People and organizations don’t grow much without delegation and completed staff work because they are confined to the capacities of the boss and reflect both personal strengths and weaknesses.

People who pity themselves think, ‚Why would I try to do anything? I’ll just fail.‘

All the president is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing, and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.

At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.

The possession of anything begins in the mind.

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.

I have always been grateful to Colonel Longley. He proved to me that when people in authority take a stand, good can come out of it.

A lot of us grow up and we grow out of the literal interpretation that we get when we’re children, but we bear the scars all our life. Whether they’re scars of beauty or scars of ugliness, it’s pretty much in the eye of the beholder.

If you want to achieve something, you build the basis for it.

On Sundays when I speak, I hopefully give somebody something that they can use the next day at work or at home.

The presidency has made every man who occupied it, no matter how small, bigger than he was; and no matter how big, not big enough for its demands.

The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.

There is probably a perverse pride in my administration… that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who’s occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can’t be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.

I don’t want to look sloppy, because then I feel sloppy.

In other words, don’t expect to always be great. Disappointments, failures and setbacks are a normal part of the lifecycle of a unit or a company and what the leader has to do is constantly be up and say ‚we have a problem, let’s go and get it‘.

They know enough who know how to learn.

My favourite president, and the one I admired most, was Harry Truman.

Love is the flower you’ve got to let grow.

I owe the best of myself to geology, but everything it has taught me tends to turn me away from dead things.

There’s no difference between one’s killing and making decisions that will send others to kill. It’s exactly the same thing, or even worse.

I’m always disappointed when people don’t live up to their potential. I know that a number of people look down on themselves and consequently on everybody who looks like them. But that, too, can change.

Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people.

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.‘

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.

I like to always lead from the front and set an example for whoever is playing with me or around me. I like taking responsibilities. That is my natural thing.

I already am a product.

If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.

Without pain, there would be no suffering, without suffering we would never learn from our mistakes. To make it right, pain and suffering is the key to all windows, without it, there is no way of life.

Truly it is an evil to be full of faults; but it is a still greater evil to be full of them and to be unwilling to recognize them, since that is to add the further fault of a voluntary illusion.

Education comes from within; you get it by struggle and effort and thought.

Only stupid people are changed by success.

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

Confidence is that feeling by which the mind embarks in great and honorable courses with a sure hope and trust in itself.

When I am writing fiction, I believe I am much better organized, more methodical – one has to be when writing a novel. Writing poetry is a state of free float.

Before I went to jail, I was active in politics as a member of South Africa’s leading organization – and I was generally busy from 7 A.M. until midnight. I never had time to sit and think.

I’ve been so blessed to play for the greatest coach at a time when our organization has done incredible things. I’ve played with the best teammates. Playing for Mr. Kraft and what his influence on the team has been.

The fatal metaphor of progress, which means leaving things behind us, has utterly obscured the real idea of growth, which means leaving things inside us.

I don’t have any oratory skills. But I would not use them if I had.

You can tell the tree by the fruit it bears. You see it through what the organization is delivering as far as a concrete program. If the tree’s fruit sours or grows brackish, then the time has come to chop it down – bury it and walk over it and plant new seeds.

Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much, are the three pillars of learning.

I know I want to always do the best I can.

It’s like a muscle – if you stop going to the gym or stop running, you get weak. The military teaches you these great values, but we don’t keep up the discipline on our own, and we lose it. So wherever you go, keep that discipline up.

‚Worry‘ is a word that I don’t allow myself to use.

A failure is a man who has blundered, but is not able to cash in the experience.

The key is taking responsibility and initiative, deciding what your life is about and prioritizing your life around the most important things.

Governments need to have both shepherds and butchers.

Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him.

I am an over-achiever, and I want to be known for the good things in my life.

Do not let circumstances control you. You change your circumstances.

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.

Character is the result of two things: mental attitude and the way we spend our time.

Sometimes if you want to see a change for the better, you have to take things into your own hands.

The issues a president faces are not black and white, and cannot be boiled down into 140 characters. Because when you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military at your command, you can’t make snap decisions. You can’t have a thin skin or the tendency to lash out.

I’ve learned through my own relationship with God that He’s not expecting me to be perfect; He wants me to do my best to be in His will and take steps of faith as He leads me, through His Word and the promptings He speaks to my heart.

When you’re not engaged in the day-to-day struggles that everybody feels, you slowly start losing touch. And I think it’s important for the people in the White House to have a finger on the pulse.

Education forms the common mind. Just as the twig is bent, the tree’s inclined.

I’m not a one-man show. I was never that in my life, and I never want to be that.

I didn’t want to play it boring and safe. I also didn’t want to innovate too much. Second albums, man, they’re even scarier than first ones.

We can improve our relationships with others by leaps and bounds if we become encouragers instead of critics.

I had rather be first in a village than second at Rome.

Being at ease with not knowing is crucial for answers to come to you.