Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace and those who could make a good peace would never have won the war.

Our numbers have increased in Vietnam because the aggression of others has increased in Vietnam. There is not, and there will not be, a mindless escalation.

That’s the good thing about being president, I can do whatever I want.

When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.

In a false quarrel there is no true valor.

Carry the battle to them. Don’t let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive and don’t ever apologize for anything.

Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.

Peace begins with a smile.

Pre-emptive war might fall within the framework of international law.

The United States never lost a war or won a conference.

Diplomacy: the art of restraining power.

How could man rejoice in victory and delight in the slaughter of men?

You cannot be President of the United States if you don’t have faith. Remember Lincoln, going to his knees in times of trial in the Civil War and all that stuff.

I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it.

If you are a small company taking on a big company, you need to have a sense of humor.

Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.

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

Experience has shown how deeply the seeds of war are planted by economic rivalry and social injustice.

I have no ambition to govern men; it is a painful and thankless office.

Diplomacy is listening to what the other guy needs. Preserving your own position, but listening to the other guy. You have to develop relationships with other people so when the tough times come, you can work together.

There is probably a perverse pride in my administration… that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who’s occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can’t be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.

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

If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that’s his problem. Love and peace are eternal.

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

The mob is the mother of tyrants.

I’m the only president you’ve got.

I have a cult-like following because I exemplify what it is to be a human being.

As his vice president for eight years, I learned more from Ronald Reagan than from anyone I encountered in all my years of public life.

Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.

It’s not called quitting if you quit while you ahead. It’s about being aware and being strategic enough to know that you got to get out the pool at some point. You got to put your clothes back on and dry off.

The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be… The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

Peace is more important than all justice; and peace was not made for the sake of justice, but justice for the sake of peace.

War is the domain of physical exertion and suffering.

Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.

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

The lion and the calf shall lie down together but the calf won’t get much sleep.

I hate letting my teammates down. I know I’m not going to make every shot. Sometimes I try to make the right play, and if it results in a loss, I feel awful. I don’t feel awful because I have to answer questions about it. I feel awful in that locker room because I could have done something more to help my teammates win.

As I’ve said, there were patriots who supported this war, and patriots who opposed it. And all of us are united in appreciation for our servicemen and women, and our hopes for Iraqis‘ future.

Our friends at the Republican convention were more than happy to talk about everything they think is wrong with America, but they didn’t have much to say about how they’d make it right. They want your vote, but they don’t want you to know their plan.

I don’t want a brat on my team.

A president either is constantly on top of events or, if he hesitates, events will soon be on top of him. I never felt that I could let up for a moment.

It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.

Conflict cannot survive without your participation.

Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.

I know that war is very cruel and that life is harder when you aren’t able to live in the place you called home.

A public man must never forget that he loses his usefulness when he as an individual, rather than his policy, becomes the issue.

I cannot lead you into battle. I do not give you laws or administer justice but I can do something else – I can give my heart and my devotion to these old islands and to all the peoples of our brotherhood of nations.

Imagine for yourself a character, a model personality, whose example you determine to follow, in private as well as in public.

Enemies are so stimulating.

Oh, come, Divine Physician, and bind up every broken bone. Come with Thy sacred nard which Thou hast compounded of Thine own heart’s blood, and lay it home to the wounded conscience and let it feel its power. Oh! Give peace to those whose conscience is like the troubled sea which cannot rest.

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.

Barack knows the American Dream because he’s lived it, and he wants everyone in this country to have that same opportunity, no matter who we are or where we’re from or what we look like or who we love.

We are not at war against Islam.

The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men.

The services in wartime are fit only for desperadoes, but in peace are only fit for fools.

Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

The problem with car dealerships is you’ve already decided what you want to buy before you even go there, and you’re really just going there to talk through some annoying negotiation.

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

War is a quarrel between two thieves too cowardly to fight their own battle.

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.

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.