Leadership Limits Quotes

What can one man do even if he is the president?

Government of the people by the people and for the people cannot be conducted at the bidding of one man, however great he may be.

I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I can not remember when I did not so think, and feel. And yet I have never understood that the Presidency conferred upon me an unrestricted right to act officially upon this judgment and feeling.

I am president, I don't own the country so they are not my forces.

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

There is no country in the world that rests on the shoulders of one man.

We eliminated the monarchy. We put limits on how long one person could lead our country and on the powers they held while in office. We took differences of opinion seriously - in fact, we built them into the fabric of our government.

Barack is at a level where he can't - no matter how much he wants to or how much we want him to - he's not going to come take out our garbage, so to speak. He can't be the garbage man and the president. He can't be the mayor and the alderman. He can't fill all those roles. So I always push for local, local activity on the political scene.

There's smarter people than me. But you cannot have any one guy running 18 billion-dollar businesses. It just doesn't make sense to me. I've met some extraordinary leaders in my time. They struggle with running one billion-dollar business.

Our expectations of our leaders are too high—in what they can do to effect our day-to-day lives.

The minister should not press his personal views unduly about what is not essential.

The speakership isn't a dictatorship.

No man however great is greater than his people

You can't command people to do their best; they can only command that of themselves.

I thought I could do something different from any Conservative prime minister before me. But I couldn't.

The excuse of divided government is over: they have the House and the Senate as well; they have the state legislatures; they have a majority of the governors. And that's exciting. But for me, I think the lesson also is all the opportunities out there for women, increasingly in politics and media and public policy and government affairs - all the things we do here in Washington - that we still have to make choices, there are limits.

I can't strong-arm my members. They vote the way they want to.

I can direct breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I take pride in my kitchen, but I'm not going to direct a movie.

No leader can be too far ahead of his followers.

This life as a simple citizen and laborer has its benefits not only for the person himself but perhaps also for his country. After all, there is room for only one Prime Minister, but for those who make the desert bloom there is room for hundreds, thousands and even millions. And the destiny of the state is in the hands of the many rather than of a single individual. There are times when an individual feels he should do those things which only can and should be done by the many.