"Character is what you are. Reputation is what others think you are. The reason that some fail to climb the ladder of success, or of leadership if you want to call it that, is that there is a difference between reputation and character. The two do not always coincide. A man may be considered to have sterling character. Opportunity might come to that man; but if he has the reputation for something he is not, he may fail that opportunity. I think character is the foundation of successful leadership."

"I suppose men are born with traits that can be cultivated in the direction of leadership. But there is also no doubt that leadership can be cultivated The idea of any man being born an army commander or being born to be a theater commander, such as General Eisenhower, just isn’t so. The characteristics of leadership, necessarily has to have certain decisiveness and confidence come from knowledge based on studies and training. The fundamental thing is your basic knowledge, the development of your mind, and your ability to apply this knowledge as you go along your military career."

"The American soldier demonstrated that, properly equipped, trained and led, he has no superior among all the armies of the world."

"McCain ran an aggressive, hard-hitting campaign against former Congressman J. D. Hayworth. If he had taken this same kind of principled conservative and ‘take no prisoners’ campaign against Barack Obama in 2008, he’d now be in the second year of his presidency."

"People say New York is a melting pot, but it's really not. It's this mosaic of all these different cultures that really don't understand each other very well."

"I know how to tell a story, but there’s a deeper thing I’m trying to get to now that can’t be expressed with a caption."

"I have come to value liberated minds as the supreme good of life on earth."

"Thoughts aren’t personal. They just appear, like raindrops. Would you argue with a raindrop?"

"Defense is the first act of war."

"Don't be careful. You could hurt yourself."

"In my experience, it takes only one person to have a successful relationship, and that's me."

"Would you rather be right or free?"

"The perfect world is created when the mind is free to see it."

"Just keep coming home to yourself. You are the one you’ve been waiting for."

"No one has ever been angry at another human being—we’re only angry at our story of them."

"I could find only three kinds of business in the world—mine, yours, and God’s. Whose business are you in?"

"You can only see what you believe—nothing else is possible."

"We suffer only until we realize that we can’t know anything."

"Reality is always the story of a past, and what I love about the past is—it’s over."

"If you want to see the love of your life, look in the mirror."

"Nothing you believe is true. To know this is freedom."

"We say to others only what we need to hear."

"Have you asked you?"

"Seeking love keeps you from the awareness that you already have it—that you are it."

"When they attack you and you notice that you love them with all your heart, your Work is done."

"The last story: God is everything, God is good."

"The miracle of love comes to us in the presence of the uninterpreted moment."

"We never make a decision. When the time is right, the decision makes itself."

"There are no physical problems—only mental ones."

"Until we know that death is equal to life, we live in fear."

"Ultimately, I am all I can know."

"Everyone and everything is doing its job perfectly—no mistake."

"The teacher you need is the person you’re living with."

"We do only three things in life: we sit, we stand, we lie horizontal. The rest is just a story."

"Stress is an alarm clock that lets you know you’ve attached to something not true for you."

"There are no new stressful thoughts. They’re all recycled."

"I don’t let go of concepts—I question them. Then they let go of me."

"Reality is always kinder than the story we tell about it."

"Everything happens for me, not to me."

"Forgiveness is realizing that what you thought happened, didn’t."

"How do I know that I don’t need what I want? I don’t have it."

"Arguing with reality is like trying to teach a cat to bark—hopeless."

"When I am perfectly clear, what is is what I want."

"If I think you’re my problem, I’m insane."

"You either believe what you think or you question it. There’s no other choice."

"If I had a prayer, it would be this: “God spare me from the desire for love, approval, and appreciation. Amen.”"

"Sanity doesn’t suffer, ever."

"No one can hurt me—that’s my job."

"An unquestioned mind is the world of suffering."

"You move totally away from reality when you believe that there is a legitimate reason to suffer."