“When we make college more affordable, we make the American dream more achievable.”

Success is not the measure of a man but a triumph over those who choose to hold him back.

If you want to have a good life you have to have some constructive outlet for your feelings.

I misled people, including even my wife.

Globalisation is not something that we can hold off or turn off. It is the economic equivalent of a force of nature, like wind or water.

Any president that lies to the American people should have to resign.

The Constitution is a radical document, it is the job of the government to rein in people’s rights.

I am trying to be honest with you and it hurts me. Now.

When our memories outweigh our dreams, it is then that we become old.

Politics is not religion and we should govern on the basis of evidence, not theology.

Behind every great man there stands a great woman. Behind every great woman is a great behind.

You can’t say you love your country and hate your government.

Being President is a little like being the grounds-keeper at a cemetery: there’s plenty of people below you but no one’s listening.

Politics gives guys so much power that they tend to behave badly around women. And I hope I never get into that.

Sarah, there’s a government inside the government, and I don’t control it.

Character doesn’t matter.

Character is a journey, not a destination.

Beauty is the enemy . We try to conquer not feeling beautiful all our lives. It’s a battle that can’t be won. There’s no definition of beauty. The only way to achieve beauty is to feel it from inside without breaking down into individual physical attributes.

This moment! – this here-now – is forgotten when you start thinking in terms of achieving something. When the achieving mind arises, you lose contact with the paradise you are in.

We shouldn’t teach great books; we should teach a love of reading. Knowing the contents of a few works of literature is a trivial achievement. Being inclined to go on reading is a great achievement.

I am a very proud daughter. Obviously to be able to see this transpiring, to watch him achieve so much as a politician – and we’re certainly not a family of politicians, and politics is certainly not our family business – it’s been amazing.

For many people, an excuse is better than an achievement because an achievement, no matter how great, leaves you having to prove yourself again in the future; but an excuse can last for life.

You’ve got to make a lot of sacrifices and spend a lot of time if you really want to achieve with this sport, or in any sport, or in anything truly worthwhile.

Good men seek it by the natural means of the virtues; evil men, however, try to achieve the same goal by a variety of concupiscences, and that is surely an unnatural way of seeking the good. Don’t you agree?

We were a family who had come from nothing and now we had respect from French people of all sorts.