“There is nothing better than being in a classroom with really, really brilliant students, and opening up new worlds to them. That’s what I love doing.”

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.

The essence of America – that which really unites us – is not ethnicity, or nationality or religion – it is an idea – and what an idea it is: That you can come from humble circumstances and do great things.

I just wanted to speak to the streets and give them motivation on making it out. Whatever situation they’re in, know that they can make do and have a better life.

Do unto others 20% better than you would expect them to do unto you, to correct for subjective error.

When I am happy I feel like crying, but when I am sad I don’t feel like laughing. I think it is better to be happy; then you get two feelings for the price of one.

You got to have a strong mind if you fall back. When you fall back, they going to count you out. So you got to have a strong mind and know your worth. When you come back, you’ve got to be different and even more better.

You got to want to evolve. It’s something you can practice on but it just came to me. I wasn’t really sitting there like, ‘What can I do to get better?’ It just came to me, talking to my people and my crew. They just tell me what my strongest and weakest points are at.

No one may have the guts to say this, but if we could make better human beings by knowing how to add genes, why shouldn’t we?

One who never turned his back but marched breast forward, never doubted clouds would break, Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph, Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, sleep to wake.

If somebody’s trying to shut you up, sing louder, and if possible, better.