Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision.

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.

I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.

If I’m inspired to make a certain kind of song, I’m going to make that kind of song, no matter if it’s what they know me as or think I am.

God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.

Every once in a while, I get mad. ‚The Lorax‘ came out of my being angry. The ecology books I’d read were dull… In ‚The Lorax,‘ I was out to attack what I think are evil things and let the chips fall where they might.

The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.

Oh, you weak, beautiful people who give up with such grace. What you need is someone to take hold of you – gently, with love, and hand your life back to you.

Imagination decides everything.

I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.

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.

My drive is other people’s success.

We represent a hustler. I think we represent inspiration. I think we represent, you know, staying down. I think we represent building yourself up from the bootstraps.

I don’t create companies for the sake of creating companies, but to get things done.

One often makes music to supplement one’s world.

When the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service. They will become flatterers instead of legislators; the instruments, not the guides, of the people.

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.

I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances.

Hitch your wagon to a star.

Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.

When the burdens of the presidency seem unusually heavy, I always remind myself it could be worse. I could be a mayor.

Our moments of inspiration are not lost though we have no particular poem to show for them; for those experiences have left an indelible impression, and we are ever and anon reminded of them.

Which government is the best? The one that teaches us to govern ourselves.

The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.

Exploration by real people inspires us.

We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.

I would like to be remembered as a guy who had a set of priorities, and was willing to live by those priorities. In terms of accomplishments, my biggest accomplishment is that I kept the country safe amidst a real danger.

Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful.

Thought is the wind and knowledge the sail.

My authoritarian and quick manner of making decisions led me to have serious problems and to be accused of being ultraconservative. I have never been a right-winger. It was my authoritarian way of making decisions that created problems.

Those of us who submitted or surrendered our ideas and dreams and identities to the ‚leaders‘ must take back our rights, our identities, our responsibilities.

How easy it is to govern when one follows a system of consulting the will of the people and one holds as the only norm all the actions which contribute to the well being of the people.

A #2 pencil and a dream can take you anywhere.

Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.

Organization charts and fancy titles count for next to nothing.

The President is not only the leader of a party, he is the President of the whole people. He must interpret the conscience of America. He must guide his conduct by the idealism of our people.

Politics is not bean bags. It’s serious, tough stuff.

Fit no stereotypes. Don’t chase the latest management fads. The situation dictates which approach best accomplishes the team’s mission.

Mickey Mouse popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner.

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.

I’m going to be so much better a president for having been at the CIA that you’re not going to believe it.

I want to make something that is breathtaking. Of course, you can’t make something that is always breathtaking, or you would never be able to breathe. You would collapse.

In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God’s handwriting.

From the moment I started writing raps, I was always aware of the pressure. I always wanted to live up to how huge Snoop got, how huge Dre got, how huge Pac got. I was always aware.

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.

I have my permanent muses and my muses of the moment.

However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.

People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything.

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

You can’t die with an unfinished book.

The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.

I am a leader by default, only because nature does not allow a vacuum.

Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music.

There is but one way for a president to deal with Congress, and that is continuously, incessantly, and without interruption. If it is really going to work, the relationship has got to be almost incestuous.

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.

Oh, the difference between nearly right and exactly right.

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.

When you’re around me and really see that all I do is live and breathe for my work, it’s not strange, it’s just Gaga.

Many of my fans often tell me that they listen to my songs to get through things. And therefore, obviously, I hope that they can picture being in a place where things are better… I hope my songs can bring people to a calm place.

If you dream the proper dreams, and share the myths with people, they will want to grow up to be like you.