George Packer Quotes

I love Obama's calm and dignity. A lot of people confuse that with being aloof, but I know people that have held that job. It's a 24-hour barrage of information.

I am fully prepared to be commander in chief... I don't need on-the-job training.

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

One can say that three pre-eminent qualities are decisive for the politician: passion, a feeling of responsibility, and a sense of proportion.

This election is not about ideology. It's about competence.

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

I work with the president and speak with him multiple times a week. This is a man, he didn't become the president by accident. And as much as everyone wants to talk about stability, was he unstable when he passed the tax reform? Was he unstable when we finally hit back at Syria and said no more chemical weapons?

I'm a good leader. I'm a good executive. I've been outside the U.S. a few times, and I've done a little bit of foreign policy. But most importantly, I'm smart enough to be in charge of this country.

I've always been able to stay calm in high-pressure situations.

The verdict on Prince Metternich will soon be out: An excellent diplomat and a bad politician.

The heart of a statesman should be in his head.

A president has to provide leadership to gain support.

I respect the fact that Donald Trump always listens. It's how he was in business. It's how he is as president.

Governor Romney has been successful. I think, that's what we want in a President of the United States.

[Donald Trump] doesn't have the temperament to be president.

I think Donald Trump knows the kind of leadership that we [Americans] need at home and abroad.

Our presidency is a cut above, we all want the president to be the absolutely finest person and best person that we could elect, but even at that, presidents are not supposed to be unapproachable.

Mitt Romney looks like a president. I mean, he really does.

We have a man [Donald Trump] who understands the frustrations and the aspirations of our fellow citizens.

I am sure that Senator Clinton would make a good President. I have no doubt that Senator Clinton would make a good President.

Form the habit of making decisions when your spirit is fresh...to let dark moods lead is like choosing cowards to command armies.

I think in places like Pennsylvania, there's folks who want our next president to talk like a hawk, but fly like a dove.

President [Ronald] Reagan never has tried to become an expert on military matters. He never has endeavored to learn the most important details in that field, which lead to a situation in which his aides played a much greater roles than aides would have played under President Ford or let us say in the whole Nixon-Ford-Kissinger era.

Hating clouds the mind. It gets in the way of strategy. Leaders cannot afford to hate

In business, three things are necessary: knowledge, temper, and time.