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George W. Bush
656 quotes
“You know, I could run for governor and all this but I'm basically a media creation. I've never really done anything. I've worked for my dad. I worked in the oil industry. But that's not the kind of profile you have to have to get elected to public office.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In an interview with the Midland Reporter Telegram on 4 July 1989, quoted in Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential (John Wiley and Sons, 2003) by James Moore and Wayne Slater, p. 161.
“You don't get everything you want. A dictatorship would be a lot easier.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Responding to the difficulties of governing Texas, "The Taming of Texas," Governing Magazine (July 1998); also cited in Is our Children Learning?: The Case Against George W. Bush (2000) by Paul Begala.)
“I've heard the call. I believe God wants me to run for President.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As recalled by minister James Robison in a telephone conversation with Bush, and first reported in the book The Faith of George W. Bush (2004) by Stephen Mansfield.
“I'm a uniter, not a divider.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with David Horowitz for Salon magazine (6 May 1999).
“There ought to be limits to freedom. We're aware of the site, and this guy is just a garbage man, that's all he is. Of course I don't appreciate it. And you wouldn't, either.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I watched his interview with her, though. He asked her real difficult questions, like 'What would you say to Governor Bush?' 'What was her answer?' I wonder. 'Please,' Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, 'don't kill me.'”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From: "Devil May Care" by Tucker Carlson, Talk Magazine, September 1999, p. 106.
“My appointees to the [Texas] board of pardons and paroles reflect my no-nonsense approach to crime and punishment. They believe people who commit crimes against innocent Texans should pay the consequences; they believe sentences imposed by juries should be carried out.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From: "George W. Bush on Crime", OnTheIssues, attributed to "A Charge to Keep", p.151-152. Dec 9, 1999.
“The protection of America itself will assume a high priority in a new century. Once a strategic afterthought, homeland defense has become an urgent duty. For most of our history, America felt safe behind two great oceans. But with the spread of technology, distance no longer means security.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let me be clear. Our first line of defense is a simple message: Every group or nation must know, if they sponsor such attacks, our response will be devastating.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We will defend the American homeland by strengthening our intelligence community – focusing on human intelligence and the early detection of terrorist operations both here and abroad. And when direct threats to America are discovered, I know that the best defense can be a strong and swift offense – including the use of Special Operations Forces and long-range strike capabilities.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I will put a high priority on detecting and responding to terrorism on our soil. The federal government must take this threat seriously – working closely with researchers and industry to increase surveillance and develop treatments for chemical and biological agents.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Defending our nation is just the beginning of our challenge. My third goal is to take advantage of a tremendous opportunity – given few nations in history – to extend the current peace into the far realm of the future. A chance to project America's peaceful influence, not just across the world, but across the years.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Yet today our military is still organized more for Cold War threats than for the challenges of a new century -- for industrial age operations, rather than for information age battles. There is almost no relationship between our budget priorities and a strategic vision. The last seven years have been wasted in inertia and idle talk. Now we must shape the future with new concepts, new strategies, new resolve.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the late 1930s, as Britain refused to adapt to the new realities of war, Winston Churchill observed, "The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our military and our nation are entering another period of consequences – a time of rapid change and momentous choices.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now comes our time of testing. Our measure is taken, not only by what we have and use, but what we build and leave behind. And nothing this generation could ever build will matter more than the means to defend our nation and extend our peace.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the defense of our nation, a president must be a clear-eyed realist. There are limits to the smiles and scowls of diplomacy. Armies and missiles are not stopped by stiff notes of condemnation. They are held in check by strength and purpose and the promise of swift punishment.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The most powerful force in the world is not a weapon or a nation but a truth: that we are spiritual beings, and that freedom is "the soul's right to breathe.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“American foreign policy must be more than the management of crisis. It must have a great and guiding goal: to turn this time of American influence into generations of democratic peace.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The case for trade is not just monetary, but moral. Economic freedom creates habits of liberty. And habits of liberty create expectations of democracy.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are no longer fighting a great enemy, we are asserting a great principle: that the talents and dreams of average people — their warm human hopes and loves — should be rewarded by freedom and protected by peace. We are defending the nobility of normal lives, lived in obedience to God and conscience, not to government.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“America has never been an empire. We may be the only great power in history that had the chance, and refused — preferring greatness to power and justice to glory.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Some say it is unfair to hold disadvantaged children to rigorous standards. I say it is discrimination to require anything less–-the soft bigotry of low expectations.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Campaign speech to the NAACP (2000).
“If the terriers and barriffs are torn down, this economy will grow.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Campaign speech (7 January 2000), Rochester, New York.
“[R]arely is the question asked: Are... is our children learning?”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Campaign speech, Florence, South Carolina, (January 11, 2000) Video:
“If you're a single mother with two children—which is the toughest job in America, as far as I'm concerned—you're working hard to put food on your family.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the Nashua Chamber of Commerce in New Hampshire (27 January 2000), quoted in Fort Worth Star-Telegram (28 January 2000) "Campaign 2000 Highlights From The Campaign Trail Yesterday
“This is Preservation Month. I appreciate preservation. It's what you do when you run for president. You've got to preserve.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speaking at observance of Perseverance Month, Fairgrounds Elementary School, Nashua, NH, January 27, 2000
“What we Republicans should stand for is growth in the economy. We ought to make the pie higher.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Republican primary debate in Columbia, South Carolina (February 15, 2000).
“The state can do what they want to do. Don't try to trap me in this state's issue like you're trying to get me into.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Governor Bush on gay marriage, Larry King Live (February 15, 2000)
“I think we agree, the past is over.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In March 2000.
“I care what 51 percent of the people think about me.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the Oprah Winfrey Show (20 September 2000).
“We can do better in Washington, D.C. We can have new leadership in Washington, D.C., leadership that will lift this country's spirits and raise our sights. George P. knows what thousands of other youngsters know, that just because the White House has let us down in the past, that doesn't mean it's going to happen in the future. George P. joins us in a campaign that's going to restore honor and dignity to the White House.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with CNN Anchor Kyra Phillips (September 23, 2000)
“More and more of our imports come from overseas.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech Beaverton, Oregon, (September 25, 2000) discussing U.S. oil imports, most of which come from within the western hemisphere
“I will have a foreign-handed foreign policy.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Campaign stop, Redwood, California, September 27, 2000
“I know the human being and the fish can coexist peacefully.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Saginaw, Michigan (29 September 2000), referring to a widely reported dispute in the Klamath region of Oregon between farmers with irrigation rights and Native Americans with fishing rights.
“[the U.S. mission in Somalia] Started off as a humanitarian mission and it changed into a nation-building mission, and that's where the mission went wrong. The mission was changed. And as a result, our nation paid a price. And so I don't think our troops ought to be used for what's called nation-building.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Presidential debate, October 11, 2000
“I'm not so sure the role of the United States is to go around the world and say this is the way it’s got to be. We can help. And maybe it’s just our difference in government, the way we view government. I want to empower the people. I want to help people help themselves, not have government tell people what to do. I just don’t think it’s the role of the United States to walk into a country and say, "We do it this way, so should you.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Presidential debate, October 11, 2000
“If we're an arrogant nation, they'll resent us. If we're a humble nation, but strong, they'll welcome us.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Presidential debate (11 October 2000).
“Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in La Crosse, Wisconsin, (October 18, 2000)
“This is an impressive crowd — the haves and the have-mores. Some people call you the elites; I call you my base.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at the Al Smith Dinner for charity (October 20, 2000), as quoted in "Bush And Gore Do New York" (CBS) (October 20, 2000); also in Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11.
“This issue doesn't seem to resignate with the people.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Portland, Oregon, (October 31, 2000)
“...they want the federal government controlling Social Security, like it's some kind of federal program.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speaking of "some [people] in Washington", and in support of his campaign plan to allow workers to invest some portion of their Social Security payroll taxes. Campaign stop, November 2, 2000.
“They misunderestimated me.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Explaining his unexpected victories over GOP rival John McCain in the 2000 presidential primaries; stump speech in Bentonville, Arkansas, Nov. 6, 2000, given just prior to the 2000 election.
“And I see Bill Buckley's here tonight, a fellow Yale man. We go way back, and have a lot in common. Bill wrote a book at Yale. I read one.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Al Smith Dinner, October 2000
“I'm hopeful. I know there is a lot of ambition in Washington, obviously. But I hope the ambitious realize that they are more likely to succeed with success as opposed to failure.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with the Associated Press (18 January 2001)
“My pro-life position is I believe there's life. It's not necessarily based in religion. I think there's a life there, therefore the notion of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle (January 23, 2001)
“Let us teach our children, and all Americans, to rise above brutality and bigotry and to be champions of liberty, human dignity, and equality.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Proclamation 7404 (February 2001)
“My plan reduces the national debt, and fast. So fast, in fact, that economists worry that we're going to run out of debt to retire.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Presidential Radio Address (24 February 2001)
“[T]he facts are that thousands of small businesses - Hispanically owned or otherwise - pay taxes at the highest marginal rate.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, (March 19, 2001)
“[M]y administration is committed to a leadership role on the issue of climate change.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: June 11, 2001. "President Bush Discusses Global Climate Change".