leadership quotes

What kind of people do they think we are? Is it possible they do not realize that we shall never cease to persevere against them until they have been taught a lesson which they and the world will never forget?

Surveys show our standing around the world is higher than when I was elected to this office, and when it comes to every important international issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead – they call us.

When I take action, I’m not going to fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt. It’s going to be decisive.

If you’re looking for the safe choice, you shouldn’t be supporting a black guy named Barack Obama to be the next leader of the free world.

What we won when all of our people united must not be lost in suspicion and distrust and selfishness and politics. Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as president.

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

The President is going to benefit from me reporting directly to him when I arrive.

I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I’m interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.

Leadership to me means duty, honor, country. It means character, and it means listening from time to time.

I feel good because I believe I have made progress in rebuilding the people’s trust in their government.

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

Unless and until you inspire the people, you will not get results. Imposition will never give you the results. Inspiration will always give you the results.

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.

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

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

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.

Americans… still believe in an America where anything’s possible – they just don’t think their leaders do.

One of the things that was really an issue was I did not want to just be a woman secretary of state. I wanted to be a secretary of a state who was a woman, but not just chosen for that particular reason.

I have always believed in evolving a consensus before taking any major decision.

I would rather earn 1% off a 100 people’s efforts than 100% of my own efforts.

We’re not a fragile people. We’re not a frightful people. Our power doesn’t come from some self-declared savior promising that he alone can restore order as long as we do things his way. We don’t look to be ruled.

Any lady who is first lady likes being first lady. I don’t care what they say, they like it.

When you’re not engaged in the day-to-day struggles that everybody feels, you slowly start losing touch. And I think it’s important for the people in the White House to have a finger on the pulse.

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I, therefore, intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt.

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.

To rule is easy, to govern difficult.

I loved being Secretary of State, that’s probably evident to everyone who watched me.

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.

If I can be a leader, I will.

Sadly, the truth is, there aren’t many people who can be put in high positions who won’t start thinking highly of themselves.

I think that a president needs to have a variety of views presented. But also, there has to be a team effort, because otherwise, I think it creates a dissonance and difficulty.

I am certainly not one of those who need to be prodded. In fact, if anything, I am the prod.

You know I vowed when I became President not to talk about the loneliest toughest job in the world and I didn’t.

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.

You know, one of the things I think you understand as president is you’re held responsible for everything, but you don’t always have control of everything, right?

As president, you can get all kinds of advice from all kinds of people. But at the end of the day, when it comes time to make that decision, as president, all you have to guide you are your values and your vision and the life experiences that make you who you are.

On every front there are clear answers out there that can make this country stronger, but we’re going to break through the fear and the frustration people are feeling. Our job is to make sure that even as we make progress, that we are also giving people a sense of hope and vision for the future.

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

As president, I’m committed to making Washington work better and rebuilding the trust of the people who sent us here.

Politics is not a game. It is an earnest business.

The government’s job is good governance for everybody. My government will make policies; if you fit into it, come on board, or stay where you are. My job is not to spoon-feed anyone.

A lot has happened over the years. And while this nation has been tested by war, and it’s been tested by recession and all manner of challenges – I stand before you again tonight, after almost two terms as your president, to tell you I am more optimistic about the future of America than ever before.

Doing nothing while the middle class is hurting. That’s not leadership. Loose regulations and lax enforcement. That’s not leadership. That’s abandoning our middle class.

A conductor can’t be too arrogant with an orchestra and try to impose himself too much.

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.

Peace comes when you talk to the guy you most hate. And that’s where the courage of a leader comes, because when you sit down with your enemy, you as a leader must already have very considerable confidence from your own constituency.

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

I want to be just a pure spiritual leader.

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

At the end of the day, when it comes time to make that decision, as president, all you have to guide you are your values, and your vision, and the life experiences that make you who you are.

I do believe that any successful business starts from the top and works its way down.

I always believe the rule by king or official leader is outdated. Now we must catch up with the modern world.

I think Clinton, after getting into office and into Washington, was shocked at being bludgeoned. So he spent time trying to be all things to all people – one way guaranteed not to be successful or respected in a lion’s den. You can’t just play around with all those big cats – you’ve got to take somebody on.

Unless a president can protect the privacy of the advice he gets, he cannot get the advice he needs.

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.

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

I have seen how leaders rule by intimidation. Leaders who demonize and dehumanize entire groups of people often do so because they have nothing else to offer. And I have seen how places that stifle the voices and dismiss the potential of their citizens are diminished: how they are less vital, less hopeful, less free.

No man will ever carry out of the Presidency the reputation which carried him into it.

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

What I admire most about Hillary is that she never buckles under pressure. She never takes the easy way out. And Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life. And when I think about the kind of president that I want for my girls and all our children, that’s what I want.