Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together.

I’d rather be a victor than a victim.

The Iranian government is undoubtedly a severe danger to its own population, but not beyond that.

For all who love freedom and peace, the world without Saddam Hussein’s regime is a better and safer place.

It sure is hell to be president.

Clearly older women and especially older women who have led an active life or elder women who successfully maneuver through their own family life have so much to teach us about sharing, patience, and wisdom.

Not brute force but only persuasion and faith are the kings of this world.

When you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship.

Don’t get older just to get wiser. If you get older, you will be wiser, I believe that – if you dare. But get older because it’s fun!

In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider.

You don’t have to give way to careless speech or complaining. You don’t have to let your feelings get in the way of what God wants to do in your life.

People do not make wars; governments do.

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 believe we can continue the Great Society while we fight in Vietnam.

He that will enjoy the brightness of sunshine, must quit the coolness of the shade.

If you are a leader, you should never forget that everyone needs encouragement. And everyone who receives it – young or old, successful or less-than-successful, unknown or famous – is changed by it.

I think my message to the politicians who have within their power the ability to make change is, ‚Do you really, really not care about the future of your great-grandchildren? Because if we let the world continue to be destroyed the way we are now, what’s the world going to be like for your great-grandchildren?‘

Wisdom does not show itself so much in precept as in life – in firmness of mind and a mastery of appetite. It teaches us to do as well as to talk; and to make our words and actions all of a color.

Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time is because we’re hardwired not to always think clearly when we’re scared. And the country’s scared.

Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.

Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, but upon error also.

Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself.

I think I was identified as a failed president because I wasn’t re-elected.

Facts are not liberals‘ strong suit. Rhetoric is.

Proverbs are always platitudes until you have personally experienced the truth of them.

The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.

The more you observe politics, the more you’ve got to admit that each party is worse than the other.

I have a self-defense mind. I’ve had it all my life.

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.

To realize that you do not understand is a virtue; Not to realize that you do not understand is a defect.

Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom – and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech.

If the leader is filled with high ambition and if he pursues his aims with audacity and strength of will, he will reach them in spite of all obstacles.

All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.

I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but for predecessors as well.

An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight… the truly wise person is colorblind.

If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve.

Truth is by nature self-evident. As soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear.

Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.

Say not, ‚I have found the truth,‘ but rather, ‚I have found a truth.‘

Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.

Leadership is hard. It’s a skill. It’s a technique.

When one’s expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything one does have.

This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew.

We become wiser by adversity; prosperity destroys our appreciation of the right.

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

Over the years, I’ve learned that a confident person doesn’t concentrate or focus on their weaknesses – they maximize their strengths.

If God treats you well by teaching you a disastrous lesson, you never forget it.

It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.

You’ve got to watch the politics of AIDS. The politics of AIDS can work both for and against the victims of AIDS.

Surely wisdom will come as we listen to learn from children, parents, partners, neighbors, Church leaders, and the Lord.

If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area in his life.

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.

Falsehood is a perennial spring.

Like religion, politics, and family planning, cereal is not a topic to be brought up in public. It’s too controversial.

He who loves 50 people has 50 woes; he who loves no one has no woes.

Men who have reached and passed forty-five, have a look as if waiting for the secret of the other world, and as if they were perfectly sure of having found out the secret of this.

He not busy being born is busy dying.

Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.

I loved being Secretary of State, that’s probably evident to everyone who watched me.