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

Europeans are much more serious than we are in America because they think that a good place to discuss intellectual matters is a beer party.

I believe God wants you to have money to pay your bills, send your kids to college and do charity work and build orphanages. There’s the teaching that we’re supposed to be poor to show that we’re humble. I don’t buy that. I think we’re supposed to be leaders. We’re supposed to excel.

We will burn that bridge when we come to it.

You know how advice is. You only want it if it agrees with what you wanted to do anyway.

When should a college athlete turn pro? Not until he has earned all he can in college as an amateur.

Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.

Gray Davis can run a dirty campaign better than anyone, but he can’t run a state.

The trouble with Nixon is that he’s a serious politics junkie. He’s totally hooked and like any other junkie, he’s a bummer to have around, especially as President.

Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what’s right.

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.

Now from a distance, I look back on what the Corps taught me: to think like men of action, and to act like men of thought!

One man with courage is a majority.

Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all.

I usually make up my mind about a man in ten seconds, and I very rarely change it.

The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.

I think Canadians are more interested in international events than Americans because it is such a small country, so politics affect it more.

You know I vowed when I became President not to talk about the loneliest toughest job in the world and I didn’t.

I’m responsible for starting a whole new school of pretension.

Leadership is a choice, not a position.

Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.

The temptation to take the easy road is always there. It is as easy as staying in bed in the morning and sleeping in. But discipline is paramount to ultimate success and victory for any leader and any team.

I grew up in San Francisco. And so I’m informed in a certain kind of way about, you know, believing in democracy and believing in America. And I’m a very ardent patriot.

A democracy which makes or even effectively prepares for modern, scientific war must necessarily cease to be democratic. No country can be really well prepared for modern war unless it is governed by a tyrant, at the head of a highly trained and perfectly obedient bureaucracy.

Sin, also for those who don’t have faith, exists when one goes against one’s conscience. To listen to and obey it means, in fact, to decide in face of what is perceived as good or evil. And on this decision pivots the goodness or malice of our action.

It doesn’t take a majority to make a rebellion; it takes only a few determined leaders and a sound cause.

Except for the title ‚father,‘ there is no title, including ‚vice president,‘ that I am more proud to wear than that of United States senator.

My friends ask me if I want more kids, and I always say yes, I want more; it’s the best thing you can have in your life.

A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.

Loving others always costs us something and requires effort. And you have to decide to do it on purpose. You can’t wait for a feeling to motivate you.

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.

Indecision may or may not be my problem.

Democracy don’t rule the world, You’d better get that in your head; This world is ruled by violence, But I guess that’s better left unsaid.

Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes,‘ he said, his voice rising as applause and cheers mounted. ‚Shake it off. Stop complainin‘. Stop grumblin‘. Stop cryin‘. We are going to press on. We have work to do.

You’ve got to work things out in the cloakroom, and when you’ve got them worked out, you can debate a little before you vote.

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

Sadly, the truth is, there aren’t many people who can be put in high positions who won’t start thinking highly of themselves.

The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual’s own reason and critical analysis.

I believe the Republicans have never thought that democracy was anything but a tribal myth.

The American President resembles the commander of a ship at sea. He must have a helm to grasp, a course to steer, a port to seek.

How do leaders serve their people? They may pay good wages and treat employees with respect.

Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don’t interfere as long as the policy you’ve decided upon is being carried out.

Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people.

In this possibly terminal phase of human existence, democracy and freedom are more than just ideals to be valued – they may be essential to survival.

I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one or the other.

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.

On the court, I want to try and get to the free-throw line a little more. And as a point guard, you can always get better at your decision-making and limiting your mistakes.

I delayed my father’s funeral because of cricket.

I can honestly say that I was never affected by the question of the success of an undertaking. If I felt it was the right thing to do, I was for it regardless of the possible outcome.

As president, I’m committed to making Washington work better and rebuilding the trust of the people who sent us here.

One of the things that was really an issue was I did not want to just be a woman secretary of state. I wanted to be a secretary of a state who was a woman, but not just chosen for that particular reason.

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

A large majority of Americans believe that the U.N., not the U.S., should take the lead in working with Iraqis to transfer authentic sovereignty as well as in economic reconstruction and maintaining civic order.

A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man. His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example.

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

Americans are far more remarkable than we give ourselves credit for. We’ve been so busy damning ourselves for years. We’ve done it all, and yet we don’t take credit for it.

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 thank God I’m in a position where I can pick and choose – there are some roles I don’t play.

No man is good enough to govern another man without the other’s consent.

It’s OK for China to invent cancer drugs that cure patients in the United States. We want them to catch up. But as the leader, we want to keep setting a very, very high standard. We don’t want them to catch up because we’re slowing down or, even worse, going into reverse.

I was planning to go into architecture. But when I arrived, architecture was filled up. Acting was right next to it, so I signed up for acting instead.