Richard M. Nixon
It I talked about Watergate, I was described as struggling to free myself from the morass. If I did not talk about Watergate, I was accused of being out of touch with reality.
The mark of a true politician is that he is never at a loss for words because he is always half-expecting to be asked to make a speech.
The American people are entitled to see the president and to hear his views directly, and not to see him only through the press.
I believe in the battle-whether it's the battle of a campaign or the battle of this office, which is a continuing battle.
Let us build bridges, my friends, build bridges to human dignity across that gulf that separates black America from white America.
I brought myself down. I impeached myself by resigning.
Black Americans, no more than white Americans, they do not want more government programs which perpetuate dependency. They don't want to be a colony in a nation.
At home, we must reject the mistaken notion - a notion that has dominated too much of the public dialogue for too long - that ever bigger Government is the answer to every problem.
I wish I could give you a lot of advice, based on my experience of winning political debates. But I don't have that experience. My only experience is at losing them.
Finishing second in the Olympics gets you silver. Finishing second in politics gets you oblivion.
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.
A public man must never forget that he loses his usefulness when he as an individual, rather than his policy, becomes the issue.
My strong point, if I have a strong point, is performance. I always do more than I say. I always produce more than I promise.
The time has come for us to draw the line. The time has come for the responsible leaders of both political parties to take a stand against overgrown Government and for the American taxpayer.
Our chief justices have probably had more profound and lasting influence on their times and on the direction of the nation than most presidents.
A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.
The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.
Only if you have been in the deepest valley, can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.
The more you stay in this kind of job, the more you realize that a public figure, a major public figure, is a lonely man.
Those who hate you don't win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself.
When the President does it, that means that it's not illegal.
Defeat doesn't finish a man, quit does. A man is not finished when he's defeated. He's finished when he quits.
People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I earned everything I've got.
Well, I screwed it up real good, didn't I?
You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference.
Solutions are not the answer.
Always remember that others may hate you but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.
Tell them to send everything that can fly.
You've got to learn to survive a defeat. That's when you develop character.
I gave 'em a sword. And they stuck it in, and they twisted it with relish. And I guess if I had been in their position, I'd have done the same thing.
We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another - until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.
Certainly in the next 50 years we shall see a woman president, perhaps sooner than you think. A woman can and should be able to do any political job that a man can do.
If an individual wants to be a leader and isn't controversial, that means he never stood for anything.
I see the face of a child. He lives in a great city. He is black. Or he is white. He is Mexican, Italian, Polish. None of that matters. What matters, he's an American child.
The presidency has many problems, but boredom is the least of them.
There will be no whitewash in the White House.
I have impeached myself by resigning.
Let us move from the era of confrontation to the era of negotiation.
Tonight - to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans - I ask for your support.
Watergate had become the center of the media's universe, and during the remaining year of my presidency the media tried to force everything else to revolve around it.
Let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth to see it like it is, and tell it like it is, to find the truth, to speak the truth, and to live the truth.
Unless a president can protect the privacy of the advice he gets, he cannot get the advice he needs.
I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is opposed to every instinct in my body. But as president I must put the interests of America first Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow.
If we take the route of the permanent handout, the American character will itself be impoverished.
Once you get into this great stream of history, you can't get out.
I played by the rules of politics as I found them.
I've analyzed the best I can... and I have not found an impeachable offense, and therefore resignation is not an acceptable course.
Never forget, the press is the enemy. The establishment is the enemy. The professors are the enemy. Professors are the enemy. Write that on a blackboard 100 times and never forget it.Collection: Writing
I know you heard what you thought I said, but what I said isn't what I meant.Collection: Said