Barry Goldwater
I think any man in business would be foolish to fool around with his secretary. If it's somebody else's secretary, fine.Collection: Business
I wouldn't trust Nixon from here to that phone.Collection: Trust
If everybody in this town connected with politics had to leave town because of chasing women and drinking, you would have no government.Collection: Government
Where is the politician who has not promised to fight to the death for lower taxes- and who has not proceeded to vote for the very spending projects that make tax cuts impossible?Collection: Death
Hubert Humphrey talks so fast that listening to him is like trying to read Playboy magazine with your wife turning the pages.Collection: History
Equality, rightly understood as our founding fathers understood it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation of creative differences; wrongly understood, as it has been so tragically in our time, it leads first to conformity and then to despotism.Collection: Equality
Nixon was the most dishonest individual I have ever met in my life. He lied to his wife, his family, his friends, his colleagues in the Congress, lifetime members of his own political party, the American people and the world.Collection: Family
I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.Collection: Politics
I could have ended the war in a month. I could have made North Vietnam look like a mud puddle.Collection: War
The income tax created more criminals than any other single act of government.Collection: Government
Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.
You don't have to be straight to be in the military; you just have to be able to shoot straight.
I think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass.
You don't need to be straight to fight and die for your country. You just need to shoot straight.
To disagree, one doesn't have to be disagreeable.
I won't say that the papers misquote me, but I sometimes wonder where Christianity would be today if some of those reporters had been Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
If you don't mind smelling like peanut butter for two or three days, peanut butter is darn good shaving cream.
I will offer a choice, not an echo.
American business has just forgotten the importance of selling.
The only summit meeting that can succeed is the one that does not take place.
It's a great country, where anybody can grow up to be president... except me.
You've got to forget about this civilian. Whenever you drop bombs, you're going to hit civilians.
When I'm not a politician, I'll be dead.
Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.Collection: Christian
Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed.Collection: Heaven
A woman has a right to an abortion. That's a decision that's up to the pregnant woman, not up to the pope or some do-gooders or the Religious Right.Collection: Religious
I am a conservative Republican, but I believe in democracy and the separation of church and state. The conservative movement is founded on the simple tenet that people have the right to live life as they please as long as they don't hurt anyone else in the process.Collection: Inspirational
Small men, seeking great wealth or power, have too often and too long turned even the highest levels of public service into mere personal opportunity.Collection: Opportunity
The conservative movement, to which I subscribe, has as one of its basic tenets the belief that government should stay out of people’s private lives. Government governs best when it governs least – and stays out of the impossible task of legislating morality. But legislating someone’s version of morality is exactly what we do by perpetuating discrimination against gays.Collection: Gay
Religious factions will go on imposing their will on others unless the decent people connected to them recognize that religion has no place in public policy. They must learn to make their views known without trying to make their views the only alternatives.Collection: Religious
It is safe to say that the U.S. Congress is now run by paid staffers, not by people elected to do the job.Collection: Running
The oldest philosophy in the world is conservatism, and I go clear back to the first Greeks. ... When you say 'radical right' today, I think of these moneymaking ventures by fellows like Pat Robertson and others who are trying to take the Republican Party away from the Republican Party, and make a religious organization out of it. If that ever happens, kiss politics goodbye.Collection: Goodbye
While I am a great believer in the free enterprise system and all that it entails, I am an even stronger believer in the right of our people to live in a clean and pollution-free environment.Collection: People
Conservatism, we are told, is out-of-date. This charge is preposterous and we ought to boldly say so. The laws of God, and of nature, have no dateline. These principles are derived from the nature of man, and from the truths that God has revealed about His creation. To suggest that the Conservative philosophy is out of date is akin to saying that the Golden Rule, or the Ten Commandments or Aristotle's Politics are out of date.Collection: Philosophy
I am frankly sick and tired of the political preachers telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in A, B, C, and D. Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me?Collection: Believe
The Republicans have a positive talent for self-destruction.Collection: Self
The big thing is to make this country - quit discriminating against people just because they're gay. You don't have to agree with it, but they have a constitutional right to be gay. They're American citizens.Collection: Country
The fellow has absolutely no principles."Money and gall" is all he has.Collection: Presidential
Throughout history, government has proved to be the chief instrument for thwarting man's liberty.Collection: Men
We shall return to proven ways - not because they are old, but because they are true.Collection: Inspirational
I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed in their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is "needed" before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible.Collection: Mean
Today neither of our two parties maintains a meaningful commitment to the principle of States' Rights. The 10th Amendment is not a 'general assumption' but a rule of law. States rights mean that states have a right to act or not to act, as they see fit, in areas reserved to them.Collection: Meaningful
Throughout history civilian populations and political rulers have talked of peace. We have never been free of war. The soldier, whose profession is war, understands that peace must be enforced by superior military might. The certainty of defeat is the only effective deterrent we can use to maintain peace. Furthermore, we can be strong without being aggressive.Collection: Strong
I thought of something my old coach at Staunton had often said: 'We win some, we lose some, and some get rained out; but we always suit up.'Collection: Winning
By maintaining the separation of church and state, the United States has avoided the intolerance which has so divided the rest of the world with religious wars.Collection: Religious
Can any of us refute the wisdom of Madison and the other framers? Can anyone look at the carnage in Iran, the bloodshed in Northern Ireland or the bombs bursting in Lebanon and yet question the dangers of injecting religious issues into the affairs of state?Collection: Religious
The best thing Clinton could do — I think I wrote him a letter about this, but I'm not sure — is to shut up. Every time I turn that radio on, there's Clinton, making a speech. And he makes speeches on a subject he doesn't know anything about. He has no discipline.Collection: Thinking
We are on the Colorado — that means something more to me than electric power or a harnessed river.Collection: Mean
It's political Daddyism and it's as old as demagogues and despotism.Collection: Political
The only summit meeting that can succeed is one that does not take place.Collection: Doe