I forgot to shake hands and be friendly. It was an important lesson about leadership.

Keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.

Intelligent people tend to have less friends than the average person. The smarter you are, the more selective you become.

A friend may be waiting behind a stranger's face.

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break, our bonds of affection.

The first method of estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.

We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.

It is frightful that people who are so ignorant should have so much influence.

Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.

In all negotiations of difficulty, a man may not look to sow and reap at once; but must prepare business, and so ripen it by degrees.

Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really man it.

A leader's greatness is found in bringing out greatness in others.

When whole races and peoples conspire to propagate gigantic mute lies in the interest of tyrannies and shams, why should we care anything about the trifling lies told by individuals?

Those who enjoy responsibility usually get it; those who merely enjoy exercising authority usually lose it.

I had long since taught myself to follow the inner voice. I delighted in submitting to it. To act against it would be difficult and painful to me.

You shall judge of a man by his foes as well as by his friends.

You have no idea what your legacy will be. Your legacy is what you do every day. Your legacy is every life you’ve touched, every person whose life was either moved or not. It’s every person you’ve harmed or helped. That’s your legacy.

Rest satisfied with doing well, and leave others to talk of you as they will.