If you want to occupy the C-suite or the top one-tenth of 1% in any organization, you have to be obsessively devoted to your career at the expense of everything else. And women look at that, and they think, ‚No.‘

Beware the barrenness of a busy life.

A gender line… helps to keep women not on a pedestal, but in a cage.

Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes.

We named the book ‚Extreme Ownership‘ because we really found that when we looked at not only at leaders but at teams that were the most successful, we found that the ones that had this attitude of extreme ownership were the ones that did the best, and it’s definitely an attitude that I had.

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

I break ground. I trailblaze.

Great men are like eagles, and build their nest on some lofty solitude.

Organization charts and fancy titles count for next to nothing.

Nothing can be more absurd than the practice that prevails in our country of men and women not following the same pursuits with all their strengths and with one mind, for thus, the state instead of being whole is reduced to half.

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

Politicians must set their aims for the high ground and according to our various leanings, Democratic, Republican, Independent, we will follow. Politicians must be told if they continue to sink into the mud of obscenity, they will proceed alone.

Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues.

Women may fall when there’s no strength in men.

By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.

The minute you got the Nobel Peace Prize, things that I said yesterday, with nobody paying too much attention, I say the same things after I got it – oh! It was quite crucial for people, and it helped our morale because apartheid did look invincible.

I think I was identified as a failed president because I wasn’t re-elected.

The challenge of work-life balance is without question one of the most significant struggles faced by modern man.

The revolution has always been in the hands of the young. The young always inherit the revolution.

You do the policy, I’ll do the politics.

I would hear stories about Steve Jobs and feel like he was at 100 percent exactly what he wanted to do, but I’m sure even a Steve Jobs has compromised. Even a Rick Owens has compromised. You know, even a Kanye West has compromised. Sometimes you don’t even know when you’re being compromised till after the fact, and that’s what you regret.

Kings are not born: they are made by artificial hallucination.

Women should be obscene and not heard.

Governments need to have both shepherds and butchers.

Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all.

The most important thing for a director is being able to communicate.

I want a president with a record of public service, someone whose life’s work shows our children that we don’t chase fame and fortune for ourselves: we fight to give everyone a chance to succeed.

Louis van Gaal is one of the most successful managers in the world.

Be the chief but never the lord.

I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone – and I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions that move the ball forward.

A master performer like Bill Clinton never lost sight of the fact that as president he had to project confidence and power, but if he was speaking to a group of autoworkers he would adjust his accent and his words to fit the audience, and do the same for a group of executives.

To govern means to pillage, as everyone knows.

It’d be stupid for me to sit here and say that there aren’t kids who look up to me, but my responsibility is not to them. I’m not a baby sitter.

Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don’t want them to become politicians in the process.

To rule a country of a thousand chariots, there must be reverent attention to business, and sincerity; economy in expenditure, and love for men; and the employment of the people at the proper seasons.

An empowered organisation is one in which individuals have the knowledge, skill, desire, and opportunity to personally succeed in a way that leads to collective organisational success.

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.

By most accounts, Aristide is the most popular figure in Haiti.

Those people who develop the ability to continuously acquire new and better forms of knowledge that they can apply to their work and to their lives will be the movers and shakers in our society for the indefinite future.

Women must pay for everything. They do get more glory than men for comparable feats, but, they also get more notoriety when they crash.

All very successful commanders are prima donnas and must be so treated.

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?

Feminism… I think the simplest explanation, and one that captures the idea, is a song that Marlo Thomas sang, ‚Free to be You and Me.‘

I want to work; then, as my kids get older, I want to have adventures. I want to visit all their countries: learn and live inside all their cultures.

If people lose faith in their government, the result is the same whether or not the loss of confidence is justified.

People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives.

The men who have guided the destiny of the United States have found the strength for their tasks by going to their knees. This private unity of public men and their God is an enduring source of reassurance for the people of America.

The mob is the mother of tyrants.

If you call yourself a leader, then you have to be decisive. If you’re decisive, then you have the chance to be a leader. These are two sides to the same coin.

I’m asking myself, ‚What do my girls, what do all our children deserve in their president? What kind of a president do we want for them?‘ Well, to start with, I think we want someone who is a unifying force in this country: someone who sees our differences not as a threat, but as a blessing.

With Benghazi, I don’t see anyone saying, ‚Hey look, I am overall responsible for this and therefore, I take responsibility for what happened. It’s my fault.‘ I haven’t heard that yet. Meanwhile, the other side of the coin, the Osama bin Laden raid, it seems everyone made that decision, and that’s just unbelievable to me.

Power is the measure of the degree of control you have over circumstances in your life and the actions of the people around you. It is a skill that is developed by a deep understanding of human nature, of what truly motivates people, and of the manipulations necessary for advancement and protection.

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.

What I admire most about Hillary is that she never buckles under pressure. She never takes the easy way out. And Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life.

A lot has happened over the years. And while this nation has been tested by war, and it’s been tested by recession and all manner of challenges – I stand before you again tonight, after almost two terms as your president, to tell you I am more optimistic about the future of America than ever before.

I have to tell you, my seven-year-old granddaughter said to my daughter, her mother, ‚So what’s the big deal about Grandma Maddy having been Secretary of State? Only girls are Secretaries of State.‘ Most of her lifetime, it’s true. But at the time it really was a big deal.

Political courage is not political suicide.

I remember the last three days that I was president, I never went to bed at all. I never went to bed until we had negotiated the final release of the hostages.

If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.

I have a full and satisfying life. My work and my family are very important to me.

My mother had a saying: ‚Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you’re not the last.‘