Wise kings generally have wise counselors; and he must be a wise man himself who is capable of distinguishing one.

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.

I say there is no darkness but ignorance.

Never marry someone in hope that they’ll change later.

For one swallow does not make a summer, nor does one day; and so too one day, or a short time, does not make a man blessed and happy.

The worst disease which can afflict executives in their work is not, as popularly supposed, alcoholism; it’s egotism.

Military school was great and especially great for leadership and then I spent two years in Vietnam.

When the best leader’s work is done the people say, ‚We did it ourselves.‘

Our best thoughts come from others.

I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn’t learn something from him.

The arrogance of age must submit to be taught by youth.

I’m not trying to get myself up a notch on the ladder by shoving somebody else down on the ladder, whether it’s a candidate or the president of the United States or anybody else. I just don’t believe that’s the way one oughta campaign, I’ve never done that.

Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision.

Silence is the mother of truth.

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.

The high destiny of the individual is to serve rather than to rule.

Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.

Fools admire, but men of sense approve.

To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.

So near is falsehood to truth that a wise man would do well not to trust himself on the narrow edge.

Any man is liable to err, only a fool persists in error.

Truth is a good dog; but always beware of barking too close to the heels of an error, lest you get your brains kicked out.

It is difficult for the common good to prevail against the intense concentration of those who have a special interest, especially if the decisions are made behind locked doors.

My mother had a saying: ‚Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you’re not the last.‘

I know it’s going to be the private sector that leads this country out of the current economic times we’re in. You can spend your money better than the government can spend your money.

If a man writes a book, let him set down only what he knows. I have guesses enough of my own.

When in doubt, don’t.

The world is weary of statesmen whom democracy has degraded into politicians.

Most of the problems a President has to face have their roots in the past.

I had given up some youth for knowledge, but my gain was more valuable than the loss.

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

Wisdom I know is social. She seeks her fellows. But Beauty is jealous, and illy bears the presence of a rival.

I delayed my father’s funeral because of cricket.

True virtue is life under the direction of reason.

He that gives good advice, builds with one hand; he that gives good counsel and example, builds with both; but he that gives good admonition and bad example, builds with one hand and pulls down with the other.

Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error.

A little learning is a dangerous thing, but we must take that risk because a little is as much as our biggest heads can hold.

Sometimes the majority just means all the fools are on the same side.

I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.

To be good is noble; but to show others how to be good is nobler and no trouble.

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.

I just usually go with my own taste. If I like something, and it happens to be against the law, well, then I might have a problem.

Wisdom allows nothing to be good that will not be so forever; no man to be happy but he that needs no other happiness than what he has within himself; no man to be great or powerful that is not master of himself.

I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.

The people who are doing the work are the moving force behind the Macintosh. My job is to create a space for them, to clear out the rest of the organization and keep it at bay.

Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes.

The more nobly a man wills and acts, the more avid he becomes for great and sublime aims to pursue. He will no longer be content with family, country, and the remunerative aspect of his work. He will want wider organisations to create, new paths to blaze, causes to uphold, truths to discover, an ideal to cherish and defend.

In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.

The man who is a pessimist before 48 knows too much; if he is an optimist after it, he knows too little.

To compromise simply means that you go a tiny bit below what you know is right.

Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.

Science is the father of knowledge, but opinion breeds ignorance.

To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.

Good fame is like fire; when you have kindled you may easily preserve it; but if you extinguish it, you will not easily kindle it again.

Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.

You do the policy, I’ll do the politics.

If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.

There is no sin except stupidity.

Well I do think, when there are more women, that the tone of the conversation changes, and also the goals of the conversation change. But it doesn’t mean that the whole world would be a lot better if it were totally run by women. If you think that, you’ve forgotten high school.

If I had only one sermon to preach it would be a sermon against pride.