The essence of statesmanship is not a rigid adherence to the past, but a prudent and probing concern for the future.

The great challenge which faces us is to assure that, in our society of big-ness, we do not strangle the voice of creativity, that the rules of the game do not come to overshadow its purpose, that the grand orchestration of society leaves ample room for the man who marches to the music of another drummer.

Compassion is not weakness, and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism.

You cannot tell a poor boy from a small country town on the plains of South Dakota who has had the opportunity to be a teacher, a mayor, a senator, and a vice president, that America is not a nation of promise.

In life it isn't what you've lost, it's what you've got left that counts

What do we want for people? Human dignity, personal expression and fulfillment, justice, freedom.

It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.