It is easier to get into something than to get out of it.

Reduce the number of lawyers. They are like beavers - they get in the middle of the stream and dam it up.

The Secretary of Defense is not a super General or Admiral. His task is to exercise civilian control over the Department for the Commander-in-Chief and the country.

Don't necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership.

Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.

We know where they are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad.

We know where they are [Iraq's weapons of mass destruction]. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.

We do know of certain knowledge that he [Osama Bin Laden] is either in Afghanistan, or in some other country, or dead.

Be precise. A lack of precision is dangerous when the margin of error is small.

If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much.

Look for what's missing. Many advisors can tell a President how to improve what's proposed or what's gone amiss. Few are able to see what isn't there.

In hindsight, events seem logical

Literature is an occupation in which you have to keep proving your talent to people who have none

I’ve experienced a lot of crap in my life but the one thing that I have learned, is it is better to laugh about it rather than complain about it.

A problem with a piece of writing often clarifies itself if you go for a long walk.

I think if more people would understand how simple and what really feminism is, I would imagine that most men I know are feminists without verbalising or saying so.

If you don't have a vision you're going to be stuck in what you know. And the only thing you know is what you've already seen.

To be happy is only to have freed one's soul from the unrest of unhappiness.

National security is a serious matter and I do not think it is in proper to discuss such details in a public forum.

In 1860, sixty-three per cent of the couples married in Great Britain had families of four or more children; in 1925 only twenty per cent had more than four.

All works of art are commissioned in the sense that no artist can create one by a simple act of will but must wait until what he believes to be a good idea for a work comes to him.