The longer I am out of office, the more infallible I appear to myself.

If eighty percent of your sales come from twenty percent of all of your items, just carry those twenty percent.

Where position is felt to be a birthright, generosity is possible (though not guaranteed); flexibility is not inhibited by a commitment to perpetual success.

I do not know what will happen in China politically. I do know that it is impossible to maintain the communist system or probably even a strict one-party system when the economy becomes so pluralistic. Now, what form that takes and what institutions will evolve, I do not have a clear view about. I do not think the United States, as a general principle, ought to intervene in this.

Even paranoid people have enemies.

I think a resumption of the Cold War would be a historic tragedy. If a conflict is avoidable, on a basis reflecting morality and security, one should try to avoid it.

America has made it very clear in several administrations that if there is an attack by China on Taiwan, the United States is very likely to resist.