The government’s job is good governance for everybody. My government will make policies; if you fit into it, come on board, or stay where you are. My job is not to spoon-feed anyone.

Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.

I don’t think that a Justice should have uppermost in her mind, ‚A Democratic president appointed me, so I must leave to be sure that another Democratic president can appoint my successor.‘

He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.

The IRS! They’re like the Mafia, they can take anything they want!

By most accounts, Aristide is the most popular figure in Haiti.

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.

Great bodies of people are never responsible for what they do.

Fortunately, we have help from the media. I have to say this: I’m very grateful for the support and kindness that we’ve gotten. People have respected their privacy and in that way, I think, you know, no matter what people may feel about my husband’s policies or what have you, they care about children and that’s been good to see.

The spirit of America has nurtured responsibility and community unlike any other country.

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.

You do the policy, I’ll do the politics.

When the players go home, I can’t tell them what to do, so you need to create an atmosphere of trust. I don’t want to think, ‚What are they doing now? Do I need to call them?‘

Don’t swap horses in crossing a stream.

Republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into despotisms.

Any fact that needs to be disclosed should be put out now or as quickly as possible, because otherwise the bleeding will not end.

Although prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it be postponed.

There are websites that any government wants to block. The truth about the Internet is that it’s extremely hard to block anything – extremely hard. You’ll never get perfect blocking.

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

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.

I’m a mentor to anybody who’s interested.

There’s a reason why the Foo Fighters don’t blast out Nirvana songs every night: because we have a lot of respect for them. You know, that’s hallowed ground. We have to be careful. We have to tread lightly. We have talked about it before, but the opportunity hasn’t really come up, or it just hasn’t felt right.

Commitment is an act, not a word.

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.

Anything important is never left to the vote of the people. We only get to vote on some man; we never get to vote on what he is to do.

No other country in the world does what we do. On every issue, the world turns to us, not simply because of the size of our economy or our military might – but because of the ideals we stand for, and the burdens we bear to advance them.

I’ve never gone wrong trusting my gut.

The great liability of the engineer compared to men of other professions is that his works are out in the open where all can see them. His acts, step by step, are in hard substance. He cannot bury his mistakes in the grave like the doctors. He cannot argue them into thin air or blame the judge like the lawyers.

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.

This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector.

Since it is difficult to join them together, it is safer to be feared than to be loved when one of the two must be lacking.

Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.

I don’t think it’s a good idea to plan to sell a company.

I tend to feel if people say they’re going to do something, they will, if given the chance.

I have considered voting Conservative because I am so against the Labour party.

I can tell you this: If I’m ever in a position to call the shots, I’m not going to rush to send somebody else’s kids into a war.

The Iranian government is undoubtedly a severe danger to its own population, but not beyond that.

If you believe that tax policy has nothing to do with the economy, then you’re pretty much like a rock, only dumber.

Ever since Israel has been a nation the United States has provided the leadership. Every president down to the ages has done this in a fairly balanced way, including George Bush senior, Gerald Ford, and others including myself and Bill Clinton.

Since the team understands that the leader is de facto in charge, in that respect, a leader has nothing to prove. But in another respect, a leader has everything to prove: Every member of the team must develop the trust and confidence that their leader will exercise good judgment, remain calm, and make the right decisions when it matters most.

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 am a leader by default, only because nature does not allow a vacuum.

I think one of the great things about the United States has been our ability to maintain a distinction between our military and domestic law enforcement.

I don’t run restaurants that are out of control. We are about establishing phenomenal footholdings with talent.

Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans – born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace.

Leadership is absolutely vital if there are comparable countries which can affect the security of the world you live in. Between Lincoln and Roosevelt’s time, America was protected by huge oceans and, in practice, by the British navy. Today, it’s different, and the obsession of the Obama administration has been for retrenchment.

A bureaucrat is a Democrat who holds some office that a Republican wants.

I strongly believe that for serious and violent criminals, we must absolutely hold them accountable for their crimes and send them to prison.

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

I will keep America moving forward, always forward, for a better America, for an endless enduring dream and a thousand Points of Light. This is my mission, and I will complete it.

For how many things, which for our own sake we should never do, do we perform for the sake of our friends.

A piece of spaghetti or a military unit can only be led from the front end.

I do believe that any successful business starts from the top and works its way down.

When you decide to get involved in a military operation in a place like Syria, you’ve got to be prepared, as we learned from Iraq and Afghanistan, to become the government, and I’m not sure any country, either the United States or I don’t hear of anyone else, who’s willing to take on that responsibility.

In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.

Never neglect details. When everyone’s mind is dulled or distracted the leader must be doubly vigilant.

Free government is the most difficult of all government. But it is everlastingly true that the plain people will make fewer mistakes than any other group of men, no matter how powerful.

Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government.

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.

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