I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man. George Washington
My country has contrived for me the most insignificant office (the Vice Presidency) that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived. John Adams
Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you. Thomas Jefferson
All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree. James Madison
A little flattery will support a man through great fatigue. James Monroe
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost. John Quincy Adams
Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in. Andrew Jackson
It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't. Martin Van Buren
The only legitimate right to govern is an express grant of power from the governed-william Henry Harrison
I can never consent to being dictated to. John Tyler
I am heartily rejoiced that my term is so near its close. I will soon cease to be a servant and will become a sovereign. No president who performs his duties faithfully and conscientiously can have any leisure. James K. Polk
It would be judicious to act with magnanimity towards a prostrate foe. Zachary Taylor
Nothing brings out the lower traits of human nature like office-seeking. Men of good character and impulses are betrayed by it into all sorts of meanness. Millard Fillmore
You have summoned me in my weakness. You must sustain me by your strength. Franklin Pierce
What is right and what is practicable are two different things. Whatever the result may be, I shall carry to my grave the consciousness that I at least meant well for my country. James Buchanan
My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure. Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. Abraham Lincoln
Honest conviction is my courage; the Constitution is my guide. Andrew Johnson
My failures have been errors in judgment, not of intent. Ulysses S. Grant
Must swear off from swearing. Bad habit. I was ready to resort to unusual measures and to risk my own standing and reputation within my party and the country. Rutherford Hayes
Nobody but radicals have ever accomplished anything in a great crisis. James A. Garfield
There are very many characteristics which go into making a model civil servant probity, industry, good sense, good habits, good temper, patience, order, courtesy, tact, self-reliance, many deference to superior officers, and many consideration for inferiors. Chester Arthur
Above all, tell the truth A man is known by the company he keeps, and also by the company from which he is kept out. Grover Cleveland
Lincoln had faith in time, and time has justified his faith. Benjamin Harrison
Our differences are policies; our agreements, principles. William McKinley
The only man who makes no mistake is the man who does nothing. Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. Theodore Roosevelt Believe you can and you're halfway there.
Failure to accord credit to anyone for what he may have done is a great weakness in any man. William H. Taft
If you want to make enemies, try to change something. Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there. Woodrow Wilson
My God, this is a hell of a job! I have no trouble with my enemies... but my damn friends, they're the ones that keep me walking the floor nights. Warren Harding
It takes a great man to be a good listener. We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once. Calvin Coolidge
Wisdom oft times consists of knowing what to do next. Words without actions are the assassins of idealism. Herbert Hoover
A good leader can't get too far ahead of his followers. It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something. Franklin D. Roosevelt
It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. All my life, whenever it comes time to make a decision, I make it and forget about it. Harry S. Truman
Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. Plans are nothing; planning is everything. Dwight D. Eisenhower
Things do not happen. Things are made to happen. Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. John F. Kennedy
Doing what's right isn't the problem. It is knowing what's right. Lyndon B. Johnson
Always give your best, never get discouraged, never be petty; always remember, others may hate you. Those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself. Richard Nixon
The ultimate test of leadership is not the polls you take, but the risks you take. In the short run, some risks prove overwhelming. Political courage can be self-defeating. But the greatest defeat of all would be to live without courage, for that would hardly be living at all. Gerald Ford
Go out on a limb. That's where the fruit is. Jimmy Carter
A leader, once convinced a particular course of action is the right one, must have the determination to stick with it and be undaunted when the going gets rough. Ronald Reagan
We must act on what we know. I take as my guide the hope of a saint: In crucial things, unity; in important things, diversity; in all things, generosity. George H. W. Bush
Being President is like being the groundskeeper in a cemetery: there are a lot of people under you, but none of them are listening. If you live long enough, you'll make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you'll be a better person. William J. Clinton
I have a different vision of leadership. A leader is someone who brings people together. George W. Bush
If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress. Barack Obama
Now look, you cannot start off with the feeling that the job must run you; that you have to do it this way because this is the way Truman did it. Advice given to President-Elect John F. Kennedy in 1960 by Columbia Political Science Professor Richard Neustadt