"The chief condition on which, life, health and vigor depend on, is action. It is by action that an organism develops its faculties, increases its energy, and attains the fulfillment of its destiny."

"War should be the politics of last resort. And when we go to war, we should have a purpose that our people understand and support."

"Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership."

"Today I can declare my hope and declare it from the bottom of my heart that we will eventually see the time when that number of nuclear weapons is down to zero and the world is a much better place."

"We've got to see a state where the Afghan government can handle its own day-to-day security."

"I get offered a World War II movie at least once a week just because I speak German and was born there. I have always stayed away from it because I didn't want to be put into that box."

"Politics are very much like war. We may even have to use poison gas at times."

"I was fair-skinned in a country that's about the outdoors."