Have a sense of humor to break the tension in times of great toil.

One thing the military does far better than business is train its own leaders. I can't go to IBM and hire a battalion commander. They don't have any.

Baghdad fell on April 9, 2003, Hussein and his regime were brought down, we declared "Mission Accomplished" and celebrated victory . . . and chaos erupted. We did not assert control and authority over the country, especially Baghdad. We did not bring with us the capacity to impose our will. We did not take charge. And Iraq did not in a few weeks magically transform itself into a stable nation with democratic leaders. Instead a raging insurgency engulfed the country.

I think our initiative with respect to education and economic development can work in Saudi Arabia and it is up to the Saudis to decide how they wish to transform their society in order to make it prepared for the challenges of the 21st century.

You can't get it all done yourself. The best leaders are not afraid of picking people who are better than they are and who may one day replace them.

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

No war on the face of the Earth is more destructive than the AIDS pandemic.