Richard M. Nixon
52 quotes
Biography
"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 the television age, the key distinction is between the candidate who can speak poetry and the one who can only speak prose."
"Don't get the impression that you arouse my anger. You see, one can only be angry with those he respects."
"You must never be satisfied with losing. You must get angry, terribly angry, about losing. But the mark of the good loser is that he takes his anger out on himself and not his victorious opponents or on his teammates."
"What starts the process, really, are laughs and slights and snubs when you are a kid. If your anger is deep enough and strong enough, you learn that you can change those attitudes by excellence, personal gut performance."
"I've analyzed the best I can... and I have not found an impeachable offense, and therefore resignation is not an acceptable course."
"Politics would be a helluva good business if it weren't for the goddamned people."
"I reject the cynical view that politics is a dirty business."
"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."
"Any change is resisted because bureaucrats have a vested interest in the chaos in which they exist."
"What starts the process, really, are laughs and slights and snubs when you are a kid. If your anger is deep enough and strong enough, you learn that you can change those attitudes by excellence, personal gut performance."
"I can take it. The tougher it gets, the cooler I get."
"People react to fear, not love they don't teach that in Sunday School, but it's true."
"Americans admire a people who can scratch a desert and produce a garden. The Israelis have shown qualities that Americans identify with: guts, patriotism, idealism, a passion for freedom. I have seen it. I know. I believe that."
"We must always remember that America is a great nation today not because of what government did for people but because of what people did for themselves and for one another."
"We must always remember that America is a great nation today not because of what government did for people but because of what people did for themselves and for one another."
"I can see clearly now... that I was wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate."
"Life isn't meant to be easy. It's hard to take being on the top - or on the bottom. I guess I'm something of a fatalist. You have to have a sense of history, I think, to survive some of these things... Life is one crisis after another."
"No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now."
"The greatest honor history can bestow is that of peacemaker."
"Once you get into this great stream of history, you can't get out."
"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."
"By the time you get dressed, drive out there, play 18 holes and come home, you've blown seven hours. There are better things you can do with your time."
"If you want to make beautiful music, you must play the black and the white notes together."
"Americans admire a people who can scratch a desert and produce a garden. The Israelis have shown qualities that Americans identify with: guts, patriotism, idealism, a passion for freedom. I have seen it. I know. I believe that."