A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, And Leadership Quotes
"Listening to others who disagree with me and are willing to criticize me is essential to piercing the seduction of certainty. Doubt, I’ve learned, is wisdom."
"Ethical leaders do not run from criticism, especially self-criticism, and they don’t hide from uncomfortable questions."
"We cannot ignore the difference between ethical leaders and those who just happen to occupy leadership roles."
"Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary."
"To not think of dying, is to not think of living."
"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer."
"I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value."
"He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual."
"Under the law, a CEO can’t just sell his stock when he learns something big that ordinary stockholders don’t know."
"The danger in every organization is that you create an environment that cuts off dissenting views and discourages honest feedback."
"That can quickly lead to a culture of delusion and deception."
"Humility can lead to a dangerous self-indulgence at the expense of others."
"I called it a reservoir. I told them it was a reservoir of trust and credibility built for you by people you never knew."
"The actions of one person can destroy what it took hundreds of people years to build."
"Federal investigators usually aren’t big believers in coincidences."
"In its place, people must fear going to jail."
"People must fear having their name forever associated with a criminal act."
"Our brains have evolved to crave information consistent with what we already believe."
"Doubt is not weakness, it is wisdom, because people are at their most dangerous when they are certain that their cause is just and their facts are right."
"Decisions have to be made, often quickly, even the hardest decisions."
"That humility leaves the leader open to better information until the last possible moment."
"The Constitution and the rule of law are not partisan political tools."
"Lady Justice wears a blindfold. She is not supposed to peek out to see how her political master wishes her to weigh a matter."
"The prospect of being the 'torture guy' disturbed my sleep for many nights."
"I don’t know for sure whether that’s the case. I don’t know for sure that even if it is the case it explains it entirely."
"Effective leaders almost never need to yell."
"We need to figure out what’s happening and deal with it now."
"Everybody knows why. Or at least I thought they did."
"Without it, no real success is possible, no matter if it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office."
"It is hard to hate up close, and the FBI could bring people up close."
"There are people in your lives called 'loved ones' because you are supposed to love them."
"I am a huge believer in the rule of law, but I also believe that no one in this country is beyond the law."
"The FBI is often called upon to investigate cases that touch on the president’s senior aides and affect the course of his presidency."
"True listening is actually that period of silence and allowing someone’s words to reach your conscious brain."
"The FBI should be independent and totally divorced from politics."
"I order you to love somebody. It’s the right thing to do and it’s also good for you."
"I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence."
"That’s the way we want it, right? We want strong, certain leaders."
"No matter how 'flat' an organization, there is a hierarchy, and everyone knows what it is."
"Speaking uphill takes courage. It takes overcoming a universal human affliction—the impostor complex."
"If you don’t have [the impostor complex], in some measure, you are an incredible jerk and should stop reading immediately."
"I tried to foster an atmosphere at the FBI where people would tell me the truth."
"We were in need of a little more childlike behavior in our lives, because children tend to tell each other the truth more often than adults do."
"Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides."
"Safety lies in the prosecutor who tempers zeal with human kindness, who seeks truth and not victims, who serves the law and not factional purposes, and who approaches his task with humility."
"If we start making decisions based on whose political fortunes will be affected, we are lost."
"The FBI must be an 'other' in this country or we are lost."
"I have devoted my life to serving institutions I love precisely because they play no role in politics."
"If the criticism is coming from a person I know to be thoughtful, I pay close attention to it."
"I am proud of the fact that I try to do the right thing."
"I pray no future FBI director is forced to find out."
"I picked you to be FBI director because of your integrity and your ability."
"The possibility—even the perception—that that quest may be tainted deeply troubles us."
"What am I going to do? Say I don't respect the leader of a major country I'm trying to get along with?"
"You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say."
"The FBI and the Department of Justice are drawn into the most controversial investigations in the country."
"The FBI was not exactly a secret cabal of Clinton lovers."
"Andy was a true professional and put all that stuff to the side."
"That was the last time I spoke with President Trump."
"The FBI’s mission was to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States."
"Every one of you is personally responsible for protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution of the United States."
"The FBI is honest. The FBI is strong. And the FBI is and always will be independent."
"I don’t know him or his life well, but he seems not to have benefited from watching people like Harry Howell demonstrate what tough and kind leadership looks like."
"I’ve said this earlier but it’s worth repeating: close your eyes and imagine these same voices if President Hillary Clinton had told the FBI director, 'I hope you will let it go,' about the investigation of a senior aide."
"This president is unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values."
"We are fortunate some ethical leaders have chosen to serve and to stay at senior levels of government, but they cannot prevent all of the damage from the forest fire that is the Trump presidency."
"Their silence is complicity—it is a choice—and somewhere deep down they must know that."
"Policies come and go. Supreme Court justices come and go. But the core of our nation is our commitment to a set of shared values."
"Thank you for standing watch. Thank you for doing so much good for this country."