The most important thing for a director is being able to communicate.

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

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.

In this age, I don’t care how tactically or operationally brilliant you are: if you cannot create harmony – even vicious harmony – on the battlefield based on trust across service lines, across coalition and national lines, and across civilian/military lines, you need to go home, because your leadership is obsolete.

No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.

It is unnecessary to say that Fidel Castro possesses the high qualities of a fighter and statesman: our path, our struggle, and our triumph we owed to his vision.

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

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

When you are president, being able to clearly articulate detailed plans to help the people of this country is a good thing. Knowing what you’re doing is a good thing. And let me tell you, Hillary Clinton absolutely knows what she’s doing.

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

I really think that there was a great advantage in many ways to being a woman. I think we are a lot better at personal relationships, and then have the capability obviously of telling it like it is when it’s necessary.

A President’s hardest task is not to do what is right, but to know what is right.

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.

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

The world is weary of statesmen whom democracy has degraded into politicians.

A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better.

A lot has happened over the years. And while this nation has been tested by war, and it’s been tested by recession and all manner of challenges – I stand before you again tonight, after almost two terms as your president, to tell you I am more optimistic about the future of America than ever before.

One’s only rival is one’s own potentialities. One’s only failure is failing to live up to one’s own possibilities. In this sense, every man can be a king, and must therefore be treated like a king.

The army teaches boys to think like men.

When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.

To supervise people, you must either surpass them in their accomplishments or despise them.

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I, therefore, intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

The most practical kind of politics is the politics of decency.

What matters in the Sun-tzu universe are not positions of strength and power, but situations in which you have options, full of potential force.

I think that a president needs to have a variety of views presented. But also, there has to be a team effort, because otherwise, I think it creates a dissonance and difficulty.

The nose of a mob is its imagination. By this, at any time, it can be quietly led.

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

So when I speak in front of thousands, tens of thousands of people, I don’t really get nervous because I know what I want to say and I know what message I want to give.

True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.

I think with the Romans, that the general of today should be a soldier tomorrow if necessary.

What I admire most about Hillary is that she never buckles under pressure. She never takes the easy way out. And Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life. And when I think about the kind of president that I want for my girls and all our children, that’s what I want.

But I do not believe that the world would be entirely different if there were more women leaders. Maybe if everybody in leadership was a woman, you might not get into the conflicts in the first place. But if you watch the women who have made it to the top, they haven’t exactly been non-aggressive – including me.

It is more difficult to rule yourself than to rule a city.

It’s very rare that you get a director that lets you be creative and bring what you feel your character should do or should be.

I would rather earn 1% off a 100 people’s efforts than 100% of my own efforts.

If I don’t run for president, we’ll all be OK.

When you get to be President, there are all those things, the honors, the twenty-one gun salutes, all those things. You have to remember it isn’t for you. It’s for the Presidency.

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

Those who cannot think or take responsibility for themselves need, and clamor for, a leader.

I liked Vittorio De Sica a lot, and I got to work with him once in a segment movie. He was a great director. He was a very charismatic character and a guy I watched a lot when he was directing.

America’s promises do not come with a price tag. We meet our commitments. We bear our burdens. That’s one of the reasons why almost every country on Earth sees America as stronger and more respected today than they did eight years ago when I took office.

I would rather try to persuade a man to go along, because once I have persuaded him, he will stick. If I scare him, he will stay just as long as he is scared, and then he is gone.

In various countries and times, leaders of groups that lagged behind, economically and educationally, have taught their followers to blame all their problems on other people – and to hate those other people.

Leadership to me means duty, honor, country. It means character, and it means listening from time to time.

Positional leaders ignore the fact that every person has hopes, dreams, desires, and goals of his own. And leaders must bring their vision and the aspirations of the people they lead together in a way that benefits everyone.

There are times when a leader must move out ahead of the flock, go off in a new direction, confident that he is leading his people the right way.

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.

Managers today have to do more with less, and get better results from limited resources, more than ever before.

I’ve had some ‚riotous excursions of the human spirit‘ alongside the young Sailors and Marines, and it’s time to leave the stage to the young leaders who got their rank the old-fashioned way – they earned their stripes in combat.

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

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

Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.

I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land! I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.

The events of October 1962 are widely hailed as Kennedy’s finest hour.