Listen, I think that people want a president who is going to be interested in the things that keep them up at night, the things that are weighing on them, the things that are debilitating and can be addressed.

We awaken in others the same attitude of mind we hold toward them.

If you can feel that Mother Earth is in you, and you are Mother Earth, then you are not any longer afraid to die because the earth is not dying. Like a wave appears and disappears and appears again.

The greatest service that can be offered to children who show personality traits or inclinations that might not be understood by the adults around them is to allow them to express their own unique humanity.

Whatever position I occupied, it was the result of colleagues – of my comrades in the movement – who had decided in their wisdom to use me for the purpose of focusing the attention of the country and the international community on me.

For Forms of Government let fools contest; whatever is best administered is best.

Practice Golden-Rule 1 of Management in everything you do. Manage others the way you would like to be managed.

We never fully grasp the import of any true statement until we have a clear notion of what the opposite untrue statement would be.

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.

Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don’t believe is right.

No man means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous.

When I write, it’s like choosing which shoes I’m going to put on. More often than not, my lyrics are personal – but I sometimes have to put myself in other people’s shoes.

People have me pinned as a shark or a predator in some way, and in no way am I that. I wouldn’t want to hurt anyone. I want to defend people. I want to help people.

The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‚If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?‘ But… the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‚If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?‘

A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him, that of plants and animals as that of his fellow men, and when he devotes himself helpfully to all life that is in need of help.

Creativity has got to start with humanity and when you’re a human being, you feel, you suffer. You’re gay, you’re sick, you’re nervous or whatever.

Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them.

He who dreads hostility too much is unfit to rule.

Go before the people with your example, and be laborious in their affairs.

If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.

Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man’s desire to understand.

All very successful commanders are prima donnas and must be so treated.

I hate letting my teammates down. I know I’m not going to make every shot. Sometimes I try to make the right play, and if it results in a loss, I feel awful. I don’t feel awful because I have to answer questions about it. I feel awful in that locker room because I could have done something more to help my teammates win.

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.

Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to please or impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite – inspire fear and insecurity.

I have no delusions about my likability in every scenario. I know that in order to get things done the way you want them, oftentimes your position will be unpopular.

And I think it’s that time. And I think if you just step aside and Mr. Romney can kind of take over. You can maybe still use a plane. Though maybe a smaller one. Not that big gas guzzler you are going around to colleges and talking about student loans and stuff like that.

The endeavor to understand is the first and only basis of virtue.

One’s only rival is one’s own potentialities. One’s only failure is failing to live up to one’s own possibilities. In this sense, every man can be a king, and must therefore be treated like a king.

What we won when all of our people united must not be lost in suspicion and distrust and selfishness and politics. Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as president.

I have found that no exertion of the legs can bring two minds much nearer to one another.

To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.

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.

The day-to-day making of policy is arguing all the time. You’re trying to get the right approach and the right answer, and there are moments that aren’t very pleasant. But in the end, you look at the overall product.

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

Love has reasons which reason cannot understand.

I believe that many of my young guys lived because I didn’t waste their lives because I didn’t have the vision in my mind of how to destroy the enemy at least cost to our guys and to the innocents on the battlefields.

I would rather try to persuade a man to go along, because once I have persuaded him, he will stick. If I scare him, he will stay just as long as he is scared, and then he is gone.

The time comes upon every public man when it is best for him to keep his lips closed.

We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

So when you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it.

The best leaders understand the motivations of their team members and know their people – their lives and their families. But a leader must never grow so close to subordinates that one member of the team becomes more important than another, or more important than the mission itself.

I love that for Barack, there is no such thing as ‚us‘ and ‚them‘ – he doesn’t care whether you’re a Democrat, a Republican, or none of the above… he knows that we all love our country… and he’s always ready to listen to good ideas… he’s always looking for the very best in everyone he meets.

I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I’m interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.

My dear sisters, whatever your calling, whatever your circumstances, we need your impressions, your insights, and your inspiration. We need you to speak up and speak out in ward and stake councils.

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.

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

Wit is the sudden marriage of ideas which, before their union, were not perceived to have any relation.

I’ve been to those places where it’s ‚poor, pitiful me.‘

It’s so much easier to pray for a bore than to go and see one.

It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow beings.

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be.

Self-sacrifice enables us to sacrifice other people without blushing.

I live in Puerto Rico, my family lives in Puerto Rico, my friends. What happens in Puerto Rico matters to me.

Taylor Swift’s audience can listen to me, but so can the street kids. I want to touch it all.

Presidents quickly realize that while a single act might destroy the world they live in, no one single decision can make life suddenly better or can turn history around for the good.

Consider, when you are enraged at any one, what you would probably think if he should die during the dispute.

Our country was founded by geniuses, but it’s being run by idiots.

I feel good because I believe I have made progress in rebuilding the people’s trust in their government.

Listen with your eyes for feelings.

I soothe my conscience now with the thought that it is better for hard words to be on paper than that Mummy should carry them in her heart.