In Washington, a confidential assistant is someone who, if you don't want to know something, you go and ask him and he won't tell you.

Don't take a butcher's advice on how to cook meat. If he knew, he'd be a chef.

One day about 10 years ago the door to my office opened and who walked in but Bill Gates.... Seemed like a nice guy and has done more with his money than most billionaires. But that's as far as I want to go being kind to Bill Gates.

A little-recognized value of listening and inquiring relates to the realization that in human relationships, it is frequently not what the I've learned ... that it is best to give advice in only two circumstances: when it is requested and when it is a life-threatening situation.

The third rule of life is this: Everything you buy today is smaller, more expensive, and not as good as it was yesterday.

The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.

Never trust the food in a restaurant on top of the tallest building in town that spends a lot of time folding napkins.