“I think the word of the United States has been as good as gold in its international dealings and its agreements.”

People may oppose you, but when they realize you can hurt them, they’ll join your side.

The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly Saddam can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.

I hope that all of us who were fortunate enough to have benefited will put our time, our resources and our efforts into making sure that kids, particularly kids without means, have a way to achieve.

NATO is built on security, but it’s also built on values.

Human beings are not perfect. Their institutions are not perfect, but they have to keep trying. And America has to help people keep trying.

The first step for a leader is to be right with yourself. Integrity is the basis of leadership.

Power is nothing unless you can turn it into influence.

Great leaders never accept the world as it was and always work for the world as it should be.

Differences can be strength rather than a handicap.

You might not be able to control your circumstances but you can control your response to your circumstances.

Separation of powers is a problem for foreign policy.

Education is of no value and talent is worthless – unless you have an unwavering aim. Never find yourself without a compass.

Today’s headlines and history’s judgment are rarely the same. If you are too attentive to the former, you will most certainly not do the hard work of securing the latter.

We need a common enemy to unite us.

It is a dangerous thing to ask why someone else has been given more. It is humbling – and indeed healthy – to ask why you have been given so much.

Most days are not overwhelmingly successful in your life. And what really marks whether you’re going to be successful is how well you deal with the bad days, not how well you deal with the good ones.

Men keep agreements when it is to the advantage of neither to break them.

I really liked one girl and asked her out 22 times, but she always said no. Finally I sang to her, and she said she’d go out with me.

Most of us believe everyone has a right to his own opinion – as long as it agrees with ours.

If we cannot agree, let us at any rate agree to differ, but let us part as friends.

I read every agreement of every contract. Anything I put my signature on, I really do read them. And I find things.

Our differences are policies; our agreements, principles.

Treaties are like roses and young girls. They last while they last.

Politics and the pulpit are terms that have little agreement.