In doubtful cases the more liberal interpretation must always be preferred.

There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in what they laugh at.

Being flooded with information doesn’t mean we have the right information or that we’re in touch with the right people.

Whatever you have, you must either use or lose.

One of the key qualities a leader must possess is the ability to detach from the chaos, mayhem, and emotions in a situation and make good, clear decisions based on what is actually happening.

We need someone with superb judgement in their own right because, yes, a president can hire the best advisors on Earth, but I guarantee you this: Five advisors will give five different opinions. And it is the president – and the president alone – who always makes the final call.

You are doomed to make choices. This is life’s greatest paradox.

It’s not easy being young. It’s hard to know what to do.

You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.

The United States has made serious mistakes in the conduct of its foreign affairs, which have had unfortunate repercussions long after the decisions were taken.

It is the sign of a great mind to dislike greatness, and to prefer things in measure to things in excess.

One must verify or expel his doubts, and convert them into the certainty of Yes or NO.

Politics are a very unsatisfactory game.

The new ruler must determine all the injuries that he will need to inflict. He must inflict them once and for all.

Since it is difficult to join them together, it is safer to be feared than to be loved when one of the two must be lacking.

I always say, decisions I make, I live with them. There’s always ways you can correct them or ways you can do them better. At the end of the day, I live with them.

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

Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history.

My philosophy in life is, Decide what you want to do. You have to have something to hope for.

All of our reasoning ends in surrender to feeling.

Do not ask for what you will wish you had not got.

It is only in our decisions that we are important.

I don’t have a magic formula for prioritizing the world’s problems.

Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.

Obviously I faced the possibility of not returning when first I considered going. Once faced and settled there really wasn’t any good reason to refer to it.

A commodity appears at first sight an extremely obvious, trivial thing. But its analysis brings out that it is a very strange thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties.

So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for every thing one has a mind to do.

‚Tis best to weigh the enemy more mighty than he seems.

I have too many clothes, I have too many options.

I just know what is right and I want to do what is right.

No one’s policing their own minds more than an author. You spend a lot of time in your own head analysing what you think about things, and a philosophy comes.

There are hunters, and there are victims. By your discipline, cunning, obedience, and alertness, you will decide if you are a hunter or a victim.

Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.

In too much of the West, everyone wants the guarantee of safety, and never having to make any decisions.

Between stimulus and response, there is a space where we choose our response.

I delayed my father’s funeral because of cricket.

Wisdom stands at the turn in the road and calls upon us publicly, but we consider it false and despise its adherents.

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

The Army will take its lessons learned. They’re excellent at looking into themselves and reflecting on what did we do right, what did we do wrong.

I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.

Compromise used to mean that half a loaf was better than no bread. Among modern statesmen it really seems to mean that half a loaf; is better than a whole loaf.

Concentrate your energies, your thoughts and your capital. The wise man puts all his eggs in one basket and watches the basket.

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?

Young people are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; and more fit for new projects than for settled business.

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

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.

Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.

I shall never be a heretic; I may err in dispute, but I do not wish to decide anything finally; on the other hand, I am not bound by the opinions of men.

There’s a tremendous gap between public opinion and public policy.

I would be stupid not to be on my own side. But I’m a human being, too. And I’m on the side of human beings, rather than on the side of crocodiles.

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.

The effect of liberty to individuals is that they may do what they please: we ought to see what it will please them to do, before we risk congratulations.

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

A man is usually more careful of his money than he is of his principles.

Sin, also for those who don’t have faith, exists when one goes against one’s conscience. To listen to and obey it means, in fact, to decide in face of what is perceived as good or evil. And on this decision pivots the goodness or malice of our action.

If you have a family mission statement that clarifies what your purpose is, then you use that as the criterion by which you make the decisions.

To the wicked, everything serves as pretext.

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.

Don’t wait for the last judgment – it takes place every day.

I think it makes sense to believe in God, but exactly what decision in your life you make differently because of it, I don’t know.

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