or action will be unavoidable. And a regime that has lost its legitimacy will also lose its power.