If I were to make public these tapes, containing blunt and candid remarks on many different subjects, the confidentiality of the office of the president would always be suspect.

Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.

Wisdom stands at the turn in the road and calls upon us publicly, but we consider it false and despise its adherents.

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.

You know I vowed when I became President not to talk about the loneliest toughest job in the world and I didn’t.

The American people are entitled to see the president and to hear his views directly, and not to see him only through the press.

I believe in a president whose religious views are his own private affair, neither imposed by him upon the nation or imposed by the nation upon him as a condition to holding that office.

This President is going to lead us out of this recovery.

How can we help President Obama?

I’m asking myself, ‚What do my girls, what do all our children deserve in their president? What kind of a president do we want for them?‘ Well, to start with, I think we want someone who is a unifying force in this country: someone who sees our differences not as a threat, but as a blessing.

A lot has happened over the years. And while this nation has been tested by war, and it’s been tested by recession and all manner of challenges – I stand before you again tonight, after almost two terms as your president, to tell you I am more optimistic about the future of America than ever before.

On the whole, we think of our consumers – other judges, lawyers, the public. The law that the Supreme Court establishes is the law that they must live by, so all things considered, it’s better to have it clearer than confusing.

I can die a happy man never having been president of the United States of America. But it doesn’t mean I won’t run.

This election is about who’s going to be the next President of the United States!

The man with the best job in the country is the vice-president. All he has to do is get up every morning and say, ‚How is the president?‘

I never talk about my next project.

Well, in order for me to be successful… In order to be a great artist – musician, actor, painter, whatever – you must be able to be private in public at all times.

As president, you can get all kinds of advice from all kinds of people. But at the end of the day, when it comes time to make that decision, as president, all you have to guide you are your values and your vision and the life experiences that make you who you are.

There’s no doubt that usually a president’s public image is enhanced by going to war. That never did appeal to me.

The President is not only the leader of a party, he is the President of the whole people. He must interpret the conscience of America. He must guide his conduct by the idealism of our people.

No decent career was ever founded on a public.

Secrets are things we give to others to keep for us.

My concerts are about me being very private in public, but I’m very protective.

All the president is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing, and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.

Look, when you’re the president, there’s all kinds of things said about us. I mean, it’s just the nature of the job.

Thomas Jefferson once said, ‚We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.‘ And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.

Remember, it is not about voting for the perfect candidate – there is no such thing. Presidents are human.

One of the finest statesmen of the present time is also a first-class scout, and that is Mr. Roosevelt, the late President of the United States of America.

When digital technology started becoming the norm, you’ve got 50, 60, 70 years of recordings on tapes that are just deteriorating. Like, a two-inch reel of recording tape won’t last forever. It dissolves. It will disappear.

The President’s post should not be politicised. Once a president is elected, he is above politics.

The only secrets are the secrets that keep themselves.

In my country we go to prison first and then become President.

To keep your secret is wisdom; but to expect others to keep it is folly.

I am the Democratic Party’s candidate for president who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters – and the church does not speak for me.

We are time’s subjects, and time bids be gone.

I think when the president of the United States calls for military action, he should do it for a united people, especially when the methods have been so cruel, so explicitly directed at Americans.

Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion,and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose – and you allow him to make war at pleasure.

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

I had a soft-spot in my heart for Ronald Reagan, if only because he was a sportswriter in his youth.

I think it’s funny to be delicate with subjects that are explosive.

I was honoured when they asked me to appear at the president’s birthday rally in Madison Square Garden. There was like a hush over the whole place when I came on to sing ‚Happy Birthday,‘ like if I had been wearing a slip, I would have thought it was showing or something. I thought, ‚Oh, my gosh, what if no sound comes out!‘

I had very good support from Democrats and Republicans all throughout my administration. I had a very high batting average. We added more jobs per year in my four years than any other president since the Second World War.

My father was not a failure. After all, he was the father of a president of the United States.

Barack Obama would not be President if he were dark skin. You know what I mean? That’s just the truth. I might not be as successful as I am now if I was dark skin.

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

I’ve used the prestige and influence of having been a president of the United States as effectively as possible. And secondly, I’ve still been able to carry out my commitments to peace and human rights and environmental quality and freedom and democracy and so forth.

Of all the subjects on this planet, I think my parents would have been hard put to name one less useful than Greek mythology to securing the keys to an executive bathroom.

When you are president, being able to clearly articulate detailed plans to help the people of this country is a good thing. Knowing what you’re doing is a good thing. And let me tell you, Hillary Clinton absolutely knows what she’s doing.

You must pursue this investigation of Watergate even if it leads to the president. I’m innocent. You’ve got to believe I’m innocent. If you don’t, take my job.

The ‚public‘ scares me, but people I trust.

In 2008, I spoke out against calling the president a Muslim as if that was a curse. And then in 2012, once again, I was very disturbed about some of the intolerance I was seeing in the party, so I made a statement saying there’s a level of intolerance in some parts of the Republican Party. And there was, and I think there still is.

There is nothing we like to communicate to others as much as the seal of secrecy together with what lies under it.

Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.

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

We don’t have to guess what Mitt Romney would have done if he were president. Because he told us. He said we should let foreclosures – and I quote – ‚hit the bottom‘ so the market could – I quote – ‚run its course.‘

In my opinion eight years as president is enough and sometimes too much for any man to serve in that capacity.

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

That’s the good thing about being president, I can do whatever I want.

It wasn’t until we got our first office in Palo Alto where things became more like a company. We never went into this wanting to build a company.

There is but one way for a president to deal with Congress, and that is continuously, incessantly, and without interruption. If it is really going to work, the relationship has got to be almost incestuous.

I want a president who will teach our children that everyone in this country matters, a president who truly believes in the vision that our Founders put forth all those years ago that we are all created equal, each a beloved part of the great American story.