Don't necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership.

The reality is that terrorists can attack any time at any minute, 24 hours a day, using a variety of techniques, in any place at all. And it's not possible to defend in every place, against every technique, against every conceivable approach. It means that you can't stop every terrorist attack. Innocent men, women and children are going to be killed if terrorists are determined to do it.

When someone with a rural accent says, "I don't know much about politics," zip up your pockets.

I don't think we'll discover anything, myself. I think what will happen is we'll discover people who will tell us where to go find it. It is not like a treasure hunt where you just runaround looking everywhere hoping you find something. I just don't think that's going to happen. The inspectors didn't find anything, and I doubt that we will. What we will do is find the people who will tell us.

Know that the immediate staff and others in the Administration will assume that your manner, tone and tempo reflect the President's.

It is hard to put a price on some things. What is the value of having prevented nuclear weapons from getting into the hands of a dictator like Saddam Hussein - or of Gadhafi?

Any country on the face of the Earth with an active intelligence program knows that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.