William E. Gladstone Quotes

If you are going to be a wartime president, you have to have the characteristic of being able to be very, very hard.

I think what happens when you are prime minister is no day is the same and every day you are under pressure. And there is always so much happening that the days just flash by and flash into weeks.

Given the daunting challenges that we face, it's important that president elect Obama is prepared to really take power and begin to rule day one.

I am someone who facilitates the President’s ability to make tough decisions.

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

When you're President you have to make a lot of tough decisions. You have to keep lining them up and making them.

Part of your job as President is not only to make the tough calls, but to get people to agree with you.

Good political leadership for me involves getting the big decisions right - however difficult, however controversial, however potentially divisive and then being able to take people with you.

General Petraeus is not a miracle worker. He can not be successful unless the president creates greater confidence within his own team about the decisions which the president has himself made.

A prime minister has to keep a certain balance when dealing with sensitive issues.

One of the first rules of playing the power game is that all bad news must be accepted calmly, as if one already knew and didn't care.

Cheney was among the best secretaries of defence the country has ever had. He was a very effective White House chief of staff. He did not make many enemies, and he had the ability to persuade people with that soft tone and very reasonable style of his. He's always been exceptionally good as the right-hand man.

The press secretary who starts to narrow down or close the president's options because he answers delicate negotiating questions no longer serves the president.

The president of the United States actually has to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.

When you see how the President makes political or policy decisions, you see who he is. The essence of the Presidency is decision-making.

I have not had the cabinet here for 6 weeks. I can run the government better without them.

One of the problems of being a prime minister is that you can't do what people want all at once.

The most difficult issues—the toughest decisions—are the ones that invariably end up on the President’s desk.

Headmasters have powers at their disposal which Prime Ministers have never yet been invested.

Ministers do not function well when they are unsure of their authority or of their standing with the Leader [ the Prime Minister]

The Executive Branch, when they put the point on the spear, can get things done.

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

This is the sort of decision that presidents must make: Hard choices with insufficient information.

If there is going to be a war – and no one can say that there is not – we must keep him fresh to be our war Prime Minister

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