Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them.

Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends.

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

Faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage.

People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.

If you know how to read, you have a complete education about life, then you know how to vote within a democracy. But if you don’t know how to read, you don’t know how to decide. That’s the great thing about our country – we’re a democracy of readers, and we should keep it that way.

I am often asked if, when I was secretary, I had problems with foreign men. That is not who I had problems with, because I arrived in a very large plane that said United States of America. I had more problems with the men in our own government.

Politicians must set their aims for the high ground and according to our various leanings, Democratic, Republican, Independent, we will follow. Politicians must be told if they continue to sink into the mud of obscenity, they will proceed alone.

In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.

A man can take a little bourbon without getting drunk, but if you hold his mouth open and pour in a quart, he’s going to get sick on it.

For success of any mission, it is necessary to have creative leadership. Creative leadership is vital for government, non-governmental organisations as well as for industries.

The best thing is to always keep honest people around, because when you have a bunch of yes men around that know that you’re making a mistake but let you go on with it, that’s when it ruins your mind state as an artist.

Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes.

As President Nixon says, presidents can do almost anything, and President Nixon has done many things that nobody would have thought of doing.

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

It is said that the present is pregnant with the future.

No man ever prayed heartily without learning something.

I’m very aware and very conscious of the path I chose in life, and very aware of the path I didn’t choose.

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.

When one has finished building one’s house, one suddenly realizes that in the process one has learned something that one really needed to know in the worst way – before one began.

Access to the Vedas is the greatest privilege this century may claim over all previous centuries.

Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity.

Change alone is unchanging.

Never give a sword to a man who can’t dance.

Presidents quickly realize that while a single act might destroy the world they live in, no one single decision can make life suddenly better or can turn history around for the good.

When befriended, remember it; when you befriend, forget it.

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.

I don’t believe in signing anything and everything that comes my way. I leave it to my agency to help narrow them down for me, but I do research it myself before signing. The image of the brand and its ambassadors go hand in hand.

Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.

The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.

Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.

Just as discipline and freedom are opposing forces that must be balanced, leadership requires finding the equilibrium in the dichotomy of many seemingly contradictory qualities between one extreme and another.

It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency – that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better. There’s no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee I’ll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office.

There is only a finger’s difference between a wise man and a fool.

The most successful politician is he who says what the people are thinking most often in the loudest voice.

Look not at what is contrary to propriety; listen not to what is contrary to propriety; speak not what is contrary to propriety; make no movement which is contrary to propriety.

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

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.

All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume.

Precepts or maxims are of great weight; and a few useful ones on hand do more to produce a happy life than the volumes we can’t find.

Personally, I’d like to see more of our leaders take a technocratic approach to solving our biggest problems.

The common question that gets asked in business is, ‚why?‘ That’s a good question, but an equally valid question is, ‚why not?‘

Entire ignorance is not so terrible or extreme an evil, and is far from being the greatest of all; too much cleverness and too much learning, accompanied with ill bringing-up, are far more fatal.

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

It is a fine game to play – the game of politics – and it is well worth waiting for a good hand before really plunging.

It always seems to me so odd that when a man dies, he takes out with him all the knowledge that he has got in his lifetime whilst sowing his wild oats or winning successes. And he leaves his sons or younger brothers to go through all the work of learning it over again from their own experience.

When you get angry, your options narrow.

You’ve all seen over the last eight years what President Obama means to this country. He is the embodiment of honor, resolve, and character – one of the finest presidents we have ever had.

If an individual wants to be a leader and isn’t controversial, that means he never stood for anything.

Obviously I faced the possibility of not returning when first I considered going. Once faced and settled there really wasn’t any good reason to refer to it.

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

Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton both had exceptional natural abilities. Nelson Rockefeller was very good statewide but never gained national traction.

Remember that the essence of authority is that people willingly follow your lead.

Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.

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

I’m not sure if it’s good to have freedom or not. I’m really confused now.

Trust your instinct to the end, though you can render no reason.

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.

If you continue to keep low performers on your team, that are actually dragging the team down; you’re failing the whole team, and eventually, the whole team is going to fail.

If we could just find out who’s in charge, we could kill him.

Don’t get older just to get wiser. If you get older, you will be wiser, I believe that – if you dare. But get older because it’s fun!