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.

We should work with the principle that a work that can be done at a lower level should never be escalated to a higher level.

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

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

We need to have business leaders who live by deep, strong principles.

In order to govern, the question is not to follow out a more or less valid theory but to build with whatever materials are at hand. The inevitable must be accepted and turned to advantage.

It’s been said that astronomy is a humbling and, I might add, a character-building experience.

Experience, as a desire for experience, does not come off. We must not study ourselves while having an experience.

Whoever won’t fight when the President calls him, deserves to be kicked back in his hole and kept there.

I wish I had known when I was in the White House what I know now about the Third World.

It’s a great, great experience to finally get the reception that you know you rightfully deserve.

Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.

When you give everyone a voice and give people power, the system usually ends up in a really good place. So, what we view our role as, is giving people that power.

I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.

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

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

I don’t claim to be knowledgeable about theology. Most of my knowledge comes out of my experience and the lessons in the Bible. Every Sunday I’m home I teach 45 minutes and we boiled them down to one page for the new book, ‚Through the Year with Jimmy Carter.‘

There were the questions of what kind of First Lady I would be, what issues would I focus on. Those were the questions that were being pounded on me through the campaign. A lot of times, I wondered what in the world Barack was even getting us into.

It is a fine thing to have ability, but the ability to discover ability in others is the true test.

Romney and Ryan would do a much better job running the country, and that’s what everybody needs to know.

I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one or the other.

To govern means to pillage, as everyone knows.

For an occurrence to become an adventure, it is necessary and sufficient for one to recount it.

I had rather have a fool to make me merry than experience to make me sad and to travel for it too!

Those who attain any excellence, commonly spend life in one pursuit; for excellence is not often gained upon easier terms.

In politics… never retreat, never retract… never admit a mistake.

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.

The mind unlearns with difficulty what it has long learned.

Concede that the new government of Louisiana is only to what it should be, as the egg is to the fowl; we shall sooner have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it.

I have to work really hard to get the record deal – I have to spend years at it to get good. I have to practice to be good at guitar.

I want to – more than anything – to create a moment that people will never forget. Not for me, but for themselves. That’s what I remember about great Super Bowl performances in the past, when you really get lost in the moment with your family.

And now, of course this is another thing I didn’t count on, that now as the governor of the state of California, I am selling California worldwide. You see that? Selling.

Clever tyrants are never punished.

The time has come for all evangelists to practice full financial disclosure. The world is watching how we walk and how we talk. We must have the highest standards of morality, ethics and integrity if we are to continue to have influence.

I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end… I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me.

Our friends at the Republican convention were more than happy to talk about everything they think is wrong with America, but they didn’t have much to say about how they’d make it right. They want your vote, but they don’t want you to know their plan.

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.

The statesman’s duty is to bridge the gap between his nation’s experience and his vision.

When you have really exhausted an experience you always reverence and love it.

A politician is a man who understands government. A statesman is a politician who’s been dead for 15 years.

Jiro Ono serves Edo-style traditional sushi, the same 20 or 30 pieces he’s been making his whole life, and he’s still unsatisfied with the quality and every day wakes up and trains to make the best. And that is as close to a religious experience in food as one is likely to get.

Science is the captain, and practice the soldiers.

What matters in the Sun-tzu universe are not positions of strength and power, but situations in which you have options, full of potential force.

I don’t care about age. Nor do I care about those who do not accept the science. I don’t have as much experience, and therefore I listen more. But I also have the right to express my opinion, no matter my age.

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.

I have no ambition to govern men; it is a painful and thankless office.

Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you.

Being the boss anywhere is lonely. Being a female boss in a world of mostly men is especially so.

Leadership is absolutely vital if there are comparable countries which can affect the security of the world you live in. Between Lincoln and Roosevelt’s time, America was protected by huge oceans and, in practice, by the British navy. Today, it’s different, and the obsession of the Obama administration has been for retrenchment.

This President is going to lead us out of this recovery.

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.

Eight years involved with the nuclear industry have taught me that when nothing can possible go wrong and every avenue has been covered, then is the time to buy a house on the next continent.

A good leader doesn’t get stuck behind a desk.

Being a good husband is like being a good stand-up comic – you need ten years before you can even call yourself a beginner.

A conductor can’t be too arrogant with an orchestra and try to impose himself too much.

When you’re one of the leaders of the team, there are no days off.

The presidency has made every man who occupied it, no matter how small, bigger than he was; and no matter how big, not big enough for its demands.

Chavez, who came out of the ranks of the Venezuelan Army, is methodical and tireless. I have observed him over the course of 17 years, since his first visit to Cuba. He is an extremely humanitarian and law-abiding person; he has never taken revenge on anybody.

The Corps is in good hands, and it’s been a privilege to serve with the Leathernecks. Now it’s time to go.

The time is long overdue to stop looking for progress through racial or ethnic leaders. Such leaders have too many incentives to promote polarizing attitudes and actions that are counterproductive for minorities and disastrous for the country.

I’m no longer just a candidate. I’m the President. I know what it means to send young Americans into battle, for I have held in my arms the mothers and fathers of those who didn’t return. I’ve shared the pain of families who’ve lost their homes, and the frustration of workers who’ve lost their jobs.