To summarize, draft resistance can make use of the inegalitarian nature of American society as a technique for increasing the cost of American aggression, and it threatens values that are important to those in a decision-making position.

We learned about dignity and decency – that how hard you work matters more than how much you make… that helping others means more than just getting ahead yourself.

There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.

Honor has not to be won; it must only not be lost.

Morality is contraband in war.

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.

There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.

Learn to say ‚no‘ to the good so you can say ‚yes‘ to the best.

I would hear stories about Steve Jobs and feel like he was at 100 percent exactly what he wanted to do, but I’m sure even a Steve Jobs has compromised. Even a Rick Owens has compromised. You know, even a Kanye West has compromised. Sometimes you don’t even know when you’re being compromised till after the fact, and that’s what you regret.

The thing that makes my clothes really different is that, number one, they are really great designs; they’re not tacky; they are very professional; the design is made from lots of decisions.

My justification is that most people my age spend a lot of time thinking about what they’re going to do for the next five or ten years. The time they spend thinking about their life, I just spend drinking.

It’s so hard to know what to do when one wishes earnestly to do right.

Human life is far more important than just getting to the top of a mountain.

The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.

Telling us to obey instinct is like telling us to obey ‚people.‘ People say different things: so do instincts. Our instincts are at war… Each instinct, if you listen to it, will claim to be gratified at the expense of the rest.

Politics have no relation to morals.

I was offered a job on Wall Street by my uncle. But I wanted to get out. Make-it-on-my-own kinda thing.

Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.

Only Americans can hurt America.

What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

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.

Next to knowing when to seize an opportunity, the most important thing in life is to know when to forego an advantage.

We are not living in a world where all roads are radii of a circle and where all, if followed long enough, will therefore draw gradually nearer and finally meet at the centre: rather in a world where every road, after a few miles, forks into two, and each of those into two again, and at each fork, you must make a decision.

I don’t really plan. I’m almost intuitive about things.

Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.

Where the senses fail us, reason must step in.

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.

If I have the chance to say something, I will say it – but that doesn’t obligate me to always say something, or to shed light on every problem, as if I were a lawmaker.

It’s getting harder to make decisions to just want to do something to work… I’m trying to find things that are extremely challenging or mean something to me deeply.

It’s OK to have your eggs in one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket.

I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‚Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death.

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

Our heritage and ideals, our code and standards – the things we live by and teach our children – are preserved or diminished by how freely we exchange ideas and feelings.

A man’s own judgment should be the final appeal in all that relates to himself.

When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and you argue about what to do about it only after you have had your technical success. That is the way it was with the atomic bomb.

Example is leadership.

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.

I never resist temptation, because I have found that things that are bad for me do not tempt me.

I am always wary of decisions made hastily. I am always wary of the first decision, that is, the first thing that comes to my mind if I have to make a decision. This is usually the wrong thing. I have to wait and assess, looking deep into myself, taking the necessary time.

It is only in our decisions that we are important.

I can’t very well be teaching one way and living my life another way. What I do in life must be consistent with the things I say. And the same goes for you.

An act has no ethical quality whatever unless it be chosen out of several all equally possible.

There is a time for departure even when there’s no certain place to go.

Create a ladder of values and priorities in your life, reminding yourself of what really matters to you.

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.

The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.

In my line of work, the enemy gets a vote.

Do I wear a helmet? Ugh. I do when I’m riding through a precarious part of town, meaning Midtown traffic. But when I’m riding on secure protected lanes or on the paths that run along the Hudson or through Central Park – no, I don’t wear the dreaded helmet then.

My biographers… would like to have my time at the court almost complete before they finish the book. We decided… to flip the order.

It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.

It is even better to act quickly and err than to hesitate until the time of action is past.

SEALs are human beings. We may all have the same haircuts, but we aren’t robots. Some SEALs are great people. Some are not great people. Some have done unspeakably terrible things. You’re dealing with different people, different dreams, different desires.

I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.

Remember, no one decides who they’re going to vote for based on the vice president. I mean that literally.

There were the questions of what kind of First Lady I would be, what issues would I focus on. Those were the questions that were being pounded on me through the campaign. A lot of times, I wondered what in the world Barack was even getting us into.

Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.

I have not endorsed Trump and will not do so.

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.

When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.

Although the big word on the left is ‚compassion,‘ the big agenda on the left is dependency.

We spend so much time sublimatin‘, thinkin‘ about, ‚What am I going to have for lunch, dinner?‘