Catherine the Great Quotes

The art of politics is knowing what to do next.

Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.

President Obama's biggest weakness is weakness.

A wise governor told me a long time ago, political capital you don't get more of by keeping it. You get it by using it.

There is no school that teaches you how to run a state. You make mistakes, but you learn on the job.

When you're in the real world as President of the United States it doesn't go according to the script.

Leadership is important in politics.

Politics is the science of urgencies.

The prime minister's job is to captain his team, his party and his government.

Your personality as the prime minister feeds through to what you emphasise, and what you don't, how you'll handle a situation - whether you've got the combination of intelligence or instincts to adapt and to make good decisions.

The wound-tight, travel-light Obama has a distaste for the adversarial and the random. But if you stick too rigidly to a 'No Drama' rule in the White House, you risk keeping reality at bay. Presidencies are always about crisis management.

If the critics are right that I've made all my decisions based on polls, then I must not be very good at reading them.

If I wanted a circus ringmaster, I'd hire Trump. If I wanted advice on brain surgery or hospital management, I'd turn to Carson. Fiorina would make an articulate television pundit. But for president?

Running for president is hard. But it's good preparation. Because being president is a lot harder.

Forget the consultants, the pundits and the pollsters; good policy is good politics.

Politics is like football ... Sometimes you have to punt.

Leaders respond when they perceive that there will be a political cost of inaction.

President Clinton does not use polls to reach positions. He takes positions and then uses the polls to survive the experience.

When you are President you have to get something done, and that often means compromise.

Running a country is much more difficult than running a campaign.

Politics is the management of expectations.

In history lies all the secrets of statecraft.

Effective Presidents are those who can achieve a balance between purpose and prudence.

Politics is about explanations.

In order to manage such affairs as war and peace, treaties, alliances, marriage, the means of increasing one’s territories, the loyalty of the people, parties and other business of the kingdom, it seems to me that there is no more useful knowledge than the study of history.