Leadership

"He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of all regard for his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country, who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections."
        --Samuel Adams

"It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath."
        --Aeschylus

"Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees; and both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people."
        --Henry Clay

"I would rather be right than be President."
        --Henry Clay

"Can those entrusted with the gravest authority set any example save that of the sternest obedience to the law?"
        --Calvin Coolidge

"When a man begins to feel that he is the only one who can lead in this republic, he is guilty of treason to the spirit of our institutions."
        --Calvin Coolidge

"Be sure you are right, then go ahead."
        --Davey Crockett, motto, war of 1812

"A great people does not turn to its leaders for incantations or liturgies by which to propitiate fate or to cajole victory: It goes to them to peer into the recesses of its own soul, to lay bare its deepest desires; it goes to them as it goes to its poets and seers.''
        --Judge Learned Hand, 12/21/42 We expect our leaders to be better than we are... and they should be--or why are we following them?"
        --Paul Harvey

"Leaders are visionaries with a poorly developed sense of fear and no concept of the odds against them...they make things happen."
        --Thomas Jefferson

"Duty then is the sublimest word in our language. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more. You cannot do more, you should never wish to do less."
        --Robert E. Lee

"Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues."
        --Napoleon

"The ruling passion, be it what it will,
The ruling passion conquers reason still."
        --Alexander Pope

"It was leadership here at home that gave us strong American influence abroad, and the collapse of imperial Communism. Great nations have responsibilities to lead, and we should always be cautious of those who would lower our profile, because they might just wind up lowering our flag."
        --Ronald Reagan

"After watching the State of the Union address the other night [1994], I'm reminded of the old adage that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Only in this case, it's not flattery, but grand larceny: the intellectual theft of ideas that you and I recognize as our own. Speech delivery counts for little on the world stage unless you have convictions, and, yes, the vision to see beyond the front row seats."
        --Ronald Reagan

"The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything."
        --Theodore Roosevelt

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly..."
        --Theodore Roosevelt

"In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing."
        --Theodore Roosevelt

"The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it."
        --Theodore Roosevelt

"My power vanishes into thin air the instant that my fellow citizens, who are straight and honest, cease to believe that I represent them and fight for what is straight and honest. That is all the strength that I have."
        --Theodore Roosevelt

"If a strong man has not in him the lift toward lofty things, his strength makes him only a curse to himself and his neighbor."
        --Theodore Roosevelt

"The stream will not permanently rise higher than the main source; and the main source of national power and national greatness is found in the average citizenship of the nation. Therefore it behooves us to do our best to see that the standard of the average citizen is kept high; and the average cannot be kept high unless the standard of the leaders is very much higher."
        --Theodore Roosevelt

"When a highly successful leader retires after a long career, it is very unlikely that his successor will be of comparable caliber. Anyone of similar ability and drive would have gone somewhere else, instead of waiting in the wings for years for a chance to show his own leadership."
        --Thomas Sowell, 04/06/99

"The kinds of people we need in government are precisely the kinds of people who are most reluctant to go into government --- people who understand the inherent dangers of power and feel a distaste for using it, but who may do so for a few years as a civic duty. The worst kind of people to have in government are those who see it as a golden opportunity to impose their own superior wisdom and virtue on others."
        --Thomas Sowell, 04/06/99

"The first step in calculating which way to go is to find out where you are."
        --Margaret Thatcher

"Men make history, and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better."
        --Harry S. Truman

"Three things can ruin a man -- money, power, and women. I never had any money; I never wanted power; and the only woman in my life is up at the house right now."
        --Harry S. Truman

"A man who is influenced by the polls or is afraid to make decisions which make him unpopular is not a man to represent the welfare of the country."
        --Harry S. Truman

"The buck stops here."
        --Harry S. Truman

"The foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principle of private morality."
        --George Washington