Let me tell you what I literally told every world leader I’ve met with, and I’ve met them all: It’s never, never, never been a good bet to bet against America. We have the finest fighting force in the world.

I don’t have freedom in the United States to go into a public school and preach the Gospel, nor is a student free in a public school to pray, or a teacher free to read the Bible publicly to the students. At the same time, we have a great degree of freedom for which I am grateful.

I do not like broccoli. And I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m President of the United States and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli.

Only the guy who isn’t rowing has time to rock the boat.

Though she be but little, she is fierce.

Chinese military spending is carefully monitored by the United States.

But even the President of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked.

Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton both had exceptional natural abilities. Nelson Rockefeller was very good statewide but never gained national traction.

Don’t blame the marketing department. The buck stops with the chief executive.

Here in America, we don’t give in to our fears. We don’t build up walls to keep people out.

Unless a president can protect the privacy of the advice he gets, he cannot get the advice he needs.

Laughter is America’s most important export.

When I took over as president, I studied the Constitution, and the more I studied it, the more I realised that it does not prevent the president of India from giving the nation a vision. So when I went and presented this vision in Parliament and in legislative assemblies; everyone welcomed it, irrespective of party affiliations.

I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.

You have to feel confident. If you don’t, then you’re going to be hesitant and defensive, and there’ll be a lot of things working against you.

It sure is hell to be president.

Positional leaders ignore the fact that every person has hopes, dreams, desires, and goals of his own. And leaders must bring their vision and the aspirations of the people they lead together in a way that benefits everyone.

Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish – too much handling will spoil it.

If the national mental illness of the United States is megalomania, that of Canada is paranoid schizophrenia.

People seem to know about May Day everywhere except where it began, here in the United States of America. That’s because those in power have done everything they can to erase its real meaning.

And when a woman’s will is as strong as the man’s who wants to govern her, half her strength must be concealment.

The Soviet Union, the socialist camp, the People’s Republic of China, and North Korea helped us resist, with essential supplies and weapons, the implacable blockade of the United States, the most powerful empire ever to exist.

Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength.

When it comes to the pinch, human beings are heroic.

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

Real firmness is good for anything; strut is good for nothing.

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

For a long time, I thought I was ugly and disfigured. This made me shy and timid, and I often reacted to insults that were not intended.

When things haven’t gone well for you, call in a secretary or a staff man and chew him out. You will sleep better and they will appreciate the attention.

So while I will never minimize the costs involved in military action, I am convinced that a failure to act in Libya would have carried a far greater price for America.

Seeing Pax get extra-nervous about which shirt he is going to wear when he meets Aung San Suu Kyi, I get very moved. He rightfully doesn’t get nervous going to a movie premiere; he gets nervous going to meet her.

A company is a group organized to create a product or service, and it is only as good as its people and how excited they are about creating. I do want to recognize a ton of super-talented people. I just happen to be the face of the companies.

It is unnecessary to say that Fidel Castro possesses the high qualities of a fighter and statesman: our path, our struggle, and our triumph we owed to his vision.

I have found out in later years that we were very poor, but the glory of America is that we didn’t know it then.

I think that there is never an indispensable leader, you know? I think that there is a time with dignity that one needs to leave.

There are two ways of exerting one’s strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.

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.

I once told Nixon that the Presidency is like being a jackass caught in a hail storm. You’ve got to just stand there and take it.

You’ve all seen over the last eight years what President Obama means to this country. He is the embodiment of honor, resolve, and character – one of the finest presidents we have ever had.

I don’t think a Jewish or Christian or Islamic state is a proper concept. I would object to the United States as a Christian state.

Get off your butt and join the Marines!

Those who have a true understanding of America know that we have no desire for territorial expansion, for economic or other domination of other peoples. Such purposes are repugnant to our ideals of human freedom.

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.

Some day I shall be President.

I have been so great in boxing they had to create an image like Rocky, a white image on the screen, to counteract my image in the ring. America has to have its white images, no matter where it gets them. Jesus, Wonder Woman, Tarzan and Rocky.

No other country in the world does what we do. On every issue, the world turns to us, not simply because of the size of our economy or our military might – but because of the ideals we stand for, and the burdens we bear to advance them.

We welcome the scrutiny of the world – because what you see in America is a country that has steadily worked to address our problems and make our union more perfect.

I don’t like to see a president who is just out campaigning all year long or for the last four years. I’d like to see somebody who’s going in the office. In fact, I’d like to not see them because that way you’d be sure that they’d be working.

In other words, don’t expect to always be great. Disappointments, failures and setbacks are a normal part of the lifecycle of a unit or a company and what the leader has to do is constantly be up and say ‚we have a problem, let’s go and get it‘.

I believe in benevolent dictatorship provided I am the dictator.

One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity.

Fidel Castro, whatever people may think of him, is a hero in Latin America, primarily because he stood up to the United States.

There are times when a leader must move out ahead of the flock, go off in a new direction, confident that he is leading his people the right way.

Right after 9-11, as far as I know, one newspaper in the United States had the integrity to investigate opinion in the Muslim world: the ‚Wall Street Journal.‘

Since I have come to America, I am often asked whether my next novel will be set in America. I don’t think it will. I think I will be living in America for some time to come, but while living in America, I would like to write about Japanese society from the outside.

You know, when Michael Jackson does the moonwalk, he’s showing off! When Prince or Hendrix do a guitar solo, it’s confidence! I would hate to be at a show and some nervous wreck is sweating up there and doesn’t feel like he deserves to be there.

Organized crime in America takes in over forty billion dollars a year and spends very little on office supplies.

Leaders in all spheres who are living with HIV should be encouraged, not coerced, to lead by example and disclose their HIV status.

A leader who doesn’t hesitate before he sends his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader.

America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense human rights invented America.

Most people know nobody in the military.