Visit with your predecessors from previous Administrations. They know the ropes and can help you see around some corners. Try to make original mistakes, rather than needlessly repeating theirs.

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.

The roots of shame run deep.

When you do things with the power of passion and power of love, you create destructive beauty.

I think, therefore I am, dangerous.

The gentleman calls attention to the good points in others; he does not call attention to their defects. The small man does just the reverse of this.

Since all things are good, men fail at last to distinguish which is the bane and which the antidote.

I cannot avoid condemning all those who, from self-conceit have the pretension to imitate great artists of the past. If their powers of emotion be weak, their powers of expression will be likewise.

The care of our national commerce redounds more to the riches and prosperity of the public than any other act of government.

I sat for a moment, figuring things out, then decided to stay there. If I was on the floor, I couldn't fall down.

Oppression involves a failure of the imagination: the failure to imagine the full humanity of other human beings.

Making a movie: It's so hard. It's the hardest of all the things I do.