Bill Clinton Quotes

Great leaders are willing to sacrifice the numbers to save the people. Poor leaders sacrifice the people to save the numbers.

We are people in circumstances who make choices that we think are right at the time.

In the first rule of politics, you know, Harry Truman, the buck stops here. Take responsibility. What I've learned over the years is that people will give people in politics a lot of rope if they just take responsibility.

We are seeing how people we have looked up to and were inspired by in our work have suddenly just gone because there are such serious allegations against them. I really don't know why it is not happening here.

You always have a choice. It's just that some people make the wrong one.

It is indeed a singular thing that people wish to pass laws to nullify the disagreeable consequences that the law of responsibility entails. Will they never realize that they do not eliminate these consequences but merely pass them along to other people? The result is one injustice the more and one moral the less.

In their zeal for particular kinds of decisions to be made, those with the vision of the anointed seldom consider the nature of the: process: by which decisions are made. Often what they propose amounts to third-party decision making by people who pay no cost for being wrong-surely one of the least promising ways of reaching decisions satisfactory to those who must live with the consequences.

We don't want to make a mistake. Would you rather make the mistake and err on the side of caution or wait until something happens and then answer to the American people, why you didn't vet these people properly?

There's less of a connection for a lot of people between the technical decisions we make and the ethical ramifications we are responsible for.

What people commonly call Fate is, as a general rule, nothing but their own stupid and foolish conduct.

A leader is someone whose actions have the most profound consequences on other people's lives, for better or worse, sometime forever and ever.

Sometimes the choices you make are good and other times it goes the other way. I take full responsibility as coach.

Inconsistency has been overpraised by people who do not expect to suffer from it.

We've all made bad decisions, but they haven't always been resulting in the deaths of innocent people.

Radical transparency is critical to having an idea meritocracy because it shows what's actually happening without spin and prevents people from maneuvering politically behind each others' backs. It brings problems and weaknesses to the surface and allows people to see how they are dealt with, so it's great for training people on how to deal with real problems.

If the woman picks the wrong man, that's not society's problem. That's her problem.

The world is in the condition it is in because of you, and the choices you have made - or failed to make. (Not to decide is to decide.) The Earth is in the shape it's in because of you, and the choices you have made - or failed to make. Your own life is the way it is because of you, and the choices you have made - or failed to make.

Rationally speaking, blaming one's behavior on alcohol or drugs is like blaming the ladder by which you descended into a pit, or the staircase that took you down to a cellar, for what you found there.

Here's a little tip for you. If you don't like being called a murderer, don't kill people.

The choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.

Your own life is the way it is because of you, and the choices you have made - or failed to make.

You are free to choose. You are not free not to choose. No choice is a choice. You are free to choose but you are not free to choose the consequences of that choice.

Russian people really don't like it when somebody does horrible things in Russia, and then can calmly go travel to another country and spend time there. And this is what needs to be done: the Russian people need to be told this, because in today's world, just doing something is not enough. You've got to tell about it, too. If you've done something and haven't told about it, it's as good as if you hadn't done it at all.

When you choose an action, you choose the consequences of that action.

In order for the U.N. to be effective, there must be consequences if people thumb their nose at the United Nations Security Council. And we will work with people on the Security Council to achieve that objective.