If Iraq and Afghanistan have taught us anything in recent history, it is the unpredictability of war and that these things are easier to get into than to get out of, and, frankly, the facile way in which too many people talk about, 'Well, let's just go attack them.

I have tried to maintain civil relationships with everyone I meet - and, even if I violently disagree with them, try to be respectful.

There's a lot of books out there about how you lead change in business, but I've certainly not seen any... on how you do that in public institutions.

I wish I could set deadlines for the Congress, but that's just not the way the Constitution is written.

Congress is best viewed from a distance—the farther the better—because up close, it is truly ugly. I saw most of Congress as uncivil, incompetent at fulfilling their basic constitutional responsibilities (such as timely appropriations), micromanagerial, parochial, hypocritical, egotistical, thin-skinned and prone to put self (and re-election) before country.

I've spent my entire adult life with the United States as a superpower and one that had no compunction about spending what it took to sustain that position. And it didn't have to look over its shoulder because our economy was so strong.

Congress is best viewed from a distance - the farther the better - because up close, it is truly ugly.