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Quotes by President
"History and experience tell us that moral progress comes not in comfortable and complacent times, but out of trial and confusion."
3
"We must always remember that America is a great nation today not because of what government did for people but because of what people did for themselves and for one another."
3
"When people are bewildered they tend to become credulous."
3
"Each generation should be made to bear the burden of its own wars, instead of carrying them on, at the expense of other generations."
3
"In our home there was always prayer - aloud, proud and unapologetic."
3
"Mass demand has been created almost entirely through the development of advertising."
3
"The moon and other celestial bodies should be free for exploration and use by all countries. No country should be permitted to advance a claim of sovereignty."
3
"Saddam Hussein didn't kill 3,100 people on Sept. 11. Osama bin Laden did, and as far as we know he's still alive."
3
"In a government whose distinguishing characteristic should be a diffusion and equalization of its benefits and burdens the advantage of individuals will be augmented at the expense of the community at large."
3
"We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security."
3
"I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made."
3
"The reactionary is always willing to take a progressive attitude on any issue that is dead."
3
"Democracy... while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide."
3
"My own view is that taping of conversations for historical purposes was a bad decision on the part of all the presidents. I don't think Kennedy should have done it. I don't think Johnson should have done it, and I don't think we should have done it."
3
"The best form of government is that which is most likely to prevent the greatest sum of evil."
3
"No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave."
3
"We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another - until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices."
3
"It is the genius of our Constitution that under its shelter of enduring institutions and rooted principles there is ample room for the rich fertility of American political invention."
3
"Some years ago I became president of Columbia University and learned within 24 hours to be ready to speak at the drop of a hat, and I learned something more, the trustees were expected to be ready to speak at the passing of the hat."
3
"You know, everybody makes mistakes when they are president."
3
"Although... the Chief Magistrate must almost of necessity be chosen by a party and stand pledged to its principles and measures, yet in his official action he should not be the President of a party only, but of the whole people of the United States."
3
"I never drink coffee at lunch. I find it keeps me awake for the afternoon."
3
"Finishing second in the Olympics gets you silver. Finishing second in politics gets you oblivion."
3
"I am an Epicurean. I consider the genuine (not the imputed) doctrines of Epicurus as containing everything rational in moral philosophy which Greek and Roman leave to us."
3
"I am trying to do two things: dare to be a radical and not a fool, which is a matter of no small difficulty."
3
"Watergate had become the center of the media's universe, and during the remaining year of my presidency the media tried to force everything else to revolve around it."
3
"The taxpayer - that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination."
3
"America is a Nation with a mission - and that mission comes from our most basic beliefs. We have no desire to dominate, no ambitions of empire. Our aim is a democratic peace - a peace founded upon the dignity and rights of every man and woman."
3
"One of my proudest moments is I didn't sell my soul for the sake of popularity."
3
"We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone."
3
"If men can develop weapons that are so terrifying as to make the thought of global war include almost a sentence for suicide, you would think that man's intelligence and his comprehension... would include also his ability to find a peaceful solution."
3
"I reject the cynical view that politics is a dirty business."
3
"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. Unsuccesful rebellions indeed generally establish the incroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions, as not to discourage them too much. It is a medecine necessary for the sound health of government."
3
"Not only our future economic soundness but the very soundness of our democratic institutions depends on the determination of our government to give employment to idle men."
3
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