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.

I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the make-up made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked onto the stage he was fully born.

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

Organization charts and fancy titles count for next to nothing.

I’m committed to the people of Gujarat. I will devote each and every moment to serve my people of Gujarat.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I did not take the oath I have just taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution of the world’s strongest economy.

I can tell you this: If I’m ever in a position to call the shots, I’m not going to rush to send somebody else’s kids into a war.

You don’t lead by hitting people over the head – that’s assault, not leadership.

Leaders who are kind of insecure or egocentric, they basically sabotage themselves.

My desire to devolve authority has nothing to do with a wish to shirk responsibility.

I do not pilfer victory.

There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands.

Sense perceptions can be and often are false and deceptive, however real they may appear to us. Where there is realization outside the senses, it is infallible. It is proved not by extraneous evidence but in the transformed conduct and character of those who have felt the real presence of God within.

Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish – too much handling will spoil it.

I’m the only president you’ve got.

What Britain needs is an iron lady.

I believe the first test of a truly great man is in his humility.

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

To supervise people, you must either surpass them in their accomplishments or despise them.

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

Whoever won’t fight when the President calls him, deserves to be kicked back in his hole and kept there.

How can we help President Obama?

If people lose faith in their government, the result is the same whether or not the loss of confidence is justified.

The resolve of our great nation is being tested. But make no mistake, we will show the world that we will pass the test.

Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand.

I have a different vision of leadership. A leadership is someone who brings people together.

I just figured out that if I gave my all into this game – if I put everything into the fight business – then I would eventually run the fight business.

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

Any man who wants to be president is either an egomaniac or crazy.

I think with the Romans, that the general of today should be a soldier tomorrow if necessary.

Any of us can be happy and have a good attitude when everything is going our way. But I believe it’s the real test of your character and of your faith to say, ‚Things are not going our way, but I’m still being good to people; I’m still attending church; I still have a good attitude.‘

When soldiers have been baptized in the fire of a battle-field, they have all one rank in my eyes.

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.

History reminds us that dictators and despots arise during times of severe economic crisis.

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.

With Malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.

When I was running training, we would fire a couple of leaders from every SEAL team because they couldn’t lead. And 99.9% of the time, it wasn’t a question of their ability – it was a question of their ability to listen.

The Creator has not thought proper to mark those in the forehead who are of stuff to make good generals. We are first, therefore, to seek them blindfold, and then let them learn the trade at the expense of great losses.

Not brute force but only persuasion and faith are the kings of this world.

Leadership is absolutely vital if there are comparable countries which can affect the security of the world you live in. Between Lincoln and Roosevelt’s time, America was protected by huge oceans and, in practice, by the British navy. Today, it’s different, and the obsession of the Obama administration has been for retrenchment.

The colonel replied that he didn’t care how my men had got the job done. He was happy that it had been accomplished. He said that, obviously, no matter how much or how little I knew technically, I was able to get the best out of people I worked with.

The man who occupies the first place seldom plays the principal part.

I remember the last three days that I was president, I never went to bed at all. I never went to bed until we had negotiated the final release of the hostages.

I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.

It is pretty ironic that the so-called ‚least advanced‘ people are the ones taking the lead in trying to protect all of us, while the richest and most powerful among us are the ones who are trying to drive the society to destruction.

I was only the servant of my country and had I, at any moment, failed to express her unflinching resolve to fight and conquer, I should at once have been rightly cast aside.

He who would pass his declining years with honor and comfort, should, when young, consider that he may one day become old, and remember when he is old, that he has once been young.

To lead people walk behind them.

All good leaders are connectors. They relate well and make people feel confident about themselves and their leader.

Character is determined more by the lack of certain experiences than by those one has had.

The higher the sun ariseth, the less shadow doth he cast; even so the greater is the goodness, the less doth it covet praise; yet cannot avoid its rewards in honours.

Good executives never put off until tomorrow what they can get someone else to do today.

Leadership is hard. It’s a skill. It’s a technique.

In every walk of life, you must have leaders. An education in the spiritual world, in the labor field, in the agricultural field, we must have leaders.

When the burdens of the presidency seem unusually heavy, I always remind myself it could be worse. I could be a mayor.

A family with the wrong members in control; that, perhaps, is as near as one can come to describing England in a phrase.

As he was valiant, I honour him. But as he was ambitious, I slew him.

Being the boss anywhere is lonely. Being a female boss in a world of mostly men is especially so.

How can a president not be an actor?

I have never yet seen any plan which has not been mended by the observations of those who were much inferior in understanding to the person who took the lead in the business.

One of the key qualities a leader must possess is the ability to detach from the chaos, mayhem, and emotions in a situation and make good, clear decisions based on what is actually happening.