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Quotes by First-lady

"The one thing I do not want to be called is First Lady. It sounds like a saddle horse."

"What is sad for women of my generation is that they weren't supposed to work if they had families. What were they going to do when the children are grown - watch the raindrops coming down the window pane?"

"Sex is a bad thing because it rumples the clothes."

"I was a Scout years ago, before the movement started, when my father took me fishing, camping and hunting. Then I was sorry that more girls could not have what I had. When I learned of the movement, I thought, here is what I always wanted other girls to have."

"I am accordingly ready; I have pressed as many Cabinet papers into trunks as to fill one carriage; our private property must be sacrificed, as it is impossible to procure wagons for its transportation."

"My makeup wasn't smeared, I wasn't disheveled, I behaved politely, and I never finished off a bottle, so how could I be alcoholic?"

"The winner of the hoop race will be the first to realize her dream, not society's dream, her own personal dream."

"I've learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances."

"We all need to start making some changes to how our families eat. Now, everyone loves a good Sunday dinner. Me included. And there's nothing wrong with that. The problem is when we eat Sunday dinner Monday through Saturday."

"I'm not the one who was elected. I would never do anything to undermine my husband's point of view."

"As a mom, I know it is my responsibility, and no one else's, to raise my kids. But we have to ask ourselves, what does it mean when so many parents are finding their best efforts undermined by an avalanche of advertisements aimed at our kids."

"There are two kinds of women, those who want power in the world and those who want power in bed."

"Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could."

"Campaign behavior for wives: Always be on time. Do as little talking as humanly possible. Lean back in the parade car so everybody can see the president."

"It is done... the precious portrait placed in the hands of the gentlemen for safe keeping."

"I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition."

"He didn't even have the satisfaction of being killed for civil rights. it had to be some silly little Communist."

"Perhaps nature is our best assurance of immortality."

"The First Lady is an unpaid public servant elected by one person - her husband."

"My experience has been that work is almost the best way to pull oneself out of the depths."

"The only advantage of not being too good a housekeeper is that your guests are so pleased to feel how very much better they are."

"My first job in all honesty is going to continue to be mom-in-chief. Making sure that in this transition, which will be even more of a transition for the girls... that they are settled and that they know they will continue to be the center of our universe."

"I do not believe in abortion at will. I do not believe that if a woman just wants to have an abortion she should... I do believe if you have an abortion you are committing murder."

"People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built."

"I think togetherness is a very important ingredient to family life."

"A little simplification would be the first step toward rational living, I think."

"I always wanted to be some kind of writer or newspaper reporter. But after college... I did other things."

"I used to tell my husband that, if he could make me 'understand' something, it would be clear to all the other people in the country."

"Become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid."

"I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity."

"It's my feeling that God lends you your children until they're about eighteen years old. If you haven't made your points with them by then, it's too late."

"Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest."

"I would never do anything to undermine my husband's point of view."

"It was the dumbest thing I had ever seen, but it's a family thing, and I guess it's clean."

"And who knows? Somewhere out there in this audience may even be someone who will one day follow my footsteps, and preside over the White House as the president's spouse. I wish him well!"

"Jenna's traveled with me; they've both traveled with their dad. This is the only time they've been old enough in all of their dad's campaigns to really be involved in."

"I don't think most people associate me with leeches or how to get them off. But I know how to get them off. I'm an expert at it."

"I see the first lady as another means to keep a president from becoming isolated."

"Well, Warren Harding, I have got you the presidency. What are you going to do with it?"

"It's always been my feeling that God lends you your children until they're about eighteen years old. If you haven't made your points with them by then, it's too late."

"Any committee is only as good as the most knowledgeable, determined and vigorous person on it. There must be somebody who provides the flame."

"It seems to me I spent my life in car pools, but you know, that's how I kept track of what was going on."

"If I'm just at the White House, I have meetings in my office, I sign letters, I plan different things. Late in the afternoon, I'll quit working and wait for my husband to get home."

"Being a reporter seems a ticket out to the world."

"We always get up about 5:30, and George gets up and goes in and gets the coffee and brings it to me, and that's been our ritual since we got married. And we read the newspapers in bed and drink coffee for about an hour probably, read our briefing papers."

"Do what you feel in your heart to be right- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't."

"Women in particular need to keep an eye on their physical and mental health, because if we're scurrying to and from appointments and errands, we don't have a lot of time to take care of ourselves. We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own 'to do' list."
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