The higher the classification of secrecy, the quicker you will report it.

Negotiations are a euphemism for capitulation if the shadow of power is not cast across the bargaining table.

If they are too big to fail, make them smaller.

There is no prospect that the United States will say to Israel, 'You do such and such and we'll not support you in your security.

I learned in business that you had to be very careful when you told somebody that's working for you to do something, because the chances were very high he'd do it. In government, you don't have to worry about that.

Nothing ever gets settled in this town (Washington). It's not like running a company or even a university. It's a seething debating society, in which the debate never stops; in which people never give up, including me, and that's the atmosphere in which you administer.

Ideas matter a lot, the underlying ideas that stand behind policies. When you don't have ideas, your policies are flip-flopping all over the place. When you do have ideas, you have more consistency. And when you have the right ideas - then you can get somewhere (reagan had the right ideas).