There is this great idea about the logic of a politician, along the lines of: "Something must be done, this is something, therefore we must do it.

The only real training for leadership is leadership.

The Opposition aren't really the Opposition. They're just called the Opposition. But in fact they are the Opposition in exile. The Civil Service are the Opposition in residence.

In corporation [corporate] religions as in others, the heretic must be cast out not because of the probability that he is wrong but because of the possibility that he is right.

You can judge a leader by the size of the problem he tackles... Other people can cope with the waves, it's his job to watch the tide.

Men grow to the stature to which they are stretched when they are young.

Referring the matter to a committee' can be a device for diluting authority, diffusing responsibility and delaying decisions.

You can judge a leader by the size of the problem he tackles - people nearly always pick a problem their own size, and ignore or leave to others the bigger or smaller ones.

He’s suffering from Politician’s Logic. Something must be done, this is something, therefore we must do it.

If you are ready for the secret, you already possess one half of it, therefore, you will readily recognize the other half the moment it reaches your mind.

The fat man looked amused. "What on earth for?" he said. "I never have any contact with writers. If I do, they just keep pestering me about getting paid.

Luck is the devil with a halo

It is the paradox of life that the way to miss pleasure is to seek it first. The very first condition of lasting happiness is that a life should be full of purpose, aiming at something outside self.

Sometimes when you've got too much money you lose your imagination.

To write something, you have to risk making a fool of yourself.

I don't hate work, composing is not work for me, it's my pleasure; it's my life. So why should I stop? If something is pleasurable and exciting and rewarding, why should one stop?

Weapons are not proper instruments for gentle people; they use them only when they have no other choice. Peace and quiet are what they value. They do not glory in victory.

Yesterday I had a Shaker visitor, and today a Catholic; and the more I see and hear, the less do I care about church doctrines.

Paranoid is what people who are trying to take advantage call you in an effort to get you to drop your guard.