Lincoln said you cannot be President without spending some item on your knees. I have repeated that and a bunch of Atheists got all over me. Wait a minute. Does that mean that you cannot be President if you are an Atheist? I say yea that does mean that.

What is politics? Political system is equal to development politics plus political politics.

The money in politics is a cash cow for the media.

I care not much for a man’s religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.

Do you realize the responsibility I carry? I’m the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House.

It’s easy being a humorist when you’ve got the whole government working for you.

In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.

If you have embraced a creed which appears to be free from the ordinary dirtiness of politics – a creed from which you yourself cannot expect to draw any material advantage – surely that proves that you are in the right?

All the political angst and moral melodrama about getting ‚the rich‘ to pay ‚their fair share‘ is part of a big charade. This is not about economics, it is about politics.

Some say we should not engage in activism. Instead we should leave everything to our politicians and just vote for a change instead. But what do we do when there is no political will? What do we do when the politics needed are nowhere in sight?

We have to do more than just elect a new President if we truly want to change this country.

My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God. Non-violence is the means of realising Him.

WWE asked me to be in the Hall of Fame, and I turned it down. You know why? They put Pete Rose in the wrestling Hall of Fame. This guy can’t even get into his own Hall of Fame.

I’m trying to make God more relevant in our society. And I think talking in everyday terms and making sure people can understand it – I think that’s important.

Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don’t want them to become politicians in the process.

God is a concept by which we measure our pain.

America is just downright mean.

When I took over as president, I studied the Constitution, and the more I studied it, the more I realised that it does not prevent the president of India from giving the nation a vision. So when I went and presented this vision in Parliament and in legislative assemblies; everyone welcomed it, irrespective of party affiliations.

Faith certainly tells us what the senses do not, but not the contrary of what they see; it is above, not against them.

Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There’s a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning.

I seldom think of politics more than eighteen hours a day.

A president can ask for reconciliation in the racial conflict that divides Americans. But reconciliation comes only from the hearts of people.

Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.

A faction willing to take the risks of making war on the ossified status quo in the Middle East can be described as many things, but not as conservative.

I’m a child of God first. Before I became a celebrity, I was baptized a Christian.

I had just as much support from Republicans as I did Democrats when I ran for president. But I should have organized the Democratic Party to get me re-elected.

The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.

I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party’s candidate for President, who happens also to be a Catholic.

I am making a collection of the things my opponents have found me to be and, when this election is over, I am going to open a museum and put them on display.

One of the more difficult tasks for me as president was to decide on the issue of confirming capital punishment awarded by courts… to my surprise… almost all cases which were pending had a social and economic bias.

Remember, no one decides who they’re going to vote for based on the vice president. I mean that literally.

There is no distinctly American criminal class – except Congress.

Well look, I mean, I think that prayer and holy water, and things like that are all fine. They don’t do any good, but they don’t necessarily do any harm. It’s touching to be thought of in that way. It makes up for those who tell me that I’ve got my just desserts.

Each party steals so many articles of faith from the other, and the candidates spend so much time making each other’s speeches, that by the time election day is past there is nothing much to do save turn the sitting rascals out and let a new gang in.

The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants.

As capitalism falters, the rich move their money out of the country, violence increases, and politicians promising prosperity are elected.

I think that if I would talk on a political subject, if I talk about it, it would divide the audience on that issue. That’s not my issue.

Politically, the world is so confused right now – there’s so much suffering caused by various movements by various parties and people in power in government.

For ninety per cent of those who view him from outside, the Christian God looks like a great landowner administering his estates, the world. Now this conventional picture, which is too well justified by appearances, corresponds in no way to the dogmatic basis or point of view of the Gospels.

God’s love is too great to be confined to any one side of a conflict or to any one religion.

I hope I would not be so arrogant as to doubt anyone’s religion or belief.

Religion, born of the earth’s need for the disclosing of a god, is related to and co-extensive with not the individual man, but the whole of mankind.

When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer ‚Present‘ or ‚Not guilty.‘

I did once seriously think of embracing the Christian faith. The gentle figure of Christ, so full of forgiveness that he taught his followers not to retaliate when abused or struck, but to turn the other cheek – I thought it was a beautiful example of the perfect man.

I don’t think there’s anyone who would say they don’t want or need more of God’s power in their life.

Everybody has a job to do. There are people in Iraq on both sides of this war who do what they do for religious reasons, and they feel with God on their side. Some people are good at annihilating people. Maybe that’s their gift.

The intersection of law, politics, and technology is going to force a lot of good thinking.

Putin goes to bed at night knowing he can break all the rules, and the West will follow all the rules.

All people are born alike – except Republicans and Democrats.

Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.

Ohio claims they are due a president as they haven’t had one since Taft. Look at the United States, they have not had one since Lincoln.

Forgiveness is God’s command.

The greatest tragedy in mankind’s entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion.

It is easy enough to be friendly to one’s friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.

As a global society, we do not have to agree, endorse or condone the lifestyle choices of others. However, history has taught us that we equally cannot and should not excuse those who would hide behind religion or misuse God’s word to justify bigotry and persecution.

Obama has succeeded in descending even below George W. Bush in approval in the Arab world. It’s minuscule, few percent.

In countries where innocent people are dying, the leaders are following their blood rather than their brains.

Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.

Therefore, the good of man must be the end of the science of politics.

When I came to Johannesburg from the countryside, I knew nobody, but many strangers were very kind to me. I then was dragged into politics, and then, subsequently, I became a lawyer.

Do I think faith will be an important part of being a good president? Yes, I do.