Garry Kasparov Quotes

The big lesson of Reagan is: To think that he was some sort of simple figurehead and didn't do the thinking and simply read a script in front of him woefully underestimates him. Ronald Reagan was an extremely intelligent person with a real V8 engine under his hood.

Luck is of little moment to the great general, for it is under the control of his intellect and his judgment.

The experience of learning how to get straight to the core of a problem proved to be of immense value later when I had a long succession of responsibilities in large, complex government departments.

Management teams aren't good at asking questions. In business school, we train them to be good at giving answers.

One man with a head on his shoulders is worth a dozen without.

Military men predominated and gave no thought to the larger situation. They knew how to advance but not how to retreat.

Debates measure abilities you don't need to govern, like glibness. To govern you should be thoughtful, not glib. A debater has a sense of humor, but what's it got to do with governing? The ability to think on your feet. You make a budget sitting on your tush.

When I became Prime Minister, I looked back on what was done before – what were the policies and actions before – and I thought that I need to be critical if I’m going to do anything at all.

The best chess-player in Christendom may be little more than the best player of chess; but proficiency in whist implies capacity for success in all those more important undertakings where mind struggles with mind.

All coaches are thinking men, or else they wouldn't survive.

There's a conventional wisdom that says that strategic thinking is much more important than relationship building, which doesn't seem to be nearly as highly valued as it should be, based on what some of the leaders that I've spoken with have said to me.

Decisions! And a general, a commander in chief who has not got the quality of decision, then he is no good.

The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.

I've always thought Anne-Marie Slaughter would make a fantastic United States Senator or something. She's a real intellectual, but she's got enormous communicative skills and she's got government experience. The thing that drives me slightly crazy is the way we think about intellectuals as wooly, hopeless, arrogant, self-deceived, incapable.

Here's the teaching point, if you're teaching kids about intelligence and policy: Intelligence does not absolve policymakers of responsibility to ask tough questions, and it doesn't absolve them of having curiosity about the consequences of their actions.

The quality of a leader cannot be judged by the answers he gives, but by the questions he asks.

There is no substitute for accurate knowledge. Know yourself, know your business, know your men.

Effective management always means asking the right question.

I know General Grant better than any other person in the country can know him. It was my duty to study him, and I did so day and night, when I saw him and when I did not see him, and now I tell you what I know, he cannot govern this country.

Any leader needs to be constantly interested in what's going on in the world, and constantly ready - even when things are going well - to change.

For instance, Clinton who was unquestionably the smartest of the bunch I talked to - both the ones who made it and didn't. He had a great interest in policy.

Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them.

Some of our finest leaders were not intellectuals at all, and I admire them enormously because they weren't. Harry Truman wasn't.

Policymakers have to make judgments based on the best intelligence they get.

Making good decisions is a crucial skill at every level.