Great Throughts Treasury

"I don't know anything that builds the will to win better than competitive sports."

"I gave 'em a sword. And they stuck it in, and they twisted it with relish. And I guess if I had been in their position, I'd have done the same thing."

"I don't think a woman should be in any government job whatever. I mean, I really don't. The reason why I do is mainly because they are erratic. And emotional."

"I don't think that a leader can control to any great extent his destiny. Very seldom can he step in and change the situation if the forces of history are running in another direction."

"I had never expected that the China initiative would come to fruition in the form of a Ping-Pong team. (On first friendly overture by People's Republic of China)"

"I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is opposed to every instinct in my body. But as president I must put the interests of America first Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow."

"I have impeached myself by resigning."

"I hereby resign this office of president of the United States."

"I have the greatest affection for them [negroes] but I know they're not going to make it for 500 years. They aren't. You know it, too. The Mexicans are a different cup of tea. They have a heritage. At the present time they steal, they're dishonest, but they do have some concept of family life. They don't live like a bunch of dogs, which the Negroes do live like."

"I leave you gentleman now. You will now write it; you will interpret it; that's your right. But as I leave you I want you to know.... just think how much you're going to be missing. You don't have Nixon to kick around anymore, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference, and I hope that what I have said today will at least make television, radio, the press recognize that they have a right and a responsibility, if they're against a candidate give him the shaft, but also recognize if they give him the shaft, put one lonely reporter on the campaign who'll report what the candidate says now and then. Thank you, gentlemen, and good day."

"I made my mistakes, but in all my years of public life, I have never profited from public service. I've earned every cent. And in all of my years in public life I have never obstructed justice. And I think, too, that I can say that in my years of public life that I welcome this kind of examination because people have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got."

"I let the American people down."

"I played by the rules of politics as I found them."

"I refuse to make a decision that somebody else can make. The first rule of leadership is to save yourself for the big decision. Don't allow your mind to become cluttered."

"I recognize that this additional material I am now furnishing may further damage my case."

"I think it would be a great tragedy ... if we had our two major political parties divide on what we would call a conservative-liberal line. I think one of the attributes of our political system has been that we have avoided generally violent swings in Administrations from one extreme to the other. And the reason we have avoided that is that in both parties there has been room for a broad spectrum of opinion."

"I seriously doubt if we will ever have another war. This is probably the very last one."

"I think most Americans understood that the My Lai massacre was not representative of our people, of the war we were fighting, or of our men who were fighting it; but from the time it first became public the whole tragic episode was used by the media and the antiwar forces to chip away at our efforts to build public support for our Vietnam objectives and policies."

"I reject the cynical view that politics is a dirty business."

"I was under medication when I made the decision not to burn the tapes."

"I want you to stonewall it. (To staff on news of break-in at Watergate)"

"I was not lying. I said things that later on seemed to be untrue."

"I wish I could give you a lot of advice, based on my experience of winning political debates. But I don't have that experience. My only experience is at losing them."

"I welcome this kind of examination because people have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook."

"I would have made a good Pope."

"I would rather be a one-term President and do what I believe is right than to be a two-term President at the cost of seeing America become a second-rate power and to see this Nation accept the first defeat in its proud 190-year history."

"I wouldn't want to be a Russian leader. You'd never know when you were being taped."

"I'd like to see people, instead of spending so much time on the ethical problem, get after the problems that really affect the people of this country"

"I'd rather use the nuclear bomb...Does that bother you I just want you to think big, Henry, for Christ's sake. [to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on escalating the Vietnam War ]"

"If being a liberal means federalizing everything, then I'm no liberal. If being a conservative means turning back the clock; denying problems that exist, then I'm no conservative."

"Idealism without realism is impotent. Realism without idealism is immoral."

"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."

"If I talked about Watergate, I was described as struggling to free myself from the morass. If I did not talk about Watergate, I was accused of being out of touch with reality."

"If we succeed, generations to come will say of us now living that we mastered our moment, that we helped make the world safe for mankind."

"If we take the route of the permanent handout, the American character will itself be impoverished (Proposal to reform welfare programs)."

"If you are ever going to lie, you go to jail for the lie rather than the crime. So believe me, don't ever lie."

"If you take no risks, you will suffer no defeats. But if you take no risks, you win no victories."

"If, when the chips are down, the world's most powerful nation, the United States of America, acts like a pitiful, helpless giant, the forces of totalitarianism and anarchy will threaten free nations and free institutions throughout the world."

"I'm a lawyer, and I can't make head or tail out of the current [tax] form."

"In any organization, the man at the top must bear the responsibility. That responsibility, therefore, belongs here, in this office. I accept it. And I pledge to you tonight, from this office, that I will do everything in my power to ensure that the guilty are brought to justice and that such abuses are purged from our political processes in the years to come, long after I have left this office."

"In giving you these tapes, blemishes and all, I am placing my trust in the basic fairness of the American people."

"I'm not for women, frankly, in any job. I don't want any of them around. Thank God we don't have any in the Cabinet."

"In the long term we can hope that religion will change the nature of man and reduce conflict. But history is not encouraging in this respect. The bloodiest wars in history have been religious wars."

"In his heart everyone knows that the only people who get rich from the get rich quick books are those who write them."

"In the television age, the key distinction is between the candidate who can speak poetry and the one who can only speak prose."

"In throwing wide the horizons of space, we have discovered new horizons on earth."

"It I talked about Watergate, I was described as struggling to free myself from the morass. If I did not talk about Watergate, I was accused of being out of touch with reality."

"Isn't it better to talk about the relative merits of washing machines than the relative strength of rockets? Isn't this the kind of competition you want?"

"It is important that we understand both the necessity and the limitations of America's role in maintaining that peace."

"It is necessary for me to establish a winner image. Therefore, I have to beat somebody."