The power of an air force is terrific when there is nothing to oppose it.

Bobby Knight told me this: ‚There is nothing that a good defense cannot beat a better offense.‘ In other words a good offense wins.

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.

Tina Turner is someone that I admire, because she made her strength feminine and sexy.

The totalitarian, to me, is the enemy – the one that’s absolute, the one that wants control over the inside of your head, not just your actions and your taxes.

I did 20 years in the Navy. I joined the Navy right out of high school and went through Navy boot camp, went to SEAL training, got done with that, and then showed up at a SEAL team, where I did 20 years. That was pretty much my whole adult life.

Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.

A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained in arms, is the best most natural defense of a free country.

Experience teaches us that it is much easier to prevent an enemy from posting themselves than it is to dislodge them after they have got possession.

Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.

Every man needs slaves like he needs clean air. To rule is to breathe, is it not? And even the most disenfranchised get to breathe. The lowest on the social scale have their spouses or their children.

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

It is my own firm belief that the strength of the soul grows in proportion as you subdue the flesh.

I pass my life in preventing the storm from blowing down the tent, and I drive in the pegs as fast as they are pulled up.

You have to make sure you know why you are going to war and then use decisive force to end it as soon as possible.

All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.

There is nothing in the world so much admired as a man who knows how to bear unhappiness with courage.

I can’t jump the highest. I’m obviously not the biggest, not the strongest.

Character is power.

A lot of people, because of my contempt for the false consolations of religion, think of me as a symbolic public opponent of that in extremis. And sometimes that makes me feel a bit alarmed, to be the repository of other people’s hope.

Iran has little capacity to deploy force. Its strategic doctrines are defensive, designed to deter invasion long enough for diplomacy to set it.

Eight years ago, you may remember Hillary and I were rivals for the Democratic nomination. We battled for a year and a half. Let me tell you, it was tough, because Hillary was tough. I was worn out. She was doing everything I was doing, but just like Ginger Rogers, it was backwards in heels.

It is a strange desire, to seek power, and to lose liberty; or to seek power over others, and to lose power over a man’s self.

I can take it. The tougher it gets, the cooler I get.

True praise comes often even to the lowly; false praise only to the strong.

In so far as the mind is stronger than the body, so are the ills contracted by the mind more severe than those contracted by the body.

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.

No human being, however great, or powerful, was ever so free as a fish.

It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.

Total war is no longer war waged by all members of one national community against all those of another. It is total… because it may well involve the whole world.

Power is like being a lady… if you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.

What we call Man’s power over Nature turns out to be a power exercised by some men over other men with Nature as its instrument.

I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself than this incessant business.

Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force – that thoughts rule the world.

What then do you call your soul? What idea have you of it? You cannot of yourselves, without revelation, admit the existence within you of anything but a power unknown to you of feeling and thinking.

A house divided against itself cannot stand.

I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war.

We can approach God’s throne with boldness because we are confident in the power of what Jesus accomplished for us at the cross.

I am the commander in chief of the United States armed forces, and Iraq is gonna have to ultimately provide for its own security.

The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.

To be in opposition is not to be a nihilist.

I do believe in the old saying, ‚What does not kill you makes you stronger.‘ Our experiences, good and bad, make us who we are. By overcoming difficulties, we gain strength and maturity.

The answer to the problem of inequality is for the people who are fortunate enough to either have been gifted or deserved more to do everything they can to make the communities around them as strong as they possibly can.

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

I would storm the gates of Hell if Third Marine Air Wing was overhead.

The target of preventive war must have several characteristics. It must be virtually defenceless; it must be important enough to be worth the trouble; it must be possible to portray it as the ultimate evil and an imminent threat to our survival.

Ambition is the immoderate desire for power.

The secret of my influence has always been that it remained secret.

The Army was always big on Clausewitz, the Prussian; the Navy on Alfred Thayer Mahan, the American; and the Air Force on Giulio Douhet, the Italian. But the Marine Corps has always been more Eastern-oriented. I am much more comfortable with Sun-tzu and his approach to warfare.

A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.

Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.

Pop flies, in a sense, are just a diversion for a second baseman. Grounders are his stock trade.

In a world of complex threats, our security and leadership depends on all elements of our power – including strong and principled diplomacy.

I will not be triumphed over.

You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lines. You may trod me in the very dirt, but still, like dust, I’ll rise.

There is none made so great, but he may both need the help and service, and stand in fear of the power and unkindness, even of the meanest of mortals.

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.

There is no necessity to separate the monarch from the mob; all authority is equally bad.

Live as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts.

Courage is grace under pressure.

Michael Jordan changed so much in basketball, he took his power to make a difference. It’s so much going on in music right now and somebody has to make a difference.