“This was how twentieth-century Fascism began: with a magnetic leader exploiting widespread dissatisfaction by promising all things.”

Whatever the job you are asked to do at whatever level, do a good job because your reputation is your resume.

Wilson’s doctrine of self-determination gave a boost to the idea that wherever there dwelled a people, there should be a state.

I think that a president needs to have a variety of views presented. But also, there has to be a team effort, because otherwise, I think it creates a dissonance and difficulty.

While democracy in the long run is the most stable form of government, in the short run, it is among the most fragile.

I do not believe that things happen accidentally; I believe you earn them.

To reduce the sum of our existence to a competitive struggle for advantage among more than two hundred nations is not clear-eyed but myopic. People and nations compete, but that is not all that they do.

Good guys don’t always win, especially when they are divided and less determined than their adversaries.

The main thing is to remain oneself, under any circumstances; that was and is our common purpose.

If an advertiser can use that information to home in on a consumer because of his or her individual interests, what’s to stop a Fascist government from doing the same?

Especially when we are afraid, angry, or confused, we may be tempted to give away bits of our freedom—or, less painfully, somebody else’s freedom—in the quest for direction and order.

The main thing is to remain oneself, under any circumstances; that was and is our common purpose.

A spoonful of sugar can be as helpful in dealing with foreign diplomats as it is in child psychology, for these are not unrelated fields.

As a leader, you have to have the ability to assimilate new information and understand that there might be a different view.

Respect for the rights of others is a lofty principle; but envy is a primal urge (p114)

Because of my parents’ love of democracy, we came to America after being driven twice from our home in Czechoslovakia – first by Hitler and then by Stalin.

McCarthy fooled as many as he did because a lot of people shared his anxieties.

Your leadership is always moving in the direction of your strongest thought.

I am a leader. Leaders always get heat. They’re always going against the grain. Jimi Hendrix got heat; Bob Marley got heat; Miles Davis got heat. Every great artist got heat. Heat means you’re doing something right.

Great businesses come from great leadership, great leadership comes from great flexibility and great flexibility comes from great control. great control will give you a great life. 

A leader, once convinced a particular course of action is the right one, must have the determination to stick with it and be undaunted when the going gets tough.

We need progressive leaders everywhere who will reform our broken and racist criminal justice system.

The only difference between Gorbachev and other Soviet leaders is that Gorbachev is alive.

I believe a good leader brings out the best in people by listening to them, trusting in them, believing in them, respecting them and letting them have a go.

I think I’m a natural-born leader. I know how to bow down to authority if it’s authority that I respect.