Character in many ways is everything in leadership. It is made up of many things, but I would say character is really integrity.

If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.

For every obstacle there is a solution. Persistence is the key. The greatest mistake is giving up!

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface. The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.

Leadership consists of nothing but taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong and giving your subordinates credit for everything that goes well.

The supreme quality of leadership is integrity.

If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom.

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

You don't lead by hitting people over the head - that's assault, not leadership.

Always try to associate yourself with and learn as much as you can from those who know more than you do, who do better than you, who see more clearly than you.

To be true to one's own freedom is, in essence, to honor and respect the freedom of all others.

Miracles prove nothing except to those whose faith is bought very cheap, sir.

I think our insecurities are our biggest challenges, and we all have them. Trust me, I've got plenty of my own.

I would never stay in office against the will of the people. My ethics and patriotism do not allow me to do so.

I am not going to use the federal government's authority deliberately to circumvent the natural inclination of people to live in ethnic homogeneous neighborhoods.

I don't know how many off the record conversations I've had with African-American leaders who would not be quoted and refused to make their sentiments public.

Being open to correction means making ourselves vulnerable, and many people are not willing to do that.

If a thing isn't worth saying, you sing it.

What the hell could you do? I've never been arrested, I haven't taken drugs, I've had the same wife for 54 years; where's anything of interest to people?

A moral monopoly is the antithesis of a marketplace of ideas.