If you foul up, tell the President and correct it fast. Delay only compounds mistakes.

There's another way to phrase that and that is that the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. It is basically saying the same thing in a different way. Simply because you do not have evidence that something does exist does not mean that you have evidence that it doesn't exist.

If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't I'll just respond cleverly.

Don't 'over-control' like a novice pilot. Stay loose enough from the flow that you can observe it, modify, and improve it.

We never believed that we'd just tumble over weapons of mass destruction in that country.

We [the USA] do have a big nation's problem. We have the problem of a nation that's got two oceans, oceans on either side. People come from all across the globe and want to live here and they want to work here and they want to invest here. And that's a good thing. And they make up this country. But as a people, we [americans] are not highly skilled in languages. We're not highly skilled in knowledge of other cultures. And that's a problem.

When asked for your views, by the press or others, remember that what they really want to know is the President's views.