This President is going to lead us out of this recovery.

We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.

I’m here to spread a message of hope. Follow your heart. Don’t follow what you’ve been told you’re supposed to do.

We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us thru that darkness to a safe and sane future.

The presidency has made every man who occupied it, no matter how small, bigger than he was; and no matter how big, not big enough for its demands.

To me, we’re marketing hope.

The reason men oppose progress is not that they hate progress, but that they love inertia.

We don’t believe in planners and deciders making the decisions on behalf of Americans.

Compromise used to mean that half a loaf was better than no bread. Among modern statesmen it really seems to mean that half a loaf; is better than a whole loaf.

In a universe that’s an intelligent system with a divine creative force supporting it, there simply can be no accidents. As tough as it is to acknowledge, you had to go through what you went through in order to get to where you are today, and the evidence is that you did.

I enjoy convalescence. It is the part that makes the illness worth while.

Power is the measure of the degree of control you have over circumstances in your life and the actions of the people around you. It is a skill that is developed by a deep understanding of human nature, of what truly motivates people, and of the manipulations necessary for advancement and protection.

Through every victory and every setback, I’ve insisted that change is never easy and never quick; that we wouldn’t meet all of our challenges in one term, or one presidency, or even in one lifetime.

We should not moor a ship with one anchor, or our life with one hope.

The country has come a long way in race relations, but the pendulum swings so far back. Everyone wants to be so sensitive.

I can’t deny that the thought of being governor, the thought of being president, is alluring. And beyond that, it would be an opportunity to make a real impact on people’s lives on a global scale. But there are a lot of other things I want to do first.

Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.

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

Our schools and colleges are turning out people who cannot feel fulfilled unless they are telling other people what to do.

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.

The more responsibility the Scoutmaster gives his patrol leaders, the more they will respond.

My job is not to represent Washington to you, but to represent you to Washington.

Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand.

You don’t lead by hitting people over the head – that’s assault, not leadership.

The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope.

Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all they have.

A company is a group organized to create a product or service, and it is only as good as its people and how excited they are about creating. I do want to recognize a ton of super-talented people. I just happen to be the face of the companies.

The United States fully accepts the profound truth that our own progress, prosperity, and peace are interlocked with the progress, prosperity, and peace of all humanity.

What Washington needs is adult supervision.

I’ve seen how the issues that come across a president’s desk are always the hard ones – the problems where no amount of data or numbers will get you to the right answer.

When you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship.

Many badly needed goals, like fusion and cancer cure, would be achieved much sooner if we invested more.

If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.

I once told Nixon that the Presidency is like being a jackass caught in a hail storm. You’ve got to just stand there and take it.

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

Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.

The time is long overdue to stop looking for progress through racial or ethnic leaders. Such leaders have too many incentives to promote polarizing attitudes and actions that are counterproductive for minorities and disastrous for the country.

Good executives never put off until tomorrow what they can get someone else to do today.

There’s a lack of people in power that are motivated by the idea of helping people.

In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.

Self-government does not and should not imply the use of political agencies alone. Progress is born of cooperation in the community – not from governmental restraints.

Measures must always in a progressive society be held superior to men, who are after all imperfect instruments, working for their fulfilment.

International affairs is very much run like the mafia. The godfather does not accept disobedience, even from a small storekeeper who doesn’t pay his protection money. You have to have obedience; otherwise, the idea can spread that you don’t have to listen to the orders, and it can spread to important places.

In America the President reigns for four years, and Journalism governs forever and ever.

If I’d observed all the rules, I’d never have got anywhere.

While there’s life, there’s hope.

One of the more difficult tasks for me as president was to decide on the issue of confirming capital punishment awarded by courts… to my surprise… almost all cases which were pending had a social and economic bias.

Unless and until you inspire the people, you will not get results. Imposition will never give you the results. Inspiration will always give you the results.

People make a big fuss over you when you’re President. But I’m very serious about doing everything I can to make sure that it doesn’t go to my head.

America makes prodigious mistakes, America has colossal faults, but one thing cannot be denied: America is always on the move. She may be going to Hell, of course, but at least she isn’t standing still.

Back in the day, what motivated me was overcoming myself. Now I believe in being a leader. I’ve done it all – I’m good. Now, it’s about setting an example for others to follow. I can’t just talk it – I have to live it.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

It’s life isn’t it? You plow ahead and make a hit. And you plow on and someone passes you. Then someone passes them. Time levels.

Our ambition should be to rule ourselves, the true kingdom for each one of us; and true progress is to know more, and be more, and to do more.

Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.

I believe in innovation and that the way you get innovation is you fund research and you learn the basic facts.

The onus is on the managers to send out an attacking formation and to tell their players to be bold.

Nothing can resist the person who smiles at life – I don’t mean the ironic and disillusioned smile of my grandfather, but the triumphant smile of the person who knows that he will survive, or that at least he will be saved by what seems to be destroying him.

Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues.

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

If once you forfeit the confidence of your fellow-citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem.