| |
Adams to Eisenhower |
Fillmore to Jackson |
Jefferson to Pierce |
Polk to Wilson |
-
Adams, John (1797-1801)
-
Adams, John Q. (1825-1829)
-
Arthur, Chester A. (1881-1885)
-
Buchanan, James (1857-1861)
-
Bush, George H. W. (1989-1993)
-
Bush, George W. (2001-?)
-
Carter, Jimmy (1977-1981)
-
Cleveland, Grover (1885-1889, 1893-1897)
-
Clinton, Bill (1993-2001)
-
Coolidge, Calvin (1923-1929)
|
-
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (1953-1961)
-
Fillmore, Millard (1850-1853)
-
Ford, Gerald R. (1974-1977)
-
Garfield, James A. (1881)
-
Grant, Ulysses S. (1869-1877)
-
Harding, Warren G. (1921-1923)
-
Harrison, Benjamin (1889-1893)
-
Harrison, William H. (1881)
-
Hayes, Rutherford B. (1877-1881)
-
Hoover, Herbert C. (1929-1933)
-
Jackson, Andrew (1829-1837)
|
-
Jefferson, Thomas (1801-1809)
-
Johnson, Andrew (1865-1869)
-
Johnson, Lyndon B. (1963-1969)
-
Kennedy, John F. (1961-1963)
-
Lincoln, Abraham (1861-1865)
-
Madison, James (1809-1817)
-
McKinley, William (1897-1901)
-
Monroe, James (1817-1825)
-
Nixon, Richard M. (1969-1974)
-
Pierce, Franklin (1853-1857)
|
-
Polk, James K. (1845-1849)
-
Reagan, Ronald W. (1981-1989)
-
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (1933-1945)
-
Roosevelt, Theodore (1901-1909)
-
Taft, William H. (1909-1913)
-
Taylor, Zachary (1849-1850)
-
Truman, Harry S. (1945-1953)
-
Tyler, John (1841-1845)
-
Van Buren, Martin (1837-1841)
-
Washington, George (1789-1797)
-
Wilson, Woodrow (1913-1921)
|
Presidents |
Quotations
|
Washington |
- "I cannot tell a lie."
(year??)
- "To be prepared for war is
one of the most effective means of preserving peace." (January 8, 1790)
- "Happily
the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction,
to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its
protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving on all
occasions their effectual support." (1790)
- "The basis of our
political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their
constitutions of government." (September 17, 1796)
- "Tis our true policy to
steer clear of permanent alliances, with any portion of the foreign
world." ( September 17, 1796)
|
Adams, J. |
- "Liberty can not be
preserved without general knowledge among people." (August 1765)
- "Facts
are stubborn things;
and whatever may be our wishes our inclinations, or the dictates of our
passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." (December
1770)
- "A government of laws, and
not of men." (1774)
- "It is weakness rather
than wickedness which renders men unfit to be trusted with unlimited
power." (1788)
- "My country has in its
wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office [the vice
presidency] that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination
conceived; and as I can do neither good nor evil, I must be borne away by
others and meet the common fate." (December 19, 1793)
|
Jefferson |
-
"When, in the
course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve
the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume
among the powers of the Earth the separate and equal station to which the
laws of nature and of nature's G-d entitle them, a decent respect to the
opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which
impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal;
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights;
that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to
secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their
just powers from the consent of the governed;
that whenever any form of
government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the
people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying
its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such from,
as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."
("Declaration of Independence," July 4, 1776)
- "Great innovations
should not be forced on slender majorities."
(year??)
- "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; he tells lies without attending to it,
and truths without the world's believing him. This falsehood of the
tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good
dispositions. " (August 19, 1785)
- "I hold it, that a little
rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the
political world as storms in the physical." (January 30, 1787)
- "The tree of liberty must
be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It
is its natural manure." (November 13, 1787)
- "Delay is preferable to
error." (May 16, 1792)
- "An injured friend is the
bitterest of foes." (April 28, 1793)
- "I have sworn upon the
altar of G-d, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the
mind of man." (September 23, 1800)
- "History, in general, only
informs us what bad government is." (June 14, 1807)
- "I can not live without
books." (June 10, 1815)
- "I know no safe depository
of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves; and if we
think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a
wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to
inform their discretion." (September 28, 1820)
|
Madison |
- "A standing army is one of
the greatest mischiefs that can possibly happen." (1787)
- "I believe there are more
instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and
silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden
usurpations." (June 16, 1788)
- "A public debt is a public
curse." (April 13, 1790)
- "All power in human hands
is liable to be abused." (December 18, 1825)
|
Monroe |
- "The right of self-defense
never ceases. It is among the most sacred, and alike necessary to nations
and to individuals." (November 16, 1818)
- "The American continents
. . . are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future
colonization by any European powers." (December 2, 1823)
|
Adams, J. Q. |
- "Slavery is the great and
foul stain upon the North American Union." (January 10, 1820)
- "There is nothing so deep
and nothing so shallow which political enmity will not turn to account."
(August 19, 1822)
- "In charity to all
mankind, bearing no malice or ill will or any human being, and even
compassionating those who hold in bondage their fellow men, not knowing
what they do." (July 30, 1838)
- "I say women exhibit the
most exalted virtue when they depart from the domestic circle and enter on
the concerns of their country, of humanity, and of their G-d!" (February
1838)
|
Jackson |
- "One man with courage
makes a majority."
(1832)
- "There are no necessary
evils in government." ( July 10, 1832)
- "The right of resisting
oppression is a natural right." (December 14, 1832)
- "If he [the President]
speaks to Congress, it must be in the language of truth." (October 27,
1834)
|
Van Buren |
- "No evil can result from
its [slavery's] inhibition more pernicious than its toleration." (January
4, 1820)
|
Harrison, W. |
- "I contend that the
strongest of all governments is that which is most free." (September 27,
1829)
- "A decent and manly
examination of the acts of government should not only be tolerated, but
encouraged." (March 4, 1841)
|
Tyler |
- "Wealth can only be
accumulated by the earnings of industry and the savings of frugality."
(December 7, 1841)
|
Polk |
- "There is more selfishness
and less principle among members of Congress ... than I had any conception
of, before I became President of the U.S." (December 16, 1846)
|
Taylor |
- "It would be judicious to
act with magnanimity towards a prostrate foe." (September 28, 1846)
- "Tell him to go to hell."
(1847) [Reply to Santa Anna's demand for surrender.]
|
Fillmore |
- "An honorable defeat is
better than a dishonorable victory." (September 13, 1844)
|
Pierce |
- "The maintenance of large
standing armies in our country would be not only dangerous, but
unnecessary." (March 4, 1853)
|
Buchanan |
- "The ballot box is the
surest arbiter of disputes among free men." (December 3, 1860)
|
Lincoln |
- "There is no grievance
that is a fit object of redress by mob law." (January 27, 1838)
- "The
ballot is stronger than the bullet."
(May 19, 1865)
- "A house divided against
itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently
half slave and half free." (June 16, 1858)
- "You can fool all of
the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but
you can not fool all of the people all of the time."
(year??)
- "If [General] McClellan is
not using the army, I should like to borrow it for a while." (April 9,
1862)
- "If I could save the Union
without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by
freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could do it by freeing
some and leaving others alone, I would do that." (August 1862)
- "Fellow citizens, we
cannot escape history." (December 1, 1862)
- "The fiery trial through
which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the last
generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that
we say this. We know how to save it. We, even we here, hold the power
and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure
freedom to the free --- honorable alike in what we give and what we
preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last, best hope of
Earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain,
peaceful, generous, just --- a way which if followed the world will
forever applaud and G-d must forever bless." (December 1, 1862)
-
Gettysburg Address: (Well
worth repeating in full).
"Fourscore and seven years
ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived
in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created
equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that
nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We
are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a
portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave
their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and
proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate
- we cannot consecrate - we cannot hallow - this ground. The brave men,
living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our
poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long
remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It
is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work
which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather
for us to be here dedicated to the great task before us - that from these
honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave
the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these
dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under G-d, shall have
a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, for the people,
shall not perish from the earth."
(November 19, 1863)
- "Common-looking people are
the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of
them." (December 23, 1863)
- "I wish some of you would
tell me the brand of whiskey that Grant drinks. I would like to send a
barrel of it to my other generals." (November 26, 1863)
- "Truth is generally the
best vindication against slander." (July 18, 1864)
- "It is best not to swap
horses while crossing the river." (June 9, 1864)
-
Second Inaugural (Excerpt):
"With malice toward none, with charity for all,
with firmness in the right as
G-d gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are
in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne
the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve
and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all
nations." (March 4, 1865)
|
Johnson, A. |
- "Legislation can neither
be wise nor just which seeks the welfare of a single interest at the
expense and to the injury of many and varied interests." (February 22,
1869)
|
Grant |
- "No terms except
unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted." (February 16,
1862)
- "The war is over - the
rebels are our countrymen again." (April 9, 1865) [Comments to his
cheering men after Lee's surrender ending the U.S. Civil War.]
- "I know no method to
secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent
execution." (March 4, 1869)
- "Keep the church and State
forever separate." (1875)
- "To maintain peace in the
future it is necessary to be prepared for war." (1886)
|
Hayes |
- "Nothing brings out the
lower traits of human nature like office seeking." (1878)
|
Garfield |
- "All free governments are
managed by the combined wisdom and folly of the people." (April 21, 1880)
|
Arthur |
- "Men may die, but the
fabrics of free institutions remain unshaken." (September 22, 1881)
|
Cleveland |
- "A man is known by the
company he keeps, and also by the company from which he is kept out."
(year??)
- "Your every voter, as
surely as your chief magistrate, exercises a public trust." (March 4,
1885)
- "Communism is a hateful
thing, and a menace to peace and organized government." (December 3,
1888)
|
Harrison, B. |
- "Where the children of
rich and poor mingle together on the play ground and in the school room,
there is produced a unity of feeling and a popular love for public
institutions that can be brought about in no other way." (May 9, 1891)
|
McKinley |
- "War should never be
entered upon until every agency of peace has failed." (March 4, 1897)
- "That's all a man can hope
for during his lifetime --- to set an example --- and when he is dead, to
be an inspiration for history." (December 29, 1899)
|
Roosevelt, T. |
- "Actions speak louder
than words."
(year??)
- "I wish to preach, not the
doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life."
(April 10, 1899).
- "No man is justified in
doing evil on the ground of expediency."
(1900)
- "There is a homely adage
which runs, speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far. If the
American nation will speak softly and yet build and keep at a pitch of the
highest training a thoroughly efficient navy, the Monroe Doctrine will go
far." (September 2, 1901)
- "No man is above the law
and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man's permission when we require
him to obey it. Obedience to the law is demanded as a right; not asked as
a favor." (December 7, 1903)
- "If elected, I shall see
to it that every man has a square deal, no less and no more." (November
1904)
- "To waste, to destroy, our
natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as
to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our
children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them
amplified and developed" (December 3, 1907)
- "Americanism is a question
of principle, of purpose, of idealism, or character; it is not a matter of
birthplace or creed or line of descent." (1909)
- "No other President ever
enjoyed the Presidency as I did." (September 10, 1909)
- "I feel as fit as a bull
mouse." (August 7, 1912)
- "Every reform movement has
a lunatic fringe." (1913)
- "There is no room in this
country for hyphenated Americanism." (October 12, 1915)
- "One of our defects as a
nation is a tendency to use what have been called "weasel words." (May
31, 1916)
- "The White House is a
bully pulpit." (year??)
|
Taft |
- "Socialism proposes no
adequate substitute for the motive of enlightened selfishness that today
is at the basis of all human labor and effort, enterprise and new
activity." (1913)
- "The world is not going to
be saved by legislation." (1916)
- "We live in a stage of
politics, where legislators seem to regard the passage of laws as much
more important than the results of their enforcement." (1916)
- "Anti-Semitism is a
noxious weed that should be cut out. It has no place in America." (1920)
|
Wilson |
- "Politics is a war of
causes; a joust of principles." (March 1880)
- "There is no indispensable
man." (August 7, 1912)
- "There is such a thing as
a man being too proud to fight." (May 10, 1915)
- "America cannot be an
ostrich with its head in the sand." (February 2, 1916)
- "Every people has a right
to choose the sovereignty under which they shall live." (May 27, 1916)
- "It must be a peace
without victory. . . . Only a peace between equals can last." (January
22, 1917)
- "The world must be made
safe for democracy." (April 2, 1917)
- "Open covenants of peace,
openly arrived at." (January 8, 1918)
- "America is the only
idealistic nation in the world." (September 8, 1919)
|
Harding |
- "In the great fulfillment
we must have a citizenship less concerned about what the government can do
for it and more anxious about what it can do for the nation." (June 7,
1916)
- "America's present need is
not heroics, but healing; not nostrums but normalcy; not revolution, but
restoration" (May 14, 1920)
-
"Our most
dangerous tendency is to expect too much of government, and at the same
time do for it too little. . . . We must strive for normalcy to reach
stability." ( March 4, 1921)
|
Coolidge |
- "Character is the only
secure foundation of the state." (February 12, 1924)
- "The business of America
is business." (January 17, 1925)
- "Perhaps one of the most
important accomplishments of my administration has been minding my own
business" (March 1, 1929)
- "Public debt [is] a burden
on all the people." (1929)
- "The more I study it [the
Constitution], the more I have come to admire it, realizing that no other
document devised by the hand of man ever brought so much progress and
happiness to humanity." (1929)
- "It is difficult for men
in high office to avoid the malady of self-delusion" (1929)
|
Hoover |
- "We have learned that
social injustice is the destruction of justice itself." (1922)
- "The course of unbalanced
budgets is the road to ruin" (May 31, 1932)
- "Older men declare war.
But it is youth that must fight and die." (June 27, 1944)
|
Roosevelt, F. |
- "I pledge you, pledge
myself, to a New Deal for the American people. Let us all here assembled
constitute ourselves prophets of a new order of competence and of
courage. This is more than a political campaign; it is a call to arms.
Give me your help, not to win votes alone, but to win in this crusade to
restore America to its own people." (July 2, 1932)
- "In the field of world
policy; I would dedicate this nation to the policy of the good neighbor."
(March 4, 1933)
- "The
only thing we have to fear is fear itself
- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror." (March 4, 1933)
- "We can afford all that we
need; but we can not afford all [that] we want." (May 22, 1935)
- "This generation of
Americans has a rendezvous with destiny." ( June 27, 1936)
- "Your boys are not going
to be sent into any foreign wars." (October 30, 1940)
- "We must be the great
arsenal of democracy." (December 29, 1940)
- "A good leader can't get
too far ahead of his followers." (1940)
- "Freedom of conscience, of
education, of speech, of assembly are among the very fundamentals of
democracy and all of them would be nullified should freedom of the press
ever be successfully challenged." (September 4, 1940)
- "Yesterday, December 7,
1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was
suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire
of Japan." (December 8, 1941)
- "We have learned that we
can not live alone, at peace; that our own well-being is dependent on the
well-being of other nations, far away. We have learned that we must live
as men, and not as ostriches, nor as dogs in the manger. We have learned
to be citizens of the world, members of the human community." (January
20, 1945)
|
Truman |
- "If
you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."
(1960)
- "The
buck stops here."
(Sign on President Truman's desk in the Oval Office of the White House)
- "The only thing new in
the world is the history you don't know."
(1974)
- "Secrecy and a free,
democratic government don't mix." (1974)
- "America was not built on
fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable
determination to do the job at hand." (January 8, 1947)
- "International relations
have traditionally been compared to a chess game in which each nation
tries to outwit and checkmate the other." (March 3, 1947)
- "No government is
perfect. One of the chief virtues of a democracy, however, is that its
defects are always visible and under democratic processes can be pointed
out and corrected." (March 12, 1947)
- "You can not stop the
spread of an idea by passing a law against it." (June 4, 1948)
- "Isolationism is the road
to war. Worse than that, isolationism is the road to defeat in war."
(June 10, 1950)
- "Being a President is like
riding a tiger. A man has to keep on riding or be swallowed." (1956)
- "We need not fear the
expression of ideas --- we do need to fear their suppression." (September
22, 1950)
|
Eisenhower |
- "Every gun that is made,
every warship launched, every rocket fired, in a final sense, a theft from
those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not
clothed." (April 16, 1953).
- "Mob rule can not be
allowed to override the decisions of our courts." (September 24, 1957)
- "America is best described
by one word, freedom." (January 9, 1958)
- "This conjunction of an
immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the
American experience. . . . In the councils of government, we must guard
against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or
unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the
disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." (January 17,
1961)
|
Kennedy |
- "New frontier." (July 15,
1960)
- "Inaugural
(Excerpts): Let the word go forth from this time and place, to
friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation
of Americans, born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard
and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness
or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has
always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and
around the world. Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or
ill, that we shall
pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend,
oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
. . . Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to
negotiate. . . .
And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your
country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
(January 20, 1961)
- "I believe this nation
should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of
landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth." (May 23,
1961)
- "Mankind must put an end
to war or war will put an end to mankind" (September 25, 1961)
- "Those who make peaceful
revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable" (March 12,
1962).
- "There is always inequity
in life. . . . Life is unfair." (March 21, 1962)
- "All free men, wherever
they may live, are citizens of Berlin. And therefore, as a free man, I
take pride in the words Ich bin ein Berliner." (June 26, 1963)
- "If we cannot end now our
differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity."
(June 10, 1963)
|
Johnson, L. |
- "Come now. let us reason
together." (Saying attributed to him)
- "All I have I would have
given gladly not to be standing here today." (Speech he gave before
Congress five days after the assassination of President Kennedy in
November 1963)
- "Evil acts of the past are
never rectified by evil acts of the present." (July 21, 1964)
- "War on poverty" (January
8, 1964)
- "If government is to serve
any purpose it is to do for others what they are unable to do for
themselves." (1966)
- "I will not seek, and I
will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your
president." (1968)
|
Nixon |
- "You won't have Nixon to
kick around anymore, because gentlemen, this is my last press
conference." (November 7, 1962)
- "You can not win a battle
in any arena merely by defending yourself." (1962)
- "A man who has never lost
himself in a cause bigger than himself has missed one of life's
mountaintop experiences. Only in losing himself does he find himself."
(1962)
- "Bring us together
again." (October 31, 1968)
- "The great silent
majority." (November 3, 1969)
- "People have got to know
whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook."
(November 11, 1973)
- "Always give your best,
never get discourage, never be petty; always remember, others may hate
you. Those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. And then you
destroy yourself."
(August 9, 1974)
- "When the President does
it, that means that it is not illegal." (May 19, 1977)
|
Ford |
- "I am a Ford, not a
Lincoln." (December 6, 1973)
- "My fellow Americans, our
long national nightmare is over.
Our Constitution works; our
great Republic is a Government of laws and not of men. Here the people
rule." (August 9,
1974)
- "There is no Soviet
domination of Eastern Europe." (October 6, 1976)
|
Carter |
- "I will never lie to
you." (Campaign promise, 1976?)
- "I've looked on a lot of
women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times."
(October 1976)
- "Two problems of our
country - energy and malaise." (July 31, 1979)
|
Reagan |
- "Government does not solve
problems, it subsidizes them." (Frequent saying)
- "Politics is supposed to
be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a
very close resemblance to the first." (March 2, 1977)
- "Are you better off
than you were four years ago?
Is it easier for you to go and
buy things in the stores ... Is there more or less unemployment?"
(October 28, 1980)
- "Ending inflation means
freeing all Americans from the terror of runaway living costs. ... We
have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we are in a
time when there are no heroes just don't know where to look. ... Above
all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the
world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and
women." (January 20, 1981)
- "The West will not contain
communism, it will transcend communism. We will not bother to denounce
it, we'll dismiss it as a sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last
pages are even now being written." (May 1981)
- "It is the Soviet Union
that runs against the tide of human history by denying human freedom and
human dignity to its citizens." (1982)
- "The march of freedom and
democracy . . . will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history
as it has left other tyrannies which stifle the freedom and muzzle the
self-expression of the people." (1982)
- "The Soviet Union is
the focus of evil in the modern world."
(March 8, 1983)
- "Trust the people --- that
is the crucial lesson of history." (September 27, 1983)
- "Millions of individuals
making their own decisions in the marketplace will always allocate
resources better than any centralized government planning process."
(September 27, 1983)
- INEXACT: "Leaders of the
USSR reserve themselves the right to lie, cheat." (1983?)
- "America is too great for
small dreams." (January 1, 1984)
- "Nations do not mistrust
each other because they are armed, they are armed because they mistrust
each other." (September 22, 1986)
- "Peace is more than just
the absence of war. True peace is justice, true peace is freedom. And
true peace dictates the recognition of human rights." (September 22,
1986)
- "General Secretary
Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union
and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate!
Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate!
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down
this wall."
(1988)
- "Doverey, no proverey -
Trust but verify."
(Gorbachev-Reagan Summits)
|
Bush, G.H.W. |
- "I want a kinder, gentler
nation." (August 18, 1988)
- "Read my lips, no new
taxes." (August 18, 1988)
- "Thousand points of
light." (August 18, 1988)
- "We know what works:
freedom works. We know what's right: freedom is right. We know how to
secure a more and just and prosperous life for man on earth: through free
markets, free speech, free elections and the exercise of free will
unhampered by the state." (January 20, 1989)
- "Appeasement does not
work. As was the case in the 1930's, we see in Saddam Hussein an
aggressive dictator threatening his neighbors." (August 8, 1990)
- "This is a fact: strength
in the pursuit of peace is no vice; isolation in the pursuit of security
is no vice." (January 28, 1992)
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Clinton |
- "When I was in England I
experimented with marijuana a time or two, and I didn't like it, and I
didn't inhale, and I never tried it again." (1992 New York Democratic
televised debate)
- "I am going to focus like
a laser beam on this economy." (November 1992)
- "The era of big government
is over." (1995 State of the Union Address)
- "I want to say one thing
to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this
again. I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I
never told anybody to lie. Not a single time. Never." (January 26, 1998)
- "Depends on what your
definition of is is." (August 17, 1998)
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Bush, G.W. |
- "compassionate
conservative" (1999)
- "soft bigotry of low
expectations." (1999?)
- "I am honored and humbled
to stand here, where so many of America's leaders have come before me, and
so many will follow. We have a place, all of us, in a long story; a story
we continue, but whose end we will not see. It is the story of a new
world that became a friend and liberator of the old, the story of a
slave-holding society that became a servant of freedom, the story of a
power that went into the world to protect but not to conquer. It is the
American story; a story of flawed and fallible people, united across the
generations by grand and enduring ideals. The grandest of these ideals is
an unfolding American promise: that everyone belongs, that everyone
deserves a chance, that
no insignificant person was
ever born. ...
What you do is as important as anything government does. I ask you to
seek a common good beyond your comfort; to defend needed reforms against
easy attacks; to serve your nation, beginning with your neighbor. I ask
you to be citizens, not spectators. Responsible citizens, building
communities of service and a national character." (January 20, 2001)
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