Bashar al Assad

You in Lebanon, your power is no match to Israel. Israel, militarily, is more powerful than you and maybe it is more powerful than all the Arab countries, or most of them.

Despite the ethnic diversity within each nation, the social fabric of the region by and large is one.

America is interested in re-arranging the region as it sees fit.

The most significant indicator that there is no disaster in Iraq is the fact that there is no exodus.

When we analyze this war in a materialistic way and ask when is it going to end and who will be the winner and the loser, it means that we do not see the endgame.

The logical thing is to implement the Arab Defense Agreement.

Take a look at Marx’s work. Very deep, analytic critique of a variety of capitalism, capitalist markets, properties, imperialism and so on, but about the future society a couple of scattered sentences, and I think, my guess is for good reasons.

From being a patriotic myth, the Russian people have become an awful reality.

The press must grow day in and day out – it is our Party’s sharpest and most powerful weapon.

Revolution can never be forecast; it cannot be foretold; it comes of itself. Revolution is brewing and is bound to flare up.

Half of Republicans deny that global warming is taking place, while 70% say that whether it is or not, humans are not responsible. Such figures would be shocking anywhere, but are remarkably so in a developed country with unparalleled resources and easy access to information.

When they go low, we go high.

I seemed to be in a minority on every subject. Every argument that came up, every debate that came up, I was in a minority of one usually, sometimes two. That was quite character forming.

The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems.

I don’t regret anything. I did everything absolutely correctly.

The more intermediaries there are, the more problems there are.

Since Jimmy Carter, religious fundamentalists play a major role in elections. He was the first president who made a point of exhibiting himself as a born again Christian. That sparked a little light in the minds of political campaign managers: Pretend to be a religious fanatic and you can pick up a third of the vote right away. Nobody asked whether Lyndon Johnson went to church every day. Bill Clinton is probably about as religious as I am, meaning zero, but his managers made a point of making sure that every Sunday morning he was in the Baptist church singing hymns.

Be able to resign. It will improve your value to the President and do wonders for your performance.

One man with a gun can control 100 without one. … Make mass searches and hold executions for found arms.

Michelle’s not somebody who wants to be deeply involved in policy development. She’s my closest friend and my most important adviser. But I don’t anticipate her sitting around the table trying to figure out tax policy. She’ll probably choose a project that she cares about. But her number-one priority is going to be these kids, and making sure that their transition is one in which the wonderful normalcy that they have is maintained.

Imagine a country that flies into space, launches Sputniks, creates such a defense system, and it can’t resolve the problem of women’s pantyhose. There’s no toothpaste, no soap powder, not the basic necessities of life. It was incredible and humiliating to work in such a government.