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

As president, you can get all kinds of advice from all kinds of people. But at the end of the day, when it comes time to make that decision, as president, all you have to guide you are your values and your vision and the life experiences that make you who you are.

It sure is hell to be president.

My view is there’s no bad time to innovate.

The first man gets the oyster, the second man gets the shell.

At fifty everyone has the face he deserves.

An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry.

Small minds are concerned with the extraordinary, great minds with the ordinary.

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.

As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information.

We call first truths those we discover after all the others.

Some old men, continually praise the time of their youth. In fact, you would almost think that there were no fools in their days, but unluckily they themselves are left as an example.

I am not a communist and neither is the revolutionary movement.

The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.

Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

It constitutes a superhuman effort to lead any people in times of crisis. Without them, the changes would be impossible.

Forty is the old age of youth, fifty is the youth of old age.

If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; but if he says that it is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and well and justly. And it is impossible to live wisely and well and justly without living a pleasant life.

The alchemists in their search for gold discovered many other things of greater value.

You cannot be President of the United States if you don’t have faith. Remember Lincoln, going to his knees in times of trial in the Civil War and all that stuff.

Mind your speech a little lest you should mar your fortunes.

And they that rule in England, in stately conclaves met, alas, alas for England they have no graves as yet.

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 my heart, I’m confident I could make a good president.

No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition.

An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools.

I want to use my position of leadership to help move along at a faster pace what I believe and know the Obama administration wants to do around the urgency of climate change.

The worst men often give the best advice.

When you are president, being able to clearly articulate detailed plans to help the people of this country is a good thing. Knowing what you’re doing is a good thing. And let me tell you, Hillary Clinton absolutely knows what she’s doing.

Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state.

You can’t get a contemporary story about what is going on inside government, and how society sees itself, on American TV.

He who dreads hostility too much is unfit to rule.

Once upon a time my political opponents honored me as possessing the fabulous intellectual and economic power by which I created a worldwide depression all by myself.

The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.

A word to the wise is infuriating.

The Scoutmaster teaches boys to play the game by doing so himself.

Doing nothing while the middle class is hurting. That’s not leadership. Loose regulations and lax enforcement. That’s not leadership. That’s abandoning our middle class.

Not everybody is comfortable with the idea that politics is a guilty addiction. But it is.

Can anything be stupider than that a man has the right to kill me because he lives on the other side of a river and his ruler has a quarrel with mine, though I have not quarrelled with him?

With Benghazi, I don’t see anyone saying, ‚Hey look, I am overall responsible for this and therefore, I take responsibility for what happened. It’s my fault.‘ I haven’t heard that yet. Meanwhile, the other side of the coin, the Osama bin Laden raid, it seems everyone made that decision, and that’s just unbelievable to me.

To announce that there must be no criticism of the president… is morally treasonable to the American public.

Baseball is like a poker game. Nobody wants to quit when he’s losing; nobody wants you to quit when you’re ahead.

‚Suffering should not make us bitter people,‘ my mother once said, ‚it should make us better comforters.‘ Young people need to hear this from those who have walked before them, because someday they’ll be walking those same steps, but there may not be anyone following behind.

The thing I always say to people is this: ‚If you avoid failure, you also avoid success.‘

Everything deep is also simple and can be reproduced simply as long as its reference to the whole truth is maintained. But what matters is not what is witty but what is true.

If you’re sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come and join this campaign.

To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.

Running for office is similar to being a trial lawyer in a very long trial. It requires adrenaline and stamina; it requires being in shape mentally and emotionally. It’s a marathon.

I think politicians really go with the tide.

Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it.

I’ve never responded well to entrenched negative thinking.

Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.

I don’t think generally politician come from democratic country. I think not that thinking. But sometimes little bit short-sighted. They are mainly looking for their next vote.

Free government is the most difficult of all government. But it is everlastingly true that the plain people will make fewer mistakes than any other group of men, no matter how powerful.

It’s been my experience in politics that you can try and plan it out: ‚I’m going to hit the three ball which will hit the eight ball.‘ You’ve just got to go run and try to do everything right. And then have a little luck.

Next to knowing when to seize an opportunity, the most important thing in life is to know when to forego an advantage.

My view is that at a younger age your optimism is more and you have more imagination etc. You have less bias.

I personally never expected anything of Obama, and wrote about it before the 2008 primaries. I thought it was smoke and mirrors.

The man who is a pessimist before 48 knows too much; if he is an optimist after it, he knows too little.

Blessed is the man, who having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact.