Governance Challenges Quotes

Ruling is hard. This was maybe my answer to Tolkien, whom, as much as I admire him, I do quibble with. Lord of the Rings had a very medieval philosophy: that if the king was a good man, the land would prosper. We look at real history and it's not that simple... Real-life kings had real-life problems to deal with... My people who are trying to rule don't have an easy time of it. Just having good intentions doesn't make you a wise king.

... the inherent conflict and disconnect between campaigning (promising people all that they can have) and governing (explaining to people why they won’t get it).

No man is big enough to run this great republic. There has never been one.

Governing Yemen is like riding a lion: once you get on you cannot get off.

We are asking Nigerians for their cooperation. They shouldn't expect miracles to happen a couple of months after we've taken over because the destruction took so many years - 16 years of the ruling party's rule of this country.

If I get to be president, what can I do anyway? With Congress and the press, what chance do I have to make basic changes?

Writing laws is easy, but governing is difficult.

It's no great secret, number one, in my view, and I think the view of most Americans, that Congress itself is pretty dysfunctional. We are not addressing the real needs of the American people. And second of all, philosophically, there is a huge division between the House and the Senate.

You can’t govern a country on charisma.

It is easy to overthrow a government but very difficult to build a new one.

You wonder sometimes how our government puts on its pants in the morning.

Virtue alone is not sufficient for the exercise of government; laws alone cannot carry themselves into practice.

Campaigning is different from governing.

There is no question that the Islamic State will be defeated in Mosul; the real question is what comes afterward. Can the post-Islamic State effort resolve the squabbling likely to arise over numerous issues and bring lasting stability to one of Iraq's most diverse and challenging provinces? Failure to do so could lead to ISIS 3.0.

Africa is destined to anarchy. It is turning into 36 Haitis, with 36 Duvaliers, full of Cadillacs, beggars and snarling dogs.

You know I vowed when I became President not to talk about the loneliest toughest job in the world and I didn't.

Greece has great strengths, but much of this potential has been wasted. That's because of a wider political system, but also because of a lack of an institutional framework.

Experience has shown that it is difficult, if not impossible, for a populous state to be run by good laws.

The problems of the country look very different from the Oval Office than they do from the campaign trail.

I think every administration has a settling-in process. And there's always an adjustment between what you can say during a campaign and what you find are the possibilities and the imperatives when you win the election and you enter the Oval Office.

Though I admire republican principles in theory, yet I am afraid the practice may be too perfect for human nature. We tried a republic last century, and it failed. Let our enemies try next. I hate political experiments.

People are difficult to rule, because of their knowledge.

If you want to govern the nation, you should first be able to govern San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles.

In my own experience as president of Brazil I observed first hand many of the trends that Nam identifies in this book, but he describes them in a way that is as original as it is delightful to read. All those who have power-or want it-should read this book.

I tremble when I am reminded of the fact that I have to be in charge of this country and Parliament, which had been led by no less a person than Jawaharlal Nehru.