The presidency has made every man who occupied it, no matter how small, bigger than he was; and no matter how big, not big enough for its demands.
Interpretation
The role of the presidency elevates a person but also presents tremendous challenges that are hard to meet.
This quote reflects on the transformative power of the presidency, suggesting that the position elevates individuals, making them more prominent in the public eye. However, it also implies that no president ever fully meets the immense responsibilities and expectations that come with the office, indicating the overwhelming nature of leadership at such a high level.
In practice
In a speech about the challenges of leadership during a political campaign.
You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, "you are free to compete with all the others," and still justly believe that you have been completely fair. We seek not just legal equity but human ability, not just equality as a right and a theory but equality as a fact and equality as a result.
Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time.
We do this in order to slow down aggression. We do this to increase the confidence of the brave people of South Vietnam who have bravely born this brutal battle for so many years with so many casualties. And we do this to convince the leaders of North Vietnam-and all who seek to share their conquest-of a simple fact: We will not be defeated. We will not grow tired. We will not withdraw either openly or under the cloak of a meaningless agreement.
So far are we generally from thinking what we often say of the shortness of life, that at the time when it is necessarily shortest we form projects which we delay to execute, indulge such expectations as nothing but along train of events can gratify, and suffer those passions to gain upon us which are only excusable in the prime of life.
You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered.
If government is to serve any purpose it is to do for others what they are unable to do for themselves.
I hired top-notch people, trusted them to do their jobs, and then came to grips with the fact that I wouldn't be coaching as much.
I will have here but one mistress and no master.
One cannot govern with 'buts'.
The worst mistake a leader can make is to mentor no one, choose no successor and leave no legacy.
Many leaders are tempted to lead like a chess master, striving to control every move, when they should be leading like gardeners, creating and maintaining a viable ecosystem in which the organization operates.
I can't tell you how many resumes we get from business schools across the country from black women and black men and Hispanic women, men, etcetera, who say I'm interested in working for your company because they can see someone at the top who looks like them.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.