All one can do is to prepare oneself, to wait in readiness for what might come.

He made a good impression, Tom Leonard recalled, “because he wouldn’t immediately enter into the topic of politics”; instead, he encouraged people to talk about their work, their families, their lives. He had always loved to talk, but now he learned to listen, and to listen intently, his head nodding in a welcoming way, with an air of sympathetic

Of all the strengths Roosevelt displayed during the campaign, none was of greater significance than his ability to assemble and sustain a remarkably talented and staunchly loyal team that would remain together in the years ahead.

Do leaders shape the times or do the times summon their leaders?

explaining to Howe that if he were elected someday, these people would be his “bosses,” and “they’ve got a right to know what they’re hiring.”

He understood early on that concrete examples and stories provided the best vehicles for teaching.

As a citizen, one might intermittently engage in political activity, but it would be “a dreadful misfortune for a man to grow to feel that his whole livelihood and whole happiness depend upon his staying in office. Such a feeling prevents him from being of real service to the people while in office, and always puts him under the heaviest strain to

“Sometimes that instinct is better than a long and careful investigation.”

In this first foray into politics, Lincoln also pledged that if his opinions on any subject turned out to be erroneous, he stood “ready to renounce them.” With this commitment, Lincoln revealed early on a quality that would characterize his leadership for the rest of his life—a willingness to acknowledge errors and learn from his mistakes.