You know many people have said that I'm on the edge and I'm maverick for some of the big operations that I've done. I'm not at all. I pray I ask God to give me wisdom 'Should I do it?' guidance in terms of how to do it who to consult with. All those kind of things are incredibly important.

From coast to coast the FBI and Securities and Exchange Commission have ensnared people not only at hedge funds but at technology and pharmaceutical companies consulting and law firms government agencies and even a major stock exchange.

I consulted a Chinese herbalist and spent two weeks on an island off the coast of Zanzibar. I was away from any kind of contemporary technology.

My greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant and ask a few questions.

I'm not being evasive but I am saying I'm not a scientist and I'm not directly involved in the consultation however the science must be sound it must be agreed and the consultation must be of a high quality or no one will have any confidence in the process.

Many of the mainstream agricultural scientists especially at the agricultural schools but at all of our major universities are tied into all sorts of contractual relationships and consulting relationships with the life science companies.

We have accepted the principle of democracy and we are committed to respect the popular verdict and the result of that national consultation.

Consult your friend on all things especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may then be useful where your own self-love might impair your judgment.

Political consultants are pugilists masters in the dark art of negativity. Which is why it's surprising to hear Democrats such as Steve McMahon and Republicans like Rich Galen urging their presidential candidates to be more well positive.

I'll never get out of politics. I have friends in public office. I have things that I want to do. You can't go back in life. I won't go back to the existence I had before of running a political consulting firm and signing up clients and advising campaigns in exactly that way.

The days when the words 'Hollywood actor' framed Ronald Reagan like bunny fingers as an ID tag and an implied insult seem far-off and quaint: nearly everybody in politics - candidate consultant pundit and Tea Party crowd extra alike - is an actor now a shameless ham in a hoked-up reality series that never stops.

This aesthetic quality then is what politics is all about. It's authenticity that separates winners from losers good politics from bad and he-man leader-types from consultant-directed puppet-boys.

One of the things that I think you see sometimes in politics is a certain degree of caution. It's usually advised by consultants who don't want to see you march to the end of a limb.

A conservative is someone who makes no changes and consults his grandmother when in doubt.

Medical decisions have been politicized. What doctor wants a state legislator in his consulting room?

As a woman my style defines my leadership. It's a gentler more compassionate approach. I consult I listen and I compromise where it's in the best interest of the citizens.

Harvard is first and foremost a university and not a consulting operation and our job here is to teach and to research and to create knowledge on Asia in conjunction and in cooperation with scholars as well as with political intellectual and cultural leaders in Asia.