“My parents elected me president of the family when I was 4. We actually had an election every year and I always won. I’m an only child, and I could count on my mother’s vote.”

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.