My observation is that whenever one person is found adequate to the discharge of a duty… it is worse executed by two persons, and scarcely done at all if three or more are employed therein.

I’ve seen how the issues that come across a president’s desk are always the hard ones – the problems where no amount of data or numbers will get you to the right answer.

He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.

Building capacity dissolves differences. It irons out inequalities.

Imagine for yourself a character, a model personality, whose example you determine to follow, in private as well as in public.

When you are laboring for others let it be with the same zeal as if it were for yourself.

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

Please think of me like an endangered species and just observe me quietly from far away. If you try to talk to me or touch me casually, I may get intimidated and bite you. So please be careful.

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.

My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way.

I believe in a president whose religious views are his own private affair, neither imposed by him upon the nation or imposed by the nation upon him as a condition to holding that office.

But I’m pretty good with collaborative thinking. I work well with other people.

Get someone else to blow your horn and the sound will carry twice as far.

How could you have a soccer team if all were goalkeepers? How would it be an orchestra if all were French horns?

Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.

I just think it is important that you realize, that you’re the best in the world. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican or whether you’re libertarian or whatever, you are the best. And we should not ever forget that. And when somebody does not do the job, we got to let them go.

We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.

Hackathons are these things where just all of the Facebook engineers get together and stay up all night building things. And, I mean, usually at these hackathons, I code too, just alongside everyone.

It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.

When you’re around the kids, you feel like you act the most grown up just because you’re supposed to lead. I say things, like every other parent, that reminds you of your own parents. One thing I do know about being a parent, you understand why your father was in a bad mood a lot.

The best government is that which teaches us to govern ourselves.

In order to govern, the question is not to follow out a more or less valid theory but to build with whatever materials are at hand. The inevitable must be accepted and turned to advantage.

Some people want to win races. Other people want to be President of the United States.

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

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

The wicked leader is he who the people despise. The good leader is he who the people revere. The great leader is he who the people say, ‚We did it ourselves.‘

We need to have business leaders who live by deep, strong principles.

I did my utmost to ensure that everyone below me in the chain of command felt comfortable approaching me with concerns, ideas, thoughts, and even disagreements.

Those who govern, having much business on their hands, do not generally like to take the trouble of considering and carrying into execution new projects. The best public measures are therefore seldom adopted from previous wisdom, but forced by the occasion.

Now from a distance, I look back on what the Corps taught me: to think like men of action, and to act like men of thought!

I’m a fighter, I’m a winner, and I’m not interested in just battling my team-mate for the back of the grid.

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

Good management consists in showing average people how to do the work of superior people.

Every man, every woman who has to take up the service of government, must ask themselves two questions: ‚Do I love my people in order to serve them better? Am I humble and do I listen to everybody, to diverse opinions in order to choose the best path?‘ If you don’t ask those questions, your governance will not be good.

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.

One of the key qualities a leader must possess is the ability to detach from the chaos, mayhem, and emotions in a situation and make good, clear decisions based on what is actually happening.

To lead people walk behind them.

The problem is that at a lot of big companies, process becomes a substitute for thinking. You’re encouraged to behave like a little gear in a complex machine. Frankly, it allows you to keep people who aren’t that smart, who aren’t that creative.

When you’re in a leadership role, you can never please all of the people all of the time. There’s also a lot of responsibility that goes along with it that others may not realize.

You have to have a certain realism that government is a pretty blunt instrument, and without the constant attention of highly qualified people with the right metrics, it will fall into not doing things very well.

I have observed that society in general always seems to honor its living conformists and its dead troublemakers.

The Artist is he who detects and applies the law from observation of the works of Genius, whether of man or Nature. The Artisan is he who merely applies the rules which others have detected.

As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.

To me, a leader is someone who holds her- or himself accountable for finding potential in people and processes. And so what I think is really important is sustainability.

When you have that respect from your teammates, it makes it a lot more comfortable.

I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.

Competition is the keen cutting edge of business, always shaving away at costs.

The revolution has always been in the hands of the young. The young always inherit the revolution.

My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

The President is not only the leader of a party, he is the President of the whole people. He must interpret the conscience of America. He must guide his conduct by the idealism of our people.

We allow no geniuses around our Studio.

The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.

When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.

I don’t mind how much my Ministers talk, so long as they do what I say.

It’s very important to like the people you work with. Otherwise, your job is going to be quite miserable.

Most of the problems a President has to face have their roots in the past.

My model for business is The Beatles: They were four guys that kept each others‘ negative tendencies in check; they balanced each other. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts.

No man will ever carry out of the Presidency the reputation which carried him into it.

People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything.

If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.

I am confident that when the facts and policies have been examined, when the record of performances have been reviewed, Barack Obama and Joe Biden will once again be elected to lead our beloved country to a better future.