The art of delegation is one of the key skills any entrepreneur must master.

Every sentence spoken by Napoleon, and every line of his writing, deserves reading, as it is the sense of France.

What Washington needs is adult supervision.

A nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life is not as likely to insist upon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today – and in fact we have forgotten.

The path to the CEO’s office should not be through the CFO’s office, and it should not be through the marketing department. It needs to be through engineering and design.

Listen, I think that people want a president who is going to be interested in the things that keep them up at night, the things that are weighing on them, the things that are debilitating and can be addressed.

Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.

Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.

Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.

It is wise to persuade people to do things and make them think it was their own idea.

The 21st century is going to be the American century. Because we lead not only by the example of our power, but by the power of our example. That is the history of the journey of America.

I’m in this business to be creative – I’ll even diminish it and say to be a content provider.

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.

A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man. His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example.

I can die a happy man never having been president of the United States of America. But it doesn’t mean I won’t run.

The true measure of the value of any business leader and manager is performance.

It’s OK for China to invent cancer drugs that cure patients in the United States. We want them to catch up. But as the leader, we want to keep setting a very, very high standard. We don’t want them to catch up because we’re slowing down or, even worse, going into reverse.

I speak directly to the people, and I know that the people of California want to have better leadership. They want to have great leadership. They want to have somebody that will represent them. And it doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or a Republican, young or old.

Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.

A revolution can be neither made nor stopped. The only thing that can be done is for one of several of its children to give it a direction by dint of victories.

For a successful entrepreneur it can mean extreme wealth. But with extreme wealth comes extreme responsibility. And the responsibility for me is to invest in creating new businesses, create jobs, employ people, and to put money aside to tackle issues where we can make a difference.

The measure of a man is what he does with power.

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

No woman in my time will be prime minister or chancellor or foreign secretary – not the top jobs. Anyway, I wouldn’t want to be prime minister; you have to give yourself 100 percent.

People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook. I earned everything I’ve got.

If there’s one thing that’s certain in business, it’s uncertainty.

We named the book ‚Extreme Ownership‘ because we really found that when we looked at not only at leaders but at teams that were the most successful, we found that the ones that had this attitude of extreme ownership were the ones that did the best, and it’s definitely an attitude that I had.

When Paul Allen and I started Microsoft over 30 years ago, we had big dreams about software. We had dreams about the impact it could have.

When I take action, I’m not going to fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt. It’s going to be decisive.

We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times… and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen.

The people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them.

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to trust your team. It’s a lesson I’ve had to relearn quite a few times.

Let me tell you what I literally told every world leader I’ve met with, and I’ve met them all: It’s never, never, never been a good bet to bet against America. We have the finest fighting force in the world.

Be willing to use yourself to get out there and put the company on the market. If you have to make a fool of yourself, make a fool of yourself, but make sure that you end up on the front pages, not the back pages. In time, it’s possible that your company will stand out from the crowd, and you’ll be successful.

As a leader, the first person I need to lead is me. The first person that I should try to change is me.

I’m touring the world, not doing nothing against the law, getting money to feed my family. I got employees that have felonies, and they can’t get jobs. They work for me.

A general is just as good or just as bad as the troops under his command make him.

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.

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

Political courage is not political suicide.

We need someone with superb judgement in their own right because, yes, a president can hire the best advisors on Earth, but I guarantee you this: Five advisors will give five different opinions. And it is the president – and the president alone – who always makes the final call.

Innovation has nothing to do with how many R & D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R & D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.

We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.

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.

Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.

To the person with a firm purpose all men and things are servants.

The man who can dominate a London dinner-table can dominate the world.

Any lady who is first lady likes being first lady. I don’t care what they say, they like it.

The thing most people don’t pick up when they become an entrepreneur is that it never ends. It’s 24/7.

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

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.

The more nobly a man wills and acts, the more avid he becomes for great and sublime aims to pursue. He will no longer be content with family, country, and the remunerative aspect of his work. He will want wider organisations to create, new paths to blaze, causes to uphold, truths to discover, an ideal to cherish and defend.

I had never been in charge of anything. I’d always worked for someone. I worked for a furniture warehouse. I did masonry. I always had a boss yelling at me. So I’d never been in charge of an organization.

And now, of course this is another thing I didn’t count on, that now as the governor of the state of California, I am selling California worldwide. You see that? Selling.

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

When a team takes ownership of its problems, the problem gets solved. It is true on the battlefield, it is true in business, and it is true in life.

To all the positions, I just bring the determination to win. Me being an unselfish player, I think that can carry on to my teammates. When you have one of the best players on the court being unselfish, I think that transfers to the other players.

Groups that rose from poverty to prosperity seldom did so by having their own racial or ethnic leaders to follow.

Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.

In business, success often depends upon the relative age of your ideas.

It is a paradox that every dictator has climbed to power on the ladder of free speech. Immediately on attaining power each dictator has suppressed all free speech except his own.