John Ashcroft
If necessity is the mother of invention, it's the father of cooperation. And we're cooperating like never before.
The worst mistake a boss can make is not to say 'well done'.
Agents need to be free to pursue investigations in ways that they haven't. There have been restraints that a reformed FBI needs to make sure we don't impose.
All of us want to have meaning in our lives and want to feel like we're doing something that makes a difference. I believe we're doing that in the Justice Department.
An FBI agent ought to be able to surf the net and look for sites that instruct people how to make bombs.
I don't play full court anymore. I just play half-court.
It doesn't help to wait until something happens and then prosecute the offenders, especially if it's the idea of the offender to extinguish himself in the commission of the crime.
It's a different world.
Nothing remains great without a capacity to change and to accommodate the conditions of a changing world.
Nothing that we have authorized conflicts with any law regarding privacy or any provision of the constitution.
People who commit crimes should be responsible for those crimes. It doesn't matter whether they're priests or ministers or atheists.
Prior to September 11, we thought the world beyond our shores was one world of risk and the world in our continent was another world of risk.
Reasonable regulations regarding the ownership of weapons are appropriate.
The FBI has long been a part of the security for the nation's banks because bank robberies have been a priority.
The FBI. is a massive culture. It's been a culture that served America well, and it's been focused on prosecution. But what we need in terms of terrorism is prevention.
The Internet provides very serious challenges to our ability to keep from children the kinds of things that are destructive to them.
The liberties and freedoms which we hold dear and we recognize and cherish and respect guide the way we gather information in the United States.
The new rule says that the FBI has the right to go to public places on the same terms and conditions as other members of the public for counter-terrorism purposes.
The Patriot Act allows and provides a basis for an exchange of information.
The way the terrorist is trained to operate, especially the suicide terrorists, makes punishment and the threat of punishment far less valuable to those who would prevent the crime.
There is no priority higher than the prevention of terrorism.
We have to think outside the box, inside the Constitution, find ways to do things that will elevate our security, reduce the risk of the incidence of terrorist attack.
We need to strengthen our analytic capacity in Washington, we need to centralize the anti-terrorism effort.
We've got to understand that the whole nature of the way American democracy guards its freedom has been changed.
What we learned on September 11 is that the unthinkable is now thinkable in the world.
The path we have chosen is constitutional.
We have to think outside the box, inside the Constitution, find ways to do things that will elevate our security, reduce the risk of the incidence of terrorist attackCollection: Thinking
I feel the best way to ensure Americans' freedom is to tighten restrictions on that freedom in any way possible. Only through wiretaps, illegal searches and seizures, unfettered government intrusion, a controlled media and a complete crackdown on free speech can we ensure the liberties of all people.Collection: Stupid
To those who scare peace loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: your tactics aid terrorists for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve. They give ammunition to America's enemies and pause to America's friends.Collection: America
Just as the First and Fourth Amendment secure individual rights of speech and security respectively, the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. This view of the text comports with the all but unanimous understanding of the Founding Fathers.Collection: Father
Christianity is a faith in which God sent his Son to die for you.Collection: Son
To me, failure is not fatal unless you quit; getting knocked down is not embarrassing unless you allow it to keep you down.Collection: Quitting
Doing what is right in the face of adversity is not always easy or popular. Critics may assail you, but the critics don't always realize what they don't know or don't understand, because they don't have access to all the information.Collection: Adversity
Unique among the nations, America recognized the source of our character as being godly and eternal, not being civic and temporal. And because we have understood that our source is eternal, America has been different. We have no king but Jesus.Collection: Jesus
By tearing down the wall between law enforcement and the intelligence community, we have been able to share information in a way that was virtually impossible before the Patriot Act.Collection: Wall
We must embrace the power of faith, but we must never confuse politics and piety. For me, may I say that it is against my religion to impose my religion.Collection: Scary
There is no priority higher than the prevention of terrorismCollection: Priorities
Our priorities should be: recognizing the voice of God and responding to the voice of God.Collection: Voice
Prior to September 11, we thought the world beyond our shores was one world of risk and the world in our continent was another world of riskCollection: Risk
We are a nation called to defend freedom - a tradition that is not a grant of any government or document, but is an endowment from God.Collection: Government
There's nothing more rewarding or important than to be involved in God's work of redemption.Collection: Important
A trustee has a responsibility to guard the assets of others with a higher degree of care than he does his own.Collection: Responsibility
Do not allow your sorrow or your rage to become hostility toward people on the basis of their ethnicity or their religious views. That is unacceptable; it is out of bounds, and if you break the law, we will prosecute you for it.Collection: Religious
What we learned on September 11 is that the unthinkable is now thinkable in the worldCollection: September 11
The state's interest in effective crime-fighting should never vitiate the citizens' Bill of Rights.Collection: Fighting
[Ashcroft vowed to] spare no effort to preserve the rights of all our citizens to pledge allegiance to the American flag.Collection: Rights
A calculated, malignant, devastating evil has arisen in our world, ... Civilization cannot ignore the wrongs that have been done. America will not tolerate their being repeated. Justice has a new mission, a new calling against an old evil.Collection: Civilization
The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved.Collection: Safety
The liberties and freedoms which we hold dear and we recognize and cherish and respect guide the way we gather information in the United StatesCollection: Usa
What did John Ashcroft say about moderates, he said, quote, there are two things you find in the middle of the road, a moderate and a dead skunk and I don't want to be either.Collection: Two