Military school was great and especially great for leadership and then I spent two years in Vietnam.

Once I realized that right thinking is vital to victorious living, I got more serious about thinking about what I was thinking about, and choosing my thoughts carefully.

America’s experience, like many others, teaches us that fostering entrepreneurship is not just about crafting the right economic policy or developing the best educated curricula. It’s about creating an entire climate in which innovation and ideas flourish.

I feel matured in a way that I’m happy about. I’m at this other stage in my life – and it’s not a bad thing at all.

One must marry one’s feelings to one’s beliefs and ideas. That is probably the only way to achieve a measure of harmony in one’s life.

Fear? If I have gained anything by damning myself, it is that I no longer have anything to fear.

Many people think of perfectionism as striving to be your best, but it is not about self-improvement; it’s about earning approval and acceptance.

Just as discipline and freedom are opposing forces that must be balanced, leadership requires finding the equilibrium in the dichotomy of many seemingly contradictory qualities between one extreme and another.

Fear is not a lasting teacher of duty.

If you want to occupy the C-suite or the top one-tenth of 1% in any organization, you have to be obsessively devoted to your career at the expense of everything else. And women look at that, and they think, ‚No.‘

I think I have a dualistic nature.

Power is the measure of the degree of control you have over circumstances in your life and the actions of the people around you. It is a skill that is developed by a deep understanding of human nature, of what truly motivates people, and of the manipulations necessary for advancement and protection.

Be careful to leave your sons well instructed rather than rich, for the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant.

A master performer like Bill Clinton never lost sight of the fact that as president he had to project confidence and power, but if he was speaking to a group of autoworkers he would adjust his accent and his words to fit the audience, and do the same for a group of executives.

I can move any crowd.

There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools and she was bused to school every day. That little girl was me.

Most people treat the present moment as if it were an obstacle that they need to overcome. Since the present moment is life itself, it is an insane way to live.

I had wanted a tape recorder since I was tiny. I thought it was a magic thing. I never got one until just before I went to art school.

The young think that failure is the Siberian end of the line, banishment from all the living, and tend to do what I then did – which was to hide.

Community colleges play an important role in helping people transition between careers by providing the retooling they need to take on a new career.

No matter what, people grow. If you chose not to grow, you’re staying in a small box with a small mindset. People who win go outside of that box. It’s very simple when you look at it.

Some people carry their heart in their head and some carry their head in their heart. The trick is to keep them apart yet working together.

Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.

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.

God has his plans and his reasons. Sometimes we are supposed to go through things so that we learn lessons.

Adopt responsibility for your own well-being, try to put your family together, try to serve your community, try to seek for eternal truth… That’s the sort of thing that can ground you in your life, enough so that you can withstand the difficulty of life.

The time is long overdue to stop looking for progress through racial or ethnic leaders. Such leaders have too many incentives to promote polarizing attitudes and actions that are counterproductive for minorities and disastrous for the country.

Our brand of democracy is hard. But I can promise that a year from now, when I no longer hold this office, I’ll be right there with you as a citizen – inspired by those voices of fairness and vision, of grit and good humor and kindness that have helped America travel so far.

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

If you have an enemy, then learn and know your enemy, don’t just be mad at him or her.

Money does not change people, people change.

A man can be himself only so long as he is alone, and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom, for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.

I think there is a lot made out of age, and what age you feel.

Studies serve for delight, for ornaments, and for ability.

To be angry is to revenge the faults of others on ourselves.

Anyone who knows history, particularly the history of Europe, will, I think, recognize that the domination of education or of government by any one particular religious faith is never a happy arrangement for the people.

I’m more than comfortable just sitting back and scoring 21, 22 points or whatever and getting 10, 11 assists whatever the case might be. More than comfortable with that. It’s just a matter of the pieces that you have around you and what you can do to elevate everybody else.

You cannot be in a position of power and destroy the life of another person.

The more you seek the uncomfortable, the more you will become comfortable.

I knew ‚Crenshaw‘ had elevated me and distinguished me.

I’m not going to limit myself just because people won’t accept the fact that I can do something else.

If you look at my life, generally, I’ve been put in situations which were difficult and which I conquered.

Millions of people live their entire lives without finding themselves. But it is something I must do.

Many people, including some conservatives, have been very impressed with how brainy the president and his advisers are. But that is not quite as reassuring as it might seem.

I don’t want to make money, I just want to be wonderful.

Courage that grows from constitution often forsakes a man when he has occasion for it; courage which arises from a sense of duty acts; in a uniform manner.

When we see persons of worth, we should think of equaling them; when we see persons of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.

Let me define a leader. He must have vision and passion and not be afraid of any problem. Instead, he should know how to defeat it. Most importantly, he must work with integrity.

If you are against yourself, you will never reach your highest potential. And when you criticize yourself, you’re criticizing God.

People always say that you can’t please everybody. I think that’s a cop-out. Why not attempt it? ‚Cause think of all the people you will please if you try.

Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.

There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands.

Employers have decided that having the breadth of knowledge that’s associated with a four-year degree is often something they want to see in the people they give that job to.

Adversity leads us to think properly of our state, and so is most beneficial to us.

I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.

I remember, when I was a young guy in the SEAL teams, I was very afraid of making mistakes and looking stupid or doing dumb things and getting a bad reputation.

When you smoke the herb, it reveals you to yourself.

The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead.

Politics is not a game. It is an earnest business.

When you are winning a war almost everything that happens can be claimed to be right and wise.

Because I am a mother, I am capable of being shocked: as I never was when I was not one.