Famous Quotes & Sayings

Peggy Noonan

Ted Sorrenson, JFK's presidential speech writer, when asked how it came about that he wrote the "ask not what you can do..." speech, he would answer 'ask not.'

Theodore Roosevelt

No other President ever enjoyed the Presidency as I did.

Theodore Roosevelt

I feel as fit as a bull moose.

Theodore Roosevelt

One of our defects as a nation is a tendency to use what have been called "weasel words."

Theodore Roosevelt

To discriminate against a thoroughly upright citizen because he belongs to some particular church, or because, like Abraham Lincoln, he has not avowed his allegiance to any church, is an outrage against the liberty of conscience, which is one of the foundations of American life.

Theodore Roosevelt

No President has ever enjoyed himself as much as I?

Theodore Roosevelt

Every reform movement has a lunatic fringe.

Theodore Roosevelt

When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not guilty.'

Theodore C. Sorensen

Presidential candidates don't chew gum.

James K. Polk

I am heartily rejoiced that my term is so near its close. I will soon cease to be a servant and will become a sovereign.

James K. Polk

There is more selfishness and less principle among members of Congress than I had any conception of, before I became President of the U.S.

John Adams

I consider a decent respect for Christianity among the best recommendations for public service.

James Baker

I understand personally, ... that it is frustrating to lose presidential elections by narrow margins.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Goods produced under conditions which do not meet a rudimentary standard to decency should be regarded as contraband and not allowed to pollute the channels of international commerce.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Freedom of conscience, of education, of speech, of assembly are among the very fundamentals of democracy and all of them would be nullified should freedom of the press ever be successfully challenged.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

We can afford all that we need; but we can not afford all [that] we want.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

In the field of world policy; I would dedicate this nation to the policy of the good neighbor.

Thomas Jefferson

I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.

Ron Fournier

Every now and then, a presidential candidate surprises us with a truly human and honest moment.

Stephen Colbert

Northwestern's alumni list is truly impressive. This university has graduated best-selling authors, Olympians, presidential candidates, Grammy winners, Peabody winners, Emmy winners, and that's just me!

Thomas Jefferson

Great innovations should not be forced on slender majorities.

Thomas Frank

Above all else stands the burning question of bipartisanship. Whatever else the politicians might say they're about, our news analysts know that this is the true object of the nation's desire, the topic to which those slippery presidential spokesmen need always to be dragged back.

Thomas Frank

Presidential legacies are valuable things, too valuable to be left up to historians.

William McKinley

The mission of the United States is one of benevolent assimilation.

William McKinley

In the time of darkest defeat, victory may be nearest.

William J. Clinton

Thomas Jefferson believed that to preserve the very foundations of our nation, we would need dramatic change from time to time. Well, my fellow citizens, this is our time. Let us embrace it.

William J. Clinton

I did not have sexual relations with that woman

Warren G. Harding

I don't know much about Americanism, but it's a damn good word with which to carry an election.

Ulysses S. Grant

Declare church and state forever separate and distinct; but each free within their proper spheres.

Richard M. Nixon

What kind of nation we will be, what kind of world we will live in, whether we shape the future in the image of our hopes, is ours to determine by our actions and our choices.

Richard M. Nixon

You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference.

Richard M. Nixon

The great silent majority.

Rich Lowry

Al Gore adopted three utterly different personas in three national presidential debates.