Politics is the art of promising heaven and delivering purgatory, and claiming hero status for saving your country from hell.

There are only two great currents in the history of mankind: the baseness which makes conservatives and the envy which makes revolutionaries.

When I get ready to talk to people, I spend two thirds of the time thinking what they want to hear and one third thinking about what I want to say.

True leaders understand that leadership is not about them but about those they serve. It is not about exalting themselves but about lifting others up.

Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.

All my children have spoken for themselves since they first learned to speak, and not always with my advance approval, and I expect that to continue in the future.