George W. Bush Quotes

We're not into nation-building. We're into justice.

I'm not a textbook player. I'm a gut player.

Other Republican candidates may retort to personal attacks and negative ads.

I think you can judge from somebody's actions a kind of a stability and sense of purpose perhaps created by strong religious roots. I mean, there's a certain patience, a certain discipline, I think, that religion helps you achieve.

Great tragedy has come to us, and we are meeting it with the best that is in our country, with courage and concern for others because this is America. This is who we are.

I'm a patient man. And when I say I'm a patient man, I mean I'm a patient man.

No one wants to be a polarizer, but on the other hand, if you think you're doing right and you believe the decisions you make will lead to a better tomorrow, then they're worthy of defense.

I'm oftentimes asked, What difference does it make to America if people are dying of malaria in a place like Ghana? It means a lot. It means a lot morally, it means a lot from a -- it's in our national interest.

We've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the September 11th.

There seems to be a lot of name-calling going on, but I want to remind you what our good dad told me one time. Labels are for soup cans.

Our long-term security depends on our deep faith in liberty. And we'll continue to promote freedom around the world.

People make suggestions on what to say all the time. I'll give you an example; I don't read what's handed to me. People say ''Here, here's your speech, or here's an idea for a speech.'' They're changed. Trust me.

Redefining the role of the United States from enablers to keep the peace to enablers to keep the peace from peacekeepers is going to be an assignment.

As Gerhard Schröder said in the Oval Office, a democratic Iraq is important not only to Germany, but to Europe, and he's right.

You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.

The CIA laid out several scenarios and said life could be lousy, life could be OK, life could be better, and they were just guessing as to what the conditions might be like.

[T]he course of this nation does not depend on the decisions of others. Whatever action is required, whenever action is necessary, I will defend the freedom and security of the American people.

I'm uncomfortable trying to rush change of perception, except to the extent that I'm going to write a book.

Anyone engaging in illegal financial transactions will be caught and persecuted.

There is a difference between responsible criticism that aims for success and defeatism that refuses to acknowledge anything but failure. Hindsight alone is not wisdom, and second-guessing is not a strategy.

I thought how proud I am to be standing up beside my dad. Never did it occur to me that he would become the gist for cartoonists.

I think, not only Al Qaida have an ideology; they have tactics necessary to spread their ideology. And it would be a huge mistake for the United States to leave the region, to concede territory to the terrorists, to not confront them.

I'm content because I'm a busy person.

If you don't stand for anything, you don't stand for anything!

The thing that's important for me is to remember what's the most important thing.

I don't want nations feeling like that they can bully ourselves and our allies. I want to have a ballistic defense system so that we can make the world more peaceful, and at the same time I want to reduce our own nuclear capacities to the level commiserate with keeping the peace.

I would like to remembered as President as somebody who did not compromise principles in order to try to be loved or liked.

I've been in politics long enough to know that polls just go poof at times.

Any outlaw regime that has ties to terrorist groups or seeks to possess weapons of mass destruction is a grave danger to the civilised world and will be confronted.

Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children.

I was taught that we should look after the beam in our own eye before searching for the mote in someone else's.

We're now interested in finding those who may attack America and arrest them before they do. We've had over nearly a thousand people have been detained in America and questioned about their motives and their intentions.

I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but for predecessors as well.

There are jobs Americans arent doing. ... If youve got a chicken factory, a chicken-plucking factory, or whatever you call them, you know what Im talking about.

I'm mindful in a free society that people can worship if they want to or not. You're equally an American if you choose to worship an almighty and if you choose not to.

I have written a book. This will come as quite a shock to some. They didn't think I could read, much less write.

This is a global war on terror. We're facing extremists that believe something. And they want to achieve objectives. And, therefore, the United States must use all our assets and we must work with others to defeat this enemy. That's the call.

And I, unfortunately, have been to too many disasters as president.

You never know what your history is going to be like until long after you're gone.

Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen. It may include dramatic strikes, visible on TV, and covert operations, secret even in success.

You know, what's interesting about Washington...It's the kind of place where second-guessing has become second-nature.

Our two nations have a lot in common, when you think about it. We were both founded by immigrants escaping religious persecution in other lands. We both have built vibrant democracies. Both our countries are founded on certain basic beliefs, that there is an Almighty God who watches over the affairs of men and values every life. These ties have made us natural allies, and these ties will never be broken.

Hundreds of thousands of American servicemen and women are deployed across the world in the war on terror. By bringing hope to the oppressed, and delivering justice to the violent, they are making America more secure.

We think it is in our nation's interest that Afghan women - or any women around the world - not suffer.

Our nation was horrified, but it's not going to be terrorized.

I've got God's shoulder to cry on. And I cry a lot. I do a lot of crying in this job. I'll bet I've shed more tears than you can count, as president.

There's a fundamental difference between many of the Democrats and my party. And that is: They want to leave before the job is completed in Iraq. Again, I repeat: These are decent people. They're just as American as I am. I just happen to strongly disagree with them. And it's very important for the American people to understand the consequences of leaving Iraq before the job is done. This is a global war on terror.

These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion.