You have achieved excellence as a leader when people will follow you anywhere if only out of curiosity.

The only bipartisanship you ever see is when they finally sign a bill and everybody says, 'Gee, isn't that wonderful?'

Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude

Being in charge sometimes means making people mad. Some days you have to overrule even the best advice, because you think it is not right.

We all hoped in 2001 that we could put in place an Afghan government under President Karzai that would be able to control the country, make sure al-Qaeda didn't come back, and make sure the Taliban wasn't resurging. It didn't work out.

Always show more kindness than seems necessary, because the person receiving it needs it more than you will ever know.

The United States is not stingy. We are the greatest contributor to international relief efforts in the world.