George H. W. Bush Quotes

As president, I watched in wonder as Nelson Mandela had the remarkable capacity to forgive his jailers following 26 years of wrongful imprisonment - setting a powerful example of redemption and grace for us all.

I, George Bush, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the decade beginning January 1, 1990, as the Decade of the Brain.

I will never apologize for the United States of America - I don't care what the facts are. Said after 'Vincennes' shot down an Iranian Airliner.

Gulf Lesson One is the value of airpower.

The Congress will push me to raise taxes, and I'll say no, and they'll push, and I'll say no, and they'll push again and I'll say to them, read my lips, no new taxes.

Time and again in this century, the political map of the world was transformed. And ineach instance a new world order came about through the advent of a new tyrant or the outbreak of a bloody global war, or its end.

A new breeze is blowing, and a world refreshed by freedom seems reborn; for in man's heart, if not in fact, the day of the dictator is over. The totalitarian era is passing, its old ideas blown away like leaves from an ancient, lifeless tree.

I think it's very hard to fight the war on terrorism if we're in retreat.

We're enjoying sluggish times, and not enjoying them very much.

Know what you're talking about.

Don't try to fine-tune somebody else's view.

What's wrong with being a boring kind of guy?

Great nations of the world are moving toward democracy.

Every problem that the country faces is being solved in some community by some group or some individual. The question is how to get connected so that the whole nation can solve problems. A volunteer is a person who can see what others cannot see; who can feel what most do not feel. Often, such gifted persons do not think of themselves as volunteers, but as citizens - citizens in the fullest sense; partners in civilization.

I'm conservative, but I'm not a nut about it.

My grandkids say, "Reality Bites." O.K., but it also challenges and rewards... I believe our best days are yet to come.

We have before us the opportunity to forge for ourselves and for future generations a new world order, a world where the rule of law, not the law of the jungle, governs the conduct of nations. When we are successful, and we will be, we have a real chance at this new world order, an order in which a credible United Nations can use its peacekeeping role to fulfill the promise and vision of the U.N.'s founders.

We have a right to expect a police force that protects our citizens and behaves in a responsible manner... in the American conscience there is no room for bigotry and racism.

I stand for anti-bigotry, anti-Semitism, and anti-racism.

As for me, tough duty though it may be, I continue to do my part for the commercial recreation industry. Fishing, boating, tennis, golf, running, hunting, and all of this. Horseshoes. It's tough duty. Somebody has to do it, and I'm going to keep on.

The fact is prosperity has a purpose. It's to allow us to pursue "the better angels," to give us time to think and grow.

I'm not trying to get myself up a notch on the ladder by shoving somebody else down on the ladder, whether it's a candidate or the president of the United States or anybody else. I just don't believe that's the way one oughta campaign, I've never done that.

Poland should be strong and prosperous and independent and play its proper role as a great nation in the heart of Europe.

There is a God and He is good, and his love, while free, has a self imposed cost: We must be good to one another.

America is never wholly herself unless she is engaged in high moral principle. We as a people have such a purpose today. It is to make kinder the face of the nation and gentler the face of the world.

I am not one who - who flamboyantly believes in throwing a lot of words around.

The potential of this nation is as boundless as the imagination and drive of the American people. . . . Quality management is not just a step. It must be a new style of working. Even a new style of thinking. The dedication to quality and excellence is more than good business; it's a way of life.

From last night's All Together Now, a Celebration of Service: There can be no definition of a successful life that does not include service to others.

I put confidence in the American people, in their ability to sort through what is fair and what is unfair, what is ugly and what is un-ugly.

I think I'd be a better president because I was in combat.

I've often thought that the process of aging could be slowed down if it had to go through Congress.

I just sit ther and do what I vowed I would never do - talk back to the television.

The American Dream means giving it your all, trying your hardest, accomplishing something. And then I'd add to that, giving something back. No definition of a successful life can do anything but include serving others.

I don't write letters anymore.

The U.S.S. George H. W. Bush is a great thing in my life. It's amazing. A great honor.

As his vice president for eight years, I learned more from Ronald Reagan than from anyone I encountered in all my years of public life.

You have to understand that people that are hurting are going to criticize.