“It isn’t making mistakes that’s critical; it’s correcting them and getting on with the principal task.”

Let’s stick something in the ground and not pretend that it’s perfect.

Don’t speak ill of your predecessors or successors. You didn’t walk in their shoes.

Amidst all the clutter, beyond all the obstacles, aside from all the static, are the goals set. Put your head down, do the best job possible, let the flak pass, and work towards those goals.

If we know anything, it is that weakness is provocative.

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.

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.

As for myself, I met with as much success as I ever could have wanted. In other words, I was enthusiastically run-down by every critic of the period.

There is probably no hell for authors in the next world – they suffer so much from critics and publishers in this.

A lot of critics object to what I do, but I got into comedy to make people laugh, and I’ve always worked hard.

Abilities wither under criticism; they blossom under encouragement.

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain – and most fools do. But it takes character and self control to be understanding and forgiving.

Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.

No idea is above scrutiny. No idea whatsoever. To criticize, to scrutinize and to satirize my own religion Islam is not Islamophobia.

To acquire true self power you have to feel beneath no one, be immune to criticism and be fearless.