I don’t write policy for my government.

The White House is the finest prison in the world.

I said on the equality side of it, that it is essential to a woman’s equality with man that she be the decision-maker, that her choice be controlling.

The example that America knows how to govern itself is one of the compelling aspects of our national security.

If you’re sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come and join this campaign.

A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.

What we won when all of our people united must not be lost in suspicion and distrust and selfishness and politics. Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as president.

In my line of work, the enemy gets a vote.

I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone – and I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions that move the ball forward.

I never resist temptation, because I have found that things that are bad for me do not tempt me.

Here, sir, the people govern; here they act by their immediate representatives.

To announce that there must be no criticism of the president… is morally treasonable to the American public.

A bureaucrat is a Democrat who holds some office that a Republican wants.

If we must not act save on a certainty, we ought not to act on religion, for it is not certain. But how many things we do on an uncertainty, sea voyages, battles!

Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton both had exceptional natural abilities. Nelson Rockefeller was very good statewide but never gained national traction.

The risk for me would be in not taking one – that’s the only thing that’s really risky for me.

Politics is a profession; a serious, complicated and, in its true sense, a noble one.

I don’t want to express my opinion about actual politics, because if I do, I have to be responsible for my decision.

Democracy is only a dream: it should be put in the same category as Arcadia, Santa Claus, and Heaven.

This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector.

In a republic this rule ought to be observed: that the majority should not have the predominant power.

We all hoped in 2001 that we could put in place an Afghan government under President Karzai that would be able to control the country, make sure al-Qaeda didn’t come back, and make sure the Taliban wasn’t resurging. It didn’t work out.

In politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution.

Being flooded with information doesn’t mean we have the right information or that we’re in touch with the right people.

Honor is not the exclusive property of any political party.

Politics, according to the Social Doctrine of the Church, is one of the highest forms of charity, because it serves the common good. I cannot wash my hands, eh? We all have to give something!

I’m very aware and very conscious of the path I chose in life, and very aware of the path I didn’t choose.

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.

Even if you’re happy with the life you’ve chosen, you’re still curious about the other options.

I do not think psychoanalysis has a scientific basis. If we can’t explain why a cockroach decides to turn left, how can we explain why a human being decides to do something?

I’m going to be so much better a president for having been at the CIA that you’re not going to believe it.

A president has an inescapable responsibility to provide direction: What are we trying to achieve? What are we trying to prevent? Why? To do that, he has to both analyze and reflect.

Forethought we may have, undoubtedly, but not foresight.

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?

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

America is just downright mean.

The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.

In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority.

We spend so much time sublimatin‘, thinkin‘ about, ‚What am I going to have for lunch, dinner?‘

It is always your next move.

Rude people will now & then ask me why I think I know so much about Politics. I tell them it’s because I’m Smart… But that is a lie: The real reason is because I’m an incurable Gambling addict.

Life in general has never been even close to fair, so the pretense that the government can make it fair is a valuable and inexhaustible asset to politicians who want to expand government.

Necessity never made a good bargain.

You cannot mix sports with politics.

The very design of neoliberal principles is a direct attack on democracy.

Every family should have the right to spend their money, after tax, as they wish, and not as the government dictates. Let us extend choice, extend the will to choose and the chance to choose.

Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets.

Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear – kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor – with the cry of grave national emergency.

We need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This isn’t a matter of political correctness. It’s a matter of understanding what makes us strong. The world respects us not just for our arsenal; it respects us for our diversity and our openness and the way we respect every faith.

Politics are a very unsatisfactory game.

The good of the people is the greatest law.

Buy the ticket, take the ride.

People are usually more convinced by reasons they discovered themselves than by those found by others.

It is our future on the line, and we must at least have a say in it.

I go for all sharing the privileges of the government, who assist in bearing its burdens. Consequently, I go for admitting all whites to the right of suffrage, who pay taxes or bear arms (by no means excluding females).

Next to knowing when to seize an opportunity, the most important thing in life is to know when to forego an advantage.

My friends ask me if I want more kids, and I always say yes, I want more; it’s the best thing you can have in your life.

I had to make a choice at one point in my life, of missing films or missing my children. It was a very easy decision to make because I missed my children so very much.

I think that there is never an indispensable leader, you know? I think that there is a time with dignity that one needs to leave.

My authoritarian and quick manner of making decisions led me to have serious problems and to be accused of being ultraconservative. I have never been a right-winger. It was my authoritarian way of making decisions that created problems.

Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them.