The Federal Government should be the last resort, not the first. Ask if a potential program is truly a federal responsibility or whether it can better be handled privately, by voluntary organizations, or by local or state governments.

Make decisions about the President's personal security. He can overrule you, but don't ask him to be the one to counsel caution.

I think we ought to have a new rule: You can ask two questions, and then we can pick the one we want to answer.

Reduce the number of lawyers. They are like beavers - they get in the middle of the stream and dam it up.

Strive to make proposed solutions as self-executing as possible. As the degree of discretion increases, so too does bureaucracy, delay, and expense.

Control your time. If you're working off your in-box, you're working off the priorities of others. Be sure the staff is working on what you move to them from the President, or the President will be reacting, not leading.

The dead-enders are still with us, those remnants of the defeated regimes who'll go on fighting long after their cause is lost.