
On the importance of waiting:
“Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time.”

On image:
“What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself.”

On being influential:
“If you would win a man to your cause first convince him that you are his sincere friend.”

On making a difference:
“I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.”

On integrity:
“I desire to so conduct the affairs of the administration that if, at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall have at least one friend left — and that friend shall be down inside of me.”

On flaws:
“It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.”

On helping others:
“To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own.”

On giving advice:
“He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help.”

On leadership:
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”

On the futility of arguing:
“Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention. Better give your path to a dog than be bitten by him.”

On values:
“I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.”

On persuasion:
“When I’m getting ready to reason with a man I spend one third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say — and two thirds thinking about him and what he is going to say.”

On being an introvert:
“I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot.”

On perseverance:
“The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me.”