How can we help President Obama?

When you’re in prison, you want to know that you were thought about.

Where grief is fresh, any attempt to divert it only irritates.

The great thieves lead away the little thief.

I perhaps ought to say that individually I never was much interested in the Texas question. I never could see much good to come of annexation, inasmuch as they were already a free republican people on our own model.

Let me just be very clear that the Republican Party will select a nominee that will beat Bill Clinton.

My mother told me, ‚Son, nobody else but God knows.‘ And that’s what I’m about – reaching out to the people, crying with them, giving them hope. Visiting the hospital, visiting the kids with cancer, visiting the adults, and stuff like that. That’s what I do.

Many Communist government officials have a rigid, dictatorial power, but they live in constant suspicion and fear of anything that might undermine the power they have.

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.

The income tax has made liars out of more Americans than golf.

Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you.

Only the guy who isn’t rowing has time to rock the boat.

The intersection of law, politics, and technology is going to force a lot of good thinking.

When we’re looking for compassion, we need someone who is deeply rooted, is able to bend and, most of all, embraces us for our strengths and struggles.

When a person is going through hell, and she encounters someone who went through hellish hell and survived, then she can say, ‚Mine is not so bad as all that. She came through, and so can I.‘

As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.

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.

I know that campaigns can seem small, and even silly. Trivial things become big distractions. Serious issues become sound bites. And the truth gets buried under an avalanche of money and advertising. If you’re sick of hearing me approve this message, believe me – so am I.

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

The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be… The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

There’s a tremendous gap between public opinion and public policy.

Politics is a science. You can demonstrate that you are right and that others are wrong.

Certainly in the next 50 years we shall see a woman president, perhaps sooner than you think. A woman can and should be able to do any political job that a man can do.

To lead people walk behind them.

In assisting his ‚neighbour‘ every day to the best of his ability, and keeping truth, honesty, and kindness perpetually before him, the Boy Scout, with as little formality as possible, is pleasing God.

See, that’s why Barack’s running: to end the war in Iraq responsibly – to build an economy that lifts every family, to make sure health care is available for every American – and to make sure that every child in this nation has a world-class education all the way from preschool to college.

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.

In this age, I don’t care how tactically or operationally brilliant you are: if you cannot create harmony – even vicious harmony – on the battlefield based on trust across service lines, across coalition and national lines, and across civilian/military lines, you need to go home, because your leadership is obsolete.

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

When you have nobody you can make a cup of tea for, when nobody needs you, that’s when I think life is over.

I knew through the surgeries that he was on my side and that this wasn’t something where I was gonna feel less of a woman, because my husband wasn’t gonna let that happen.

Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.

I’m no leader; I’m a little humble follower.

Government’s first duty and highest obligation is public safety.

I’m not a one-man show. I was never that in my life, and I never want to be that.

Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

We must do everything in our power to cease the behaviour that makes children everywhere feel afraid.

If the government ever imposes a tax on books – and I wouldn’t put it past them – I’m in dead trouble.

Withdrawal of American troops must be a unilateral act, as the invasion of Vietnam by the American government was a unilateral act in the first place.

I would remind you the lesser of two socialists is still a socialist.

The government is us; we are the government, you and I.

Whatever position I occupied, it was the result of colleagues – of my comrades in the movement – who had decided in their wisdom to use me for the purpose of focusing the attention of the country and the international community on me.

My dad was like a stage mother he always pushed me to do what I wanted.

The protestor I think will speak up for the world’s poorest.

It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.

All my adult life people have been helping me.

It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.

Our teachers deserve better feedback.

My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.

Without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure.

A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don’t have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

When it comes to the health of our families, Barack refused to listen to all those folks who told him to leave health reform for another day, another president. He didn’t care whether it was the easy thing to do politically – that’s not how he was raised – he cared that it was the right thing to do.

She never envisioned a legal career for me, but she did think it was very important that I be able to support myself, and I think she would be pleased to see what has become of me.

My family has very strong women. My mother never laughed at my dream of Africa, even though everyone else did because we didn’t have any money, because Africa was the ‚dark continent‘, and because I was a girl.

Many people, especially young people, would like to be more independent and on their own. But it is very difficult and they suffer from feelings of isolation. I think that is one reason why young readers support my work.

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

Germany has reduced savagery to a science, and this great war for the victorious peace of justice must go on until the German cancer is cut clean out of the world body.

That’s the good thing about being president, I can do whatever I want.

As a tactic, violence is absurd. No one can compete with the Government in violence, and the resort to violence, which will surely fail, will simply frighten and alienate some who can be reached, and will further encourage the ideologists and administrators of forceful repression.