FridayJan 09, 2026
Quotes: 53419 Authors: 9969
On his wife Elizabeth, president of the American Red Cross. At least she's the president of something, which is more than I can say.
I used to think that seniority was a terrible thing when I didn't have any.
Eugene McCarthy despaired, 'The only thing that saves us from the bureaucracy is its inefficiency.'
In 1967, Ronald Reagan said, 'One way to make sure crime doesn't pay would be to let the government run it.'
One of my most often repeated quips was the one I made when former Presidents Carter, Ford and Nixon stood by each other at a White House event. 'There they are,' I said. 'See no evil, hear no evil, and ... evil.'
Barry Goldwater once said ruefully, and I know how he feels. 'It's a great country, where anybody can grow up to be President ... except me.'
When it's all over, it's not who you were ... it's whether you made a difference.
In what might be a motto of those who sought the presidency and lost, Ted Kennedy once said, 'Frankly, I don't mind not being President. I just mind that someone else is.'
President Ronald Reagan on his 1980 opponent: 'I had a dream the other night. I dreamed that Jimmy Carter came to me and asked why I wanted his job. I told him I didn't want his job. I want to be President.'
Anyone who wants to understand me must first understand Russell, Kansas. It is my home, where my roots lie, and a constant source of strength. My father's view of the world as 'stewers versus doers' registered early. From my neighbors, I learned to feel deeply for God, country and family. In Russell, I came to understand there are things worth living for, and, if need be, dying for. The Russell of my youth was not a place of wealth. Yet it was generous with the values that would shape my outlook and the compassion that would restore life's richness after I had begun to doubt my future following the war. Ever since, I have tried in my own way to give back some of what the town has given me. I have tried to defend and serve the America I learned to love in Russell.
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