"Another essential quality of leadership is integrity. Without this, real leadership is not possible. Nowadays, it seems like integrity - or honor or character - is kind of quaint, curious, old-fashioned notion. We read of too many successful and intelligent people in and out of government who succumb to the easy wrong rather than the hard right - whether from inattention or a sense of entitlement, the notion that rules are not for them. But for a real leader, personal virtues - self-reliance, self-control, honor, truthfulness, morality - are absolute. These are the building blocks of character, of integrity - and only on that foundation can real leadership be built."
United States Naval Academy Commencement Address as delivered by Secretary of Defense, Robert M. Gates, Annapolis, Maryland, Friday, 27 May 2011