Control is the source of strategic power.

In George Bush you get experience, and with me you get – The Future!

I’m asking myself, ‚What do my girls, what do all our children deserve in their president? What kind of a president do we want for them?‘ Well, to start with, I think we want someone who is a unifying force in this country: someone who sees our differences not as a threat, but as a blessing.

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

Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.

A nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life is not as likely to insist upon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today – and in fact we have forgotten.

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.

Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision.

If you learn a martial art, you learn to be dangerous, but simultaneously, you learn to control it.

The people are hungry: It is because those in authority eat up too much in taxes.

Policy makers who have never served in the military continue to use the military to lead social change in this country.

Our brand of democracy is hard. But I can promise that a year from now, when I no longer hold this office, I’ll be right there with you as a citizen – inspired by those voices of fairness and vision, of grit and good humor and kindness that have helped America travel so far.

It is a paradox that every dictator has climbed to power on the ladder of free speech. Immediately on attaining power each dictator has suppressed all free speech except his own.

What Britain needs is an iron lady.

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.

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.

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

I have no ambition to govern men; it is a painful and thankless office.

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

Fit no stereotypes. Don’t chase the latest management fads. The situation dictates which approach best accomplishes the team’s mission.

You’re president, if you conclude my judgment is not the right judgment, I abide by that, but I want an opportunity to have an input.

Power is the measure of the degree of control you have over circumstances in your life and the actions of the people around you. It is a skill that is developed by a deep understanding of human nature, of what truly motivates people, and of the manipulations necessary for advancement and protection.

With tech companies, whoever’s the leader is always questioned, you know. They say, ‚Is this the end of them?‘ And – there’s more – more times people think that’s the case than it really is the case.

My job is to play quarterback, and I’m going to do that the best way I know how, because I owe that to my teammates regardless of who is out there on the field with me.

The great thieves lead away the little thief.

I think our politicians could learn a lot from Mandela.

I had rather be first in a village than second at Rome.

Chavez, who came out of the ranks of the Venezuelan Army, is methodical and tireless. I have observed him over the course of 17 years, since his first visit to Cuba. He is an extremely humanitarian and law-abiding person; he has never taken revenge on anybody.

No other country in the world does what we do. On every issue, the world turns to us, not simply because of the size of our economy or our military might – but because of the ideals we stand for, and the burdens we bear to advance them.

The onus is on the managers to send out an attacking formation and to tell their players to be bold.

When the external factors over which one has no control in a way start to become negative, it starts to affect our creative juices.

The best government is that which teaches us to govern ourselves.

A politician is a man who understands government. A statesman is a politician who’s been dead for 15 years.

I believed in God when cancer come to me. Now when I speak, I speak with authority because I’ve been there.

Leadership is a choice, not a position.

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

To govern means to pillage, as everyone knows.

We still think of a powerful man as a born leader and a powerful woman as an anomaly.

Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority.

All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.

With Benghazi, I don’t see anyone saying, ‚Hey look, I am overall responsible for this and therefore, I take responsibility for what happened. It’s my fault.‘ I haven’t heard that yet. Meanwhile, the other side of the coin, the Osama bin Laden raid, it seems everyone made that decision, and that’s just unbelievable to me.

Even if the politics needed doesn’t exist today, we still need to use our voices to make sure that the people in power are focused on the right things. Because this is a democracy, and in a democracy, people are the ones who run the country.

The wicked leader is he who the people despise. The good leader is he who the people revere. The great leader is he who the people say, ‚We did it ourselves.‘

To lead people walk behind them.

It is more difficult to rule yourself than to rule a city.

If we had more hell in the pulpit, we would have less hell in the pew.

I think a number of the leaders are, whether you like it or not, in the hip-hop generation. And when they understand enough, they’ll do wonders. I count on them.

There is probably a perverse pride in my administration… that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who’s occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can’t be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.

Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people.

The executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war.

My celebrity status allows me an opportunity, allows me a pulpit to preach and reach out to the people. Not even always preaching but just leading, motivating them by being a leader.

I don’t think that a leader can control, to any great extent, his destiny. Very seldom can he step in and change the situation if the forces of history are running in another direction.

The will is a beast of burden. If God mounts it, it wishes and goes as God wills; if Satan mounts it, it wishes and goes as Satan wills; Nor can it choose its rider… the riders contend for its possession.

I have always been grateful to Colonel Longley. He proved to me that when people in authority take a stand, good can come out of it.

And now, of course this is another thing I didn’t count on, that now as the governor of the state of California, I am selling California worldwide. You see that? Selling.

To some degree it matters who’s in office, but it matters more how much pressure they’re under from the public.

The President’s post should not be politicised. Once a president is elected, he is above politics.

Leaders in all spheres who are living with HIV should be encouraged, not coerced, to lead by example and disclose their HIV status.

Widespread use of antibiotics promotes the spread of antibiotic resistance. Smart use of antibiotics is the key to controlling its spread.

The business aspect is one of the most important things about having a music career, because every choice you make in a management meeting affects your life a year-and-a-half from now.

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.