DAVID GERGEN

How in heaven's name can a nation with a $1 trillion surplus threaten so much scientific research so vital to its future?

When he hung up on Nancy Reagan, that's when he crossed his final threshold.

We know that second terms have historically been marred by hubris and by scandal.

Ronald Reagan is clearly to television what Franklin Roosevelt was to radio.

We've seen the hubris. And now we're seeing the scandals.

Conservatives look to deeds. They're not bought off by rhetoric.

If you want this job too much you may not be any good at it.

Power comes through public persuasion.

The age of spin should be over.

The capacity to persuade is an essential part of being a great leader.

The glamour wears off and it soon becomes a job

The pay is low. The price in privacy invasion is high. The confirmation process is long.

The truth is what you say it is, and that’s not a good place to be.

We are in an age of floating coalitions. Someone may be with you on one issue and against you on the next.

We have an inherently weak institution in the Presidency. It was intentionally set up that way by the founders.

If you want to lead, you’ve got to have followers. You’ve got to align people, and you do that through television.

You’ve got to embody your message.

At the heart of leadership is the leader's relationship with followers. People will entrust their hopes and dreams to another person only if they think the other is a reliable vessel.

Since the 1st World War, U. S. Presidents have 18 times asked the Congress for authority to go to war or use military force. The Presidents have never been turned down by Congress.

Lee Atwater [Republican National Committee Chairman] saw politics as a cutthroat game and didn't mind holding the blade.

Power does seep away from the President in his second term.

Humor is a very important part of leadership.

I don't have any problem with a reporter or a news person who says the President is uninformed on this issue or that issue. I don't think any of us would challenge that. I do have a problem with the singular focus on this, as if that's the only standard by which we ought to judge a president. What we learned in the last administration was how little having an encyclopedic grasp of all the facts has to do with governing.

If you've got some news that you don't want to get noticed, put it out Friday afternoon 4:00 pm.

I think it's particularly raw coming the day after the Electoral College, and Bill Clinton, he's taking this hard. It's been very hard to him. He thought his wife was gonna win. He believed she should have won. I think he believes, basically, it was an unfair result.