That is what leadership is all about: staking your ground ahead of where opinion is and convincing people not simply following the popular opinion of the moment.

We live in a society obsessed with public opinion. But leadership has never been about popularity.

It is true that the aristocracies seem to have abused their monopoly of legal knowledge and at all events their exclusive possession of the law was a formidable impediment to the success of those popular movements which began to be universal in the western world.

That knowledge which is popular is not scientific.

Scientia is knowledge. It is only in the popular mind that it is equated with facts.

Lincoln's stature and strength his intelligence and ambition - in short all the elements which gave him popularity among men in New Salem rendered him equally attractive to the fair sex of that village.

Regardless of who originally made it popular any hit song becomes a challenge to the ingenuity and imagination of other musicians and performers.

The great thing about university is that they incline you to get up and do it from the Classics to modern plays to the humor that Monty Pythons made popular.

Expecting something for nothing is the most popular form of hope.

Like most citizens of popular and international urban centres I don't take advantage of the cultural opportunities. Perhaps this comes from growing up in suburbia. Home is where you eat sleep read watch television and ignore your parents. It is not where you go to the ballet and then attend a heated panel discussion about it afterwards.

Home is the most popular and will be the most enduring of all earthly establishments.

You can only get really unpopular decisions through if the electorate is convinced of the value of the environment. That's what natural history programmes should be for.

The history of progress is written in the blood of men and women who have dared to espouse an unpopular cause as for instance the black man's right to his body or woman's right to her soul.

History is malleable. A new cache of diaries can shed new light and archeological evidence can challenge our popular assumptions.

I think cookies are sort of the unsung sweet you know? They're incredibly popular. But everybody thinks of cakes and pies and fancier desserts before they think cookies. A plate of cookies is a great way to end dinner and really nice to share at the holidays.

There are many qualities that make a great leader. But having strong beliefs being able to stick with them through popular and unpopular times is the most important characteristic of a great leader.

Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.

If you're picking your best friend based on what kind of clothes she wears or how popular she is chances are you aren't going to stay in touch after graduation.

If you think of yourselves as helpless and ineffectual it is certain that you will create a despotic government to be your master. The wise despot therefore maintains among his subjects a popular sense that they are helpless and ineffectual.

I can't really criticize the Tea Party people because I came into the White House pretty much on the same basis that they have become popular. That is dissatisfaction with the way things are going in Washington and disillusionment and disencouragement about the government.

A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy or perhaps both.

The fact that the Kardashians could be more popular than a show like 'Mad Men' is disgusting. It's a super disgusting part of our culture but I still find it funny to make a joke about it.

What's funny is that the idea of popularity - even the use of the word 'popular' - is something that had been mostly absent from my life since junior high. In fact the hallmark of life after junior high seemed to be the shedding of popularity as a central concern.

No matter how popular you are as a stand-up - you can go out and fill a 10 000-seat arena and be smart and funny - it's delicate to host an awards show and know where your place is and know that it's not about you that it's about the people who are nominated and respect that but at the same time have your moment to show them who you are.

To her audience Janis Joplin has remained a symbol artifact and reminder of late Sixties youth culture. Her popularity never derived from her musical ability but from her capacity to link her fantasies of freedom and immortality with ours.

Government has the role of suiting people for freedom. People aren't made for freedom spontaneously. There's sort of a 19-year race between when people are born and when they become adults. And government has a role in making them at the end of 19 years suited to be upright trustworthy repositories of popular sovereignty.

Freedom of expression - in particular freedom of the press - guarantees popular participation in the decisions and actions of government and popular participation is the essence of our democracy.

I think 'Dilbert' will remain popular as long as employees are frustrated and they fear the consequences of complaining too loudly. 'Dilbert' is the designated voice of discontent for the workplace. I never planned it that way. It just happened.

The world's most famous and popular language is music.

I guess the nicest thing about being I won't say famous but being popular is a more proper word for me to use would be that if you've got a recognizable name a lot of times you can get people to do things for you ordinarily that you wouldn't get done.