I disagree with any policy that would turn America’s back on people who are fleeing harm. I frankly believe that it is contrary to everything that we have symbolically and actually said we stand for.

Only a man’s character is the real criterion of worth.

The spirit of man is more important than mere physical strength, and the spiritual fiber of a nation than its wealth.

America is not nearly done. We’re only in the beginning. Who knows who we will be? Who knows… what color we will be? It is all something that, maybe, our descendants – if they survive that long – will see.

When a new source of taxation is found it never means, in practice, that the old source is abandoned. It merely means that the politicians have two ways of milking the taxpayer where they had one before.

My parents were the same in the pulpit as they were at home. I think that’s where a lot of preachers‘ kids get off base sometimes. Because they don’t see the same things at both places.

In Europe first and now in America, elected men have taken it upon themselves to indebt their people to create an atmosphere of dependency. And why? For their own selfish need to increase their own personal power.

Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?

Justice… is a kind of compact not to harm or be harmed.

Although the big word on the left is ‚compassion,‘ the big agenda on the left is dependency.

To have done anything just for money is to have been truly idle.

In America there’s no way I can make the kind of movie I like to make.

To summarize, draft resistance can make use of the inegalitarian nature of American society as a technique for increasing the cost of American aggression, and it threatens values that are important to those in a decision-making position.

Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy.

Scouting is nothing less than applied Christianity.

Nothing shows a man’s character more than what he laughs at.

Justice is expensive in America. There are no Free Passes… You might want to remember this, the next time you get careless and blow off a few Parking Tickets. They will come back to haunt you the next time you see a Cop car in your rear-view mirror.

I’ll never tell a lie. I’ll never make a misleading statement. I’ll never betray the confidence that any of you had in me. And I’ll never avoid a controversial issue.

America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our people.

Many a man will have the courage to die gallantly, but will not have the courage to say, or even to think, that the cause for which he is asked to die is an unworthy one.

Today we did what we had to do. They counted on America to be passive. They counted wrong.

Nothing is more precious than independence and liberty.

You can not divorce religious belief and public service. I’ve never detected any conflict between God’s will and my political duty. If you violate one, you violate the other.

Republicans are for both the man and the dollar, but in case of conflict the man before the dollar.

I would as soon leave my son a curse as the almighty dollar.

For diplomacy to be effective, words must be credible – and no one can now doubt the word of America.

The men and women of Afghanistan are building a nation that is free, and proud, and fighting terror – and America is honored to be their friend.

Within the soul of America is freedom of mind and spirit in man. Here alone are the open windows through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit. Here alone is human dignity not a dream but an accomplishment. Perhaps it is not perfect, but it is more full in realization here than any other place in the world.

If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values – that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.

America has tossed its cap over the wall of space.

So while I will never minimize the costs involved in military action, I am convinced that a failure to act in Libya would have carried a far greater price for America.

Chicago gave me more music than any other city in America.

No policy that does not rest upon some philosophical public opinion can be permanently maintained.

Human life is far more important than just getting to the top of a mountain.

You know we’re going to control the insurance companies.

After a century of trying, we declared that healthcare in America is not a privilege for a few, it is a right for everybody. After decades of talk, we finally began to wean ourselves off foreign oil. We doubled our production of clean energy. We brought more of our troops home to their families, and we delivered justice to Osama bin Laden.

Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed.

For me, money is not my definition of success. Inspiring people is a definition of success.

There is nothing wrong with men possessing riches. The wrong comes when riches possess men.

I am the son of a freedom fighter, and a son of a freedom fighter automatically imbibes the value of democracy.

Character is always known. Thefts never enrich; alms never impoverish; murder will speak out of stone walls.

A good name is rather to be chosen than riches.

There is no hierarchy of values any more. Real progress is due mainly to human genius, and that’s rare, and usually stems from a real elite, from a hierarchy.

Our brand of democracy is hard. But I can promise that a year from now, when I no longer hold this office, I’ll be right there with you as a citizen – inspired by those voices of fairness and vision, of grit and good humor and kindness that have helped America travel so far.

Every country is like a particular type of person. America is like a belligerent, adolescent boy; Canada is like an intelligent, 35-year-old woman. Australia is like Jack Nicholson. It comes right up to you and laughs very hard in your face in a highly threatening and engaging manner.

I like policy – call me a nerd.

I said that America’s role would be limited; that we would not put ground troops into Libya; that we would focus our unique capabilities on the front end of the operation, and that we would transfer responsibility to our allies and partners.

Prohibition is better than no liquor at all.

All great change in America begins at the dinner table.

A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and honest people are screwed first.

My father moved to Hawaii from Brooklyn and my mother came there as a child from the Philippines. They met at a show where my dad was playing percussion. My mom was a hula dancer.

I follow three rules: Do the right thing, do the best you can, and always show people you care.

We are a nation founded as a rebuke to tyranny. A nation of revolutionaries who refused sovereign reign from afar. Hear me – we’re a nation that says give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. A nation built on our differences, guided by the belief that we’re all created equal.

Oh yes, there’s lots of great food in America. But the fast food is about as destructive and evil as it gets. It celebrates a mentality of sloth, convenience, and a cheerful embrace of food we know is hurting us.

Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels – men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.

High moral character is not a precondition for great moral accomplishments.

The people made worse off by slavery were those who were enslaved. Their descendants would have been worse off today if born in Africa instead of America. Put differently, the terrible fate of their ancestors benefitted them.

Whatever America hopes to bring to pass in the world must first come to pass in the heart of America.

As a former resident with strong personal and ministry ties to the North Star State, I pray that the good people of Minnesota will show their support for God’s definition of marriage, between a man and a woman.

I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition.