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"Both of us are known for probably at times regrettable streak of independence."
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"As only dead leaves allow the wind to blow them to and fro, never allow yourself to be swayed by popular opinion."

"No girl can permanently bolster up a lame-duck visitor, because these day it's every girl for herself."

"Don't wait for someone to bring you flowers. Plant your own garden and decorate your soul."

"Without being an independent individual, without having an independent mind, you become nothing more than a trivial slave or an obscure shadow!"

"I am not your dear; I cannot lie down: send me to school soon, Mrs. Reed, for I hate to live here."

"The only race you are guaranteed to win is the one you run alone."

"What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think.... It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude."

"Believe in yourself. Carve your own path. Build your own dreams. Be your own hero."

"Forget it. Never explain, never apologize. You can either write posthumously or you can't."

"Independence is paramount and freedom holds a lot of new possibilities, if all the chances are given at the right time."
Explore more quotes by David Kay

"As leader of the effort of the Iraqi Survey Group, I spent most of my days not out in the field leading inspections. It's typically what you do at that level. I was trying to motivate, direct, find strategies."

"I would also point out that many governments that chose not to support this war - certainly, the French president, Jacques Chirac, as I recall in April of last year, referred to Iraq's possession of WMD."

"The case of Iran, a nuclear program that the Iranians admit was 18 years on, that we underestimated. And, in fact, we didn't discover it. It was discovered by a group of Iranian dissidents outside the country who pointed the international community at the location."

"There's a long record here of being wrong. There's a good reason for it. There are probably multiple reasons. Certainly proliferation is a hard thing to track, particularly in countries that deny easy and free access and don't have free and open societies."

"And you know, almost in a perverse way, I wish it had been undue influence because we know how to correct that. We get rid of the people who, in fact, were exercising that."

"And let me take one of the explanations most commonly given: Analysts were pressured to reach conclusions that would fit the political agenda of one or another administration. I deeply think that is a wrong explanation."

"I do believe we have to understand why reality turned out to be different than expectations and estimates. But you have more public service - certainly many of you - than I have ever had, and you recognize that this is not unusual."

"The Germans certainly - the intelligence service believed that there were WMD. It turns out that we were all wrong, probably in my judgment, and that is most disturbing."

"I think that shows a level of maturity and understanding that I think bodes well for getting to the bottom of this. But it is really up to you and your staff, on behalf of the American people, to take on that challenge."

"But I do think the survey group - and I think Charlie Duelfer is a great leader. I have the utmost confidence in Charles. I think you will get as full an answer as you can possibly get."
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