I’ve had some ‚riotous excursions of the human spirit‘ alongside the young Sailors and Marines, and it’s time to leave the stage to the young leaders who got their rank the old-fashioned way – they earned their stripes in combat.

The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.

The last thing I wanted to do was to be a wartime President.

Writing is my love. If you love something, you find a lot of time. I write for two hours a day, usually starting at midnight; at times, I start at 11.

As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.

I’ve been doing comedy longer than I haven’t been doing comedy, as I was performing for three years before I even got on ‚The Tonight Show.‘ There’s truly nothing like it; it’s intense and exhilarating, even though it looks so casual.

I know I have a responsibility to the fans.

The reward of suffering is experience.

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

More people should read books. It’s the most concentrated experience you can have.

People want to listen to a message, word from Jah. This could be passed through me or anybody. I am not a leader. Messenger. The words of the songs, not the person, is what attracts people.

No one can pass through life, any more than he can pass through a bit of country, without leaving tracks behind, and those tracks may often be helpful to those coming after him in finding their way.

Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.

The proper study of Man is anything but Man; and the most improper job of any man, even saints (who at any rate were at least unwilling to take it on), is bossing other men. Not one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity.

Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.

Experience has shown, and a true philosophy will always show, that a vast, perhaps the larger portion of the truth arises from the seemingly irrelevant.

No one ever teaches well who wants to teach, or governs well who wants to govern.

I think one of the great things about the United States has been our ability to maintain a distinction between our military and domestic law enforcement.

I mean, if you didn’t get it or if you didn’t feel like you enjoyed it, sometimes that experience can change.

I don’t want a brat on my team.

In war, you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times.

If you’re going to change things, you have to be with the people who hold the levers.

In the studio, we adhere to a strict colour code. Developed over decades, the colour code consists of a finite and precise colour palate… The whole world as we experience it comes to us through the mystic realm of colour.

I do not believe a man can ever leave his business. He ought to think of it by day and dream of it by night.

We still think of a powerful man as a born leader and a powerful woman as an anomaly.

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.‘

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.

If you don’t drive your business, you will be driven out of business.

No foreign policy – no matter how ingenious – has any chance of success if it is born in the minds of a few and carried in the hearts of none.

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

You have to put in many, many, many tiny efforts that nobody sees or appreciates before you achieve anything worthwhile.

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

There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?

No one can possibly know what is about to happen: it is happening, each time, for the first time, for the only time.

Context and memory play powerful roles in all the truly great meals in one’s life.

Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.

Unwearied ceaseless effort is the price that must be paid for turning faith into a rich infallible experience.

A reputation as a hard worker is a good reputation to have.

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.

I’ve been so blessed to play for the greatest coach at a time when our organization has done incredible things. I’ve played with the best teammates. Playing for Mr. Kraft and what his influence on the team has been.

Never give an order that can’t be obeyed.

Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends.

I have no idols. I admire work, dedication and competence.

When I checked into SEAL Team One many years ago, one of the things that I noticed was there was this old guy, who was younger than I am today, who I decided that I was going to be like. I wanted to emulate what he was doing, and one of those things was he got to work before anybody else.

I do understand it’s not easy to run an I-league club. I have been part of many and I know the scene.

A person will sometimes devote all his life to the development of one part of his body – the wishbone.

Show me a poorly uniformed troop and I’ll show you a poorly uniformed leader.

If you young fellows were wise, the devil couldn’t do anything to you, but since you aren’t wise, you need us who are old.

When I was elected President nobody asked me to negotiate between Israel and Egypt. It was not even a question raised in my campaign. But I felt that one of the reasons that I was elected President was to try to bring peace to the Holy Land.

Those who cannot think or take responsibility for themselves need, and clamor for, a leader.

Personally, I’d like to see more of our leaders take a technocratic approach to solving our biggest problems.

Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in the desert.

We also can’t try to take over and rebuild every country that falls into crisis. That’s not leadership; that’s a recipe for quagmire, spilling American blood and treasure that ultimately weakens us. It’s the lesson of Vietnam, of Iraq – and we should have learned it by now.

The Scoutmaster who is a hero to his boys holds a powerful lever to their development but at the same time brings a great responsibility on himself. They are quick enough to see the smallest characteristic about him, whether it be a virtue or a vice.

I will keep America moving forward, always forward, for a better America, for an endless enduring dream and a thousand Points of Light. This is my mission, and I will complete it.

I would rather earn 1% off a 100 people’s efforts than 100% of my own efforts.

I can die a happy man never having been president of the United States of America. But it doesn’t mean I won’t run.

Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.

I am often asked if, when I was secretary, I had problems with foreign men. That is not who I had problems with, because I arrived in a very large plane that said United States of America. I had more problems with the men in our own government.

Anybody who tells you that a two-day conference, you’re going to turn into the General Patton of leadership, they’re not telling you the truth. But you can learn the fundamentals; you can absolutely understand the fundamentals.

I want to be just a pure spiritual leader.