George W. Bush Quotes

George W. Bush
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Quotes (138)
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Mr. Vice President, in all due respect, it is - I`m not sure 80 percent of the people get the death tax. I know this: 100 percent will get it if I`m the president.

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.

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.

The signal we ought to send to our children is that in spite of what happened in the `60s and `70s, we have learned some lessons. And the lessons ought to be: don`t be using drugs and alcohol.

Uh, I never ran for governor of Texas to be president. It didn`t enter my mind when I was 21. It didn`t enter my mind when I was 31 or 41. Truthfully. I mean, I didn`t conduct my life to try to figure out how to be president. And so when all this speculation started, it caught me, and my mother, totally by surprise. But I am interested. I`m interested because, um, I`m concerned about the future of our country. That`s why I`m interested.

(June 14, 2001, speaking to Swedish Prime Minister Lars Göran Persson, unaware that a live TV camera was running) It`s amazing I won. I was running against peace, prosperity, and incumbency.

For too long, many nations, including my own, tolerated, even excused, oppression in the Middle East in the name of stability. Oppression became common, but stability never arrived. We must take a different approach. We must help the reformers of the Middle East as they work for freedom, and strive to build a community of peaceful, democratic nations.

Drug therapies are replacing a lot of medicines as we used to know it.

My job is to lead.

America will never run... And we will always be grateful that liberty has found such brave defenders.

(October 2002) If we know Saddam has WMDs - and we do - does it make sense for the world to wait to confront him?

History is moving, and it will tend toward hope, or tend toward tragedy.

God is not on the side of any nation, yet we know He is on the side of justice. Our finest moments (as a nation) have come when we faithfully served the cause of justice for our own citizens, and for the people of other lands.

(Washington, DC, April 3, 2007) Iraq is a very important part of securing the homeland, and it`s a very important part of helping change the Middle East into a part of the world that will not serve as a threat to the civilized world, to people like-or to the developed world, to people like-in the United States.

The case for trade is not just monetary, but moral. Economic freedom creates habits of liberty. And habits of liberty create expectations of democracy.

Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.

(to a reporter who asked him, after the Lewis `Scooter` Libby trial was over, to talk about the Valerie Plame leak case--Plame was an undercover CIA officer whose identity was leaked by Bush administration sources--which he promised he would do after the trial was over) It`s run its course. Now we`re going to move on. Next question.

Americans are a free people, who know that freedom is the right of every person and the future of every nation. The liberty we prize is not America`s gift to the world; it is God`s gift to humanity.

If America shows weakness and uncertainty, the world will drift toward tragedy. That will not happen on my watch.

We will stay the course, we will complete the job in Iraq. And the job is this: We`ll help the Iraqis develop a democracy.

I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.

America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens.

I believe that freedom is the deepest need of every human soul.

We know that dictators are quick to choose aggression, while free nations strive to resolve differences in peace. We know that oppressive governments support terror, while free governments fight the terrorists in their midst. We know that free peoples embrace progress and life, instead of becoming the recruits for murderous ideologies.

It`s your money. You paid for it.

I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe - I believe what I believe is right.

(On benefits provided to military personnel, Tipp City, OH, April 19, 2007) One of my concerns is that the health care not be as good as it can possibly be.

America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens.

(March 11, 2004) Human life is a creation of God, not a commodity to be exploited by man.

America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. None of us will ever forget this day. Yet, we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.

If America shows weakness and uncertainty, the world will drift toward tragedy. That will not happen on my watch.

Tribal sovereignty means that, it`s sovereign. You`re a -- you`ve been given sovereignty, and you`re viewed as a sovereign entity. And, therefore, the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities.

History is moving, and it will tend toward hope, or tend toward tragedy.

Chew before you swallow.

I do tears. I`ve got God`s shoulder to cry on. And I cry a lot. I do a lot of crying in this job. I`ll bet I`ve shed more tears than you can count, as president. I`ll shed some tomorrow.

I think we agree, the past is over.

If we wait for threats to fully materialize, we will have waited too long.

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.

I believe that freedom is the deepest need of every human soul.

The desire for freedom resides in every human heart. And that desire cannot be contained forever by prison walls, or martial laws, or secret police. Over time, and across the Earth, freedom will find a way.

America will never run... And we will always be grateful that liberty has found such brave defenders.

Chew before you swallow.

It`s one thing about insurance, that`s a Washington term.

My views are one that speaks to freedom.

I think if you know what you believe, it makes it a lot easier to answer questions; I can`t answer your question.

More and more of our imports come from overseas.

The advance of liberty is the path to both a safer and better world.

(September 20, 2001 - Speech to joint session of Congress): Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice *will* be done.

(on British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Washington, D.C., May 17, 2007) My relationship with this good man is where I`ve been focused, and that`s where my concentration is. And I don`t regret any other aspect of it. And so I--we filled a lot of space together.

In the corporate world, sometimes things aren`t exactly black and white when it comes to accounting procedures.

As Americans, we want peace -- we work and sacrifice for peace. But there can be no peace if our security depends on the will and whims of a ruthless and aggressive dictator. I`m not willing to stake one American life on trusting Saddam Hussein.

(Washington, DC, May 2, 2007) Information is moving-you know, nightly news is one way, of course, but it`s also moving through the blogosphere and through the Internets.

Quotas are bad for America. It`s not the way America is all about.

(State of the Union address, Jan. 28, 2003) Freedom is not America`s gift to the world. It is God`s gift to humanity.

The California crunch really is the result of not enough power-generating plants and then not enough power to power the power of generating plants.

This administration is doing everything we can to end the stalemate in an efficient way. We`re making the right decisions to bring the solution to an end.

We spent a lot of time talking about Africa, as we should. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease, and it suffers from poverty as well.

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.

I think we agree, the past is over.

I don`t think I was clinically an alcoholic; I didn`t have the genuine addiction. I don`t know why I drank. I liked to drink, I guess.

(During a televised address on the night of September 11, 2001) We will prevail.

We have learned that terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength; they are invited by the perception of weakness. And the surest way to avoid attacks on our own people is to engage the enemy where he lives and plans. We are fighting that enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan today so that we do not meet him again on our own streets, in our own cities.

The United States has no truer friend than Great Britain.

(On the fate of Saddam Hussein after trial) I`ve got my own personal views. This is a brutal dictator. He`s a person who killed a lot of people. But my personal views are not important in this matter. It`s going to be up to the Iraqis to make those decisions.

The peaceful transfer of authority is rare in history, yet common in our country. With a simple oath, we affirm old traditions and make new beginnings.

The presidency is more than an honor, it is more than an office, it is a charge to keep and I will give it my all.

Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.

(On his hopes for Saddam Hussein`s interrogation) He`s a deceiver, he`s a liar, he`s a torturer, he`s a murderer. I can`t imagine why he would change his attitude, since he`ll be treated humanely by US troops. And, you know, I would be very skeptical of anything he said one way or the other.

By heritage and by choice, the United States of America will make that stand.

(September 20, 2001) I will not forget the wound to our country and those who inflicted it. I will not yield, I will not rest, I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American people.

I was not elected to serve one party, but to serve one nation.

(Lacrosse, WI, Oct. 18, 2000) Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream.

Every nation in every region now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.

Our priorities are our faith. Our priorities are our family. Our priority is a country we love dearly called America.

(Announcing his run for re-election) I have come to realize this job is a magnificent job.

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.

If I`m the president, we`re going to have emergency-room care, we`re going to have gag orders.

We`ve been attacked for where I was born, for who my family is, and where my money has come from. I don`t think that`s fair.

We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail.

Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.

I believe that God has planted in every human heart the desire to live in freedom. And even when that desire is crushed by tyranny for decades, it will rise again.

You know what`s interesting about Washington? It`s the kind of place where second-guessing has become second nature.

(St. Louis, MO, Oct. 18, 2000) If affirmative action means what I just described, what I`m for, then I`m for it.

(Washington, DC, May 17, 2007) We understand the fright that can come when you`re worried about a rocket landing on top of your home.

This is still a dangerous world. It`s a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses.

(Tipp City, OH, April 19, 2007) My job is a job to make decisions. I`m a decision- if the job description were, what do you do-it`s decision maker.

They want the federal government controlling Social Security like it`s some kind of federal program.

Is our children learning?

(Greensboro, NC, Oct. 10, 2000) Our priorities is our faith.

My job is to, like, think beyond the immediate.

I hope I stand for anti-bigotry, anti-Semitism, anti-racism. This is what drives me.

By heritage and by choice, the United States of America will make that stand.

I will not yield, I will not rest, I will not relent in waging the struggle for freedom and security for the American people.

(Discussing the website GWbush.com, which parodies him) There ought to be limits to freedom. We`re aware of this site, and this guy is just a garbage man, that`s all he is.

Every nation in every region now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.

You can disagree with me on issues, John (John McCain), but do not question - do not question my trustworthiness. And do not compare me to Bill Clinton.

Actually, I--this may sound a little West Texan to you, but I like it. When I`m talking about--when I`m talking about myself, and when he`s talking about myself, all of us are talking about me.

One of the common denominators I have found is that expectations rise above that which is expected.

They want the federal government controlling Social Security like it`s some kind of federal program.

I believe that God has planted in every human heart the desire to live in freedom. And even when that desire is crushed by tyranny for decades, it will rise again.

We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail.

The advance of liberty is the path to both a safer and better world.

The very act of spending money can be expensive.

You know what`s interesting about Washington? It`s the kind of place where second-guessing has become second nature.

(On Saddam Hussein`s fate) This is a disgusting tyrant who deserves justice, the ultimate justice.

(Tipp City, OH, April 19, 2007) And everybody wants to be loved-not everybody, but-you run for office, I guess you do. You never heard anybody say, `I want to be despised, I`m running for office.`

The peaceful transfer of authority is rare in history, yet common in our country. With a simple oath, we affirm old traditions and make new beginnings.

(Regarding 9/11, from the 2004 State of the Union address) In grief, we found the grace to go on.

(Discussing the continuing need for heightened airline security, Washington, DC, April 3, 2007) That`s why we are inconveniencing air traffickers, to make sure nobody is carrying weapons on airplanes.

(During an interview about the recent death of Ronald Reagan, former US President and former Governor of California) . . . of course I think he was underestimated. People, mostly people on the East Coast, were saying that an actor couldn`t be President. But what they were forgetting was that he was the governor of the largest state in the Union.

(To rescue workers at the World Trade Center, New York, September 14, 2001) I can hear you! I hear you, the rest of the world hears you, and the people who knocked down these buildings will hear all of us soon!

(On his hopes for Saddam Hussein`s interrogation) I don`t believe he`ll tell the truth. He didn`t tell the truth for over a decade. I just can`t believe he`s going to change his ways now just because he happens to be captured.

The case for trade is not just monetary, but moral. Economic freedom creates habits of liberty. And habits of liberty create expectations of democracy.

Washington, DC, May 2, 2007] The question is, who ought to make that decision? The Congress or the commanders? And as you know, my position is clear--I`m a commander guy.

I think we ought to raise the age at which juveniles can have a gun.

(on comparisons between the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, Tipp City, OH, April 19, 2007) There are some similarities, of course-death is terrible.

It`s exciting; I don`t know whether I`m going to win or not. I think I am. I do know I`m ready for the job. And, if not, that`s just the way it goes.

This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating

This is an impressive crowd: the Have`s and Have-more`s. Some people call you the elites. I call you my base.

Will the highways on the Internet become more few?

"If the terriers and bariffs are torn down, this economy will grow.

To those of you who received honours, awards and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say you, too, can be president of the United States.

Globalization has altered the dynamics in the White House, as well as between the White House and the Treasury.

Good intentions aren`t good enough!

It`s important for us to explain to our nation that life is important. It`s not only life of babies, but it`s life of children living in, you know, the dark dungeons of the Internet.

I understand small business growth. I was one.

It is clear our nation is reliant upon big foreign oil. More and more of our imports come from overseas.

See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda."'”

The most important job is not to be governor, or first lady in my case.

The deliberate and deadly attacks which were carried out yesterday against our country were more than acts of terror. They were acts of war.