People invest in businesses that they believe have the leadership, mission and team to grow and operate profitably.

I can easily imagine Obama sitting down and talking to any leader – or any person – in the world, with no baggage of past servitude or race supremacy to mar their talks.

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.

To see things in the seed, that is genius.

Critics only make you stronger. You have to look at what they are saying as feedback. Sometimes the feedback helps, and other times, it’s just noise that can be a distraction.

Although I don’t like the way the Chinese do business, I continue to do business in China. I have to. They’re the next world power.

Which government is the best? The one that teaches us to govern ourselves.

Concede that the new government of Louisiana is only to what it should be, as the egg is to the fowl; we shall sooner have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it.

Set up a situation that presents you with something slightly beyond your reach.

We are often raised as dependents then given over to teachers. It’s experience and exploration that can transform us and lead to mastery.

I do not like to repeat successes, I like to go on to other things.

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.

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

If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.

When restraint and courtesy are added to strength, the latter becomes irresistible.

Americans… still believe in an America where anything’s possible – they just don’t think their leaders do.

Politics is not bean bags. It’s serious, tough stuff.

A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.

Let us be sure that those who come after will say of us in our time, that in our time we did everything that could be done. We finished the race; we kept them free; we kept the faith.

Observe constantly that all things take place by change, and accustom thyself to consider that the nature of the Universe loves nothing so much as to change the things which are, and to make new things like them.

It is true that going out on to the street implies the risk of accidents happening, as they would to any ordinary man or woman. But if the church stays wrapped up in itself, it will age. And if I had to choose between a wounded church that goes out on to the streets and a sick, withdrawn church, I would definitely choose the first one.

We will move forward, we will move upward, and yes, we will move onward.

It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency – that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better. There’s no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee I’ll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office.

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

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.

Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision.

Our chief justices have probably had more profound and lasting influence on their times and on the direction of the nation than most presidents.

And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high.

In action a great heart is the chief qualification. In work, a great head.

I respect Drake not only as a creative person but as a business mind as well. I think Drake’s important.

The President is going to benefit from me reporting directly to him when I arrive.

My dear sisters, whatever your calling, whatever your circumstances, we need your impressions, your insights, and your inspiration. We need you to speak up and speak out in ward and stake councils.

The Creator has not thought proper to mark those in the forehead who are of stuff to make good generals. We are first, therefore, to seek them blindfold, and then let them learn the trade at the expense of great losses.

I think that there is never an indispensable leader, you know? I think that there is a time with dignity that one needs to leave.

A conductor can’t be too arrogant with an orchestra and try to impose himself too much.

Being a stand-up is my mission in life; it’s my passion. My ongoing goal is to simply be funny, on my own, in front of a roomful of strangers.

The presidency has many problems, but boredom is the least of them.

The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks.

The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.

I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end… I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me.

As more airlines consolidated and grew larger and more focused on the bottom line, flying in the U.S. became an awful experience. Despite moves to block our airline from flying, Virgin America began service in August 2007 – with the goal of making flying good again.

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

The movies are the only business where you can go out front and applaud yourself.

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

So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly arise and make them miserable.

One thing is certain in business. You and everyone around you will make mistakes.

Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.

In this business you have to develop a thick skin, but I’m always going to feel everything. It’s my nature.

When I took over as president, I studied the Constitution, and the more I studied it, the more I realised that it does not prevent the president of India from giving the nation a vision. So when I went and presented this vision in Parliament and in legislative assemblies; everyone welcomed it, irrespective of party affiliations.

In business, if you realize you’ve made a bad decision, you change it.

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

Heroes need monsters to establish their heroic credentials. You need something scary to overcome.

Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.

Things that I felt absolutely sure of but a few years ago, I do not believe now. This thought makes me see more clearly how foolish it would be to expect all men to agree with me.

Organization charts and fancy titles count for next to nothing.

I don’t think consensus-building politics is what I’m meant to be doing.

He who has great power should use it lightly.

Put two or three men in positions of conflicting authority. This will force them to work at loggerheads, allowing you to be the ultimate arbiter.

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.

Mickey Mouse popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner.

If an individual wants to be a leader and isn’t controversial, that means he never stood for anything.