It is a paradox that every dictator has climbed to power on the ladder of free speech. Immediately on attaining power each dictator has suppressed all free speech except his own.

I believe the most solemn duty of the American president is to protect the American people. If America shows uncertainty and weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch.

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.

When you get to be President, there are all those things, the honors, the twenty-one gun salutes, all those things. You have to remember it isn’t for you. It’s for the Presidency.

Nobody is as powerful as we make them out to be.

It is pretty ironic that the so-called ‚least advanced‘ people are the ones taking the lead in trying to protect all of us, while the richest and most powerful among us are the ones who are trying to drive the society to destruction.

The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.

Many Communist government officials have a rigid, dictatorial power, but they live in constant suspicion and fear of anything that might undermine the power they have.

The British people know that, given strong leadership, time, and a little bit of hope, the forces of good ultimately rally and triumph over evil.

In my opinion eight years as president is enough and sometimes too much for any man to serve in that capacity.

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.

My observation is that whenever one person is found adequate to the discharge of a duty… it is worse executed by two persons, and scarcely done at all if three or more are employed therein.

Ever since Israel has been a nation the United States has provided the leadership. Every president down to the ages has done this in a fairly balanced way, including George Bush senior, Gerald Ford, and others including myself and Bill Clinton.

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.

Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.

A general is just as good or just as bad as the troops under his command make him.

The more extensive a man’s knowledge of what has been done, the greater will be his power of knowing what to do.

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

Founding a company is hard. Most of it isn’t smooth. You’ll have to make very hard decisions. You have to fire a few people. Therefore, if you don’t believe in your mission, giving up is easy. The majority of founders give up. But the best founders don’t give up.

Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment.

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

In every society some men are born to rule, and some to advise.

Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.

The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself.

I don’t think I would run for president.

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.

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

I don’t think consensus-building politics is what I’m meant to be doing.

Clever tyrants are never punished.

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to trust your team. It’s a lesson I’ve had to relearn quite a few times.

Some people want to win races. Other people want to be President of the United States.

I have never yet seen any plan which has not been mended by the observations of those who were much inferior in understanding to the person who took the lead in the business.

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.

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

What makes all doctrines plain and clear? About two hundred pounds a year. And that which was proved true before, prove false again? Two hundred more.

Putin goes to bed at night knowing he can break all the rules, and the West will follow all the rules.

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.

What then do you call your soul? What idea have you of it? You cannot of yourselves, without revelation, admit the existence within you of anything but a power unknown to you of feeling and thinking.

It’s amazing, the culture Coach Belichick has been able to create in our system.

Anything important is never left to the vote of the people. We only get to vote on some man; we never get to vote on what he is to do.

Power has only one duty – to secure the social welfare of the People.

The American President resembles the commander of a ship at sea. He must have a helm to grasp, a course to steer, a port to seek.

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

A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone.

It doesn’t take a majority to make a rebellion; it takes only a few determined leaders and a sound cause.

There isn’t a single player I would pay to watch. You can say Thierry Henry, he’s a fabulous striker, with pace and power, but a great entertainer needs to have charisma, too. Does he have charisma? No.

To remain a credible leader, I must always work first, hardest, and longest on changing myself. This is neither easy nor natural, but it is essential.

In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak than water. Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong nothing can surpass it.

Hoover was a patriot in his heart, but he definitely exceeded his power.

I’m the only president you’ve got.

Science is the captain, and practice the soldiers.

We must have government that builds stamina into communities and men. That makes men instead of mendicants.

You’re president, if you conclude my judgment is not the right judgment, I abide by that, but I want an opportunity to have an input.

Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.

When you’re not engaged in the day-to-day struggles that everybody feels, you slowly start losing touch. And I think it’s important for the people in the White House to have a finger on the pulse.

I do believe that any successful business starts from the top and works its way down.

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

A nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life is not as likely to insist upon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today – and in fact we have forgotten.

Unless and until you inspire the people, you will not get results. Imposition will never give you the results. Inspiration will always give you the results.

What Britain needs is an iron lady.

Gray Davis can run a dirty campaign better than anyone, but he can’t run a state.