Great Throughts Treasury

"No, I'm just a man committed to great ideas."

"Not everybody aspires to be a bank president or a nuclear scientist, but everybody wants to do something with one's life that will give him pride and a sense of accomplishment."

"Nothing lasts longer than a temporary government program."

"One picture is worth 1,000 denials."

"Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong."

"Now you hear a lot of jokes about Silent Cal Coolidge... but I think that the joke is on the people that make jokes because if you look at his record, he cut the taxes four times. We had probably the greatest growth and prosperity that we've ever known. And I have taken heed of that because if he did nothing, maybe that's the answer [for] the Federal Government."

"Our forbearance should never be misunderstood. Our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will. When action is required to preserve our national security, we will act."

"One way to make sure crime doesn't pay would be to let the government run it."

"Our Constitution is to be celebrated not for being old, but for being young."

"Our natural, unalienable rights are now considered to be a dispensation of government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp as it is at this moment.... You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for out children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we'll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness."

"Our whole system of government is based on We the people, but if we the people don't pay attention to what's going on, we have no right to bellyache or squawk when things go wrong."

"Our federal tax system is, in short, utterly impossible, utterly unjust and completely counterproductive…. [It] reeks with injustice, and is fundamentally un-American,"

"Our government needs the church, because only those humble enough to admit they're sinners can bring democracy the tolerance it requires to survive"

"Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means."

"Peace is more than just the absence of war. True peace is justice, true peace is freedom. And true peace dictates the recognition of human rights."

"People do not make [start] wars; governments do."

"Politics is just like show business. You have a hell of an opening, coast for a while, and then have a hell of a close."

"Poverty is a career for lots of well-paid people."

"Public servants say, always with the best of intentions, 'What greater service we could render if only we had a little more money and a little more power.' But the truth is that outside of its legitimate function, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector."

"Protecting the rights of even the least individual among us is basically the only excuse the government has for even existing."

"Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book."

"Preservation of our environment is not a liberal or conservative challenge, its common sense."

"Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his."

"Putting people first has always been America's secret weapon. It's the way we've kept the spirit of our revolutions alive -- a spirit that drives us to dream and dare, and take great risks for a greater good."

"Regimes planted by bayonets do not take root... Our military strength is a prerequisite to peace, but let it be clear we maintain this strength in the hope it will never be used, for the ultimate determinant in the struggle that's now going on in the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas, a trial of spiritual resolve, the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish, the ideals to which we are dedicated."

"Qaddafi counted on America to be passive. He counted wrong."

"Remember that every government service, every offer of government - financed security, is paid for in the loss of personal freedom... In the days to come, whenever a voice is raised telling you to let the government do it, analyze very carefully to see whether the suggested service is worth the personal freedom which you must forgo in return for such service."

"Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but Democrats believe every day is April 15."

"Shouldn't someone tag Mr. Kennedy's bold new imaginative program with its proper age Under the tousled boyish haircut is still old Karl Marx-first launched a century ago. There is nothing new in the idea of a government being Big Brother."

"Since I came to the White House, I got two hearing aids, a colon operation, skin cancer, a prostate operation, and I was shot. The damn thing is I've never felt better in my life."

"So in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride -- the temptation blithely to declare yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong, good and evil."

"Simple fairness dictates that government must not raise taxes on families struggling to pay their bills."

"So the ... the helm is right here. And that means right in this chair for now, constitutionally, until the vice president gets here."

"Some of you may remember that in my early days, I was sort of a bleeding heart liberal. Then I became a man and put away childish ways."

"Some may try and tell us that this is the end of an era. But what they overlook is that in America, every day is a new beginning, and every sunset is merely the latest milestone on a voyage that never ends. For this is the land that has never become, but is always in the act of becoming. Emerson was right: America is the land of tomorrow."

"Socialists ignore the side of man that is the spirit. They can provide you shelter, fill your belly with bacon and beans, treat you when you're ill, all the things guaranteed to a prisoner or a slave. They don't understand that we also dream."

"Some of your countrymen were unable to distinguish between their native dislike for war and the stainless patriotism of those who suffered its scars. But there has been a rethinking and now we can say to you, and say as a nation, thank you for your courage."

"Some spend their entire lives wondering if they have made a difference in this world. The Marines don't have that problem."

"Someday, the realm of liberty and justice will encompass the planet. Freedom is not just the birthright of the few, it is the God-given right of all His children, in every country. It won't come by conquest. It will come, because freedom is right and freedom works. It will come, because cooperation and good will among free people will carry the day."

"Some say it will bring war to the heavens, but its purpose is to deter war, in the heavens and on earth."

"Some people live an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference in the world, Marines don't have that problem."

"Someone once said that every form of government has one characteristic peculiar to it and if that characteristic is lost, the government will fall. In a monarchy, it is affection and respect for the royal family. If that is lost the monarch is lost. In a dictatorship, it is fear. If the people stop fearing the dictator he'll lose power. In a representative government such as ours, it is virtue. If virtue goes, the government fails. Are we choosing paths that are politically expedient and morally questionable? Are we in truth losing our virtue? . . . If so, we may be nearer the dustbin of history than we realize."

"Someone must stand up to those who say, “Here's the key, there's the Treasury, just take as many of those hard-earned tax dollars as you want.”"

"Sometimes when I'm faced with an atheist, I am tempted to invite him to the greatest gourmet dinner that one could ever serve, and when we have finished eating that magnificent dinner, to ask him if he believes there's a cook."

"Status quo, you know, is Latin for 'the mess we're in'."

"Summer's here, temperatures are rising and tempers will really rise if Congress doesn't pass an energy bill."

"The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them right away."

"The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved good-bye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God."

"The current tax code is a daily mugging."

"Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don't interfere as long as the policy you've decided upon is being carried out."