“Many people around the President have sizeable egos before entering government, some with good reason. Their new positions will do little to moderate their egos.”

Don’t blame the boss. He has enough problems.

The price of being close to the President is delivering bad news. You fail him if you don’t tell him the truth. Others won’t do it.

Those who made the decisions with imperfect knowledge will be judged in hindsight by those with considerably more information at their disposal and time for reflection.

Know that the amount of criticism you receive may correlate somewhat to the amount of publicity you receive.

Be precise. A lack of precision is dangerous when the margin of error is small.

First rule of politics: you can’t win unless you’re on the ballot. Second rule: If you run, you may lose. And, if you tie, you do not win.

Your performance depends on your people. Select the best, train them and back them. When errors occur, give sharper guidance. If errors persist or if the fit feels wrong, help them move on. The country cannot afford amateur hour in the White House.

There are known knowns, things we know that we know; and there are known unknowns, things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns, things we do not know we don’t know.

Be able to resign. It will improve your value to the President and do wonders for your performance.

Reduce the number of lawyers. They are like beavers – they get in the middle of the stream and dam it up.

Agreement can always be reached by increasing the generality of the conclusion; when this is done, the form is generally preserved but only the illusion of policy is created.

Enjoy your time in public service. It may well be one of the most interesting and challenging times of your life.

Presidential leadership needn’t always cost money. Look for low- and no-cost options. They can be surprisingly effective.

Politics is human beings; it’s addition rather than subtraction.

Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war.

With the press there is no ‘off the record.’

Grace is openness. By remaining open, you let go of your ego and narrow-minded views, and allow divine grace to express itself through you.

All unhappiness is due to the ego. With it comes all your trouble. If you would deny the ego and scorch it by ignoring it you would be free.

We human beings are born in ego, live in ego, are brought up in ego and will die in ego. We need a certain degree of vision when we live in this world for achieving and attaining our goals in life.

Look at the optimism of Nature. Nothing can stop it. Only the ego makes humans pessimistic, and this causes suffering.

The more intellectual you are, the more egoistic you are, and surrendering becomes more difficult.

A great thing would be done if all these God-visions could embrace and cast themselves into each other; but intellectual dogma and cult egoism stand in the way.

Take no notice of the ego and its activities, but see only the light behind.

Listen to your heart and not your ego. Your ego prompts you to boast of vain assertions to obtain the glory of this world.