Giving people self-confidence is by far the most important thing that I can do. Because then they will act.

I might not be the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but I'm pretty good at getting most of the other bulbs to light up.

Be candid with everyone.

Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.

Change before you have to.

If you don't have a competitive advantage, don't compete.

Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.

On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world.

Shareholder value is a result, not a strategy . . . Your main constituencies are your employees, your customers and your products.

If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.

Willingness to change is a strength, even if it means plunging part of the company into total confusion for a while.

Take solace in that, regardless of the fact that the love you had in your mind was lost, it was fairer than any, and you can take that with you forever.

I have fooled life and life has fooled me. We are quits. I say good-bye. Think sometimes in the hour of happiness of your poor, comical fool who loved you truly and so well.

God washes the eyes by tears unil they can behold the invisible land where tears shall come no more.

I have no regrets about my life.

Megachurches. I can't be the only one frightened when our houses of worship sound like they could take on Godzilla.

I forget whether advice be among the lost things which Ariosto says are to be found in the moon: that and time ought to have been there.

One needs to fully accept that surprises sometimes happen and complete control over outcome is not necessary or even desirable.

We would not be here if humanity were inherently evil. We'd have eaten ourselves alive long ago.

The more we can have peaceful trade both with Russia, with China, and with others, you know, there's a self interest in this for everyone.

I contend that in the kind of nonfiction I write, and that other people also pursue, anything is permissible provided the reader knows what you're taking liberties with.