Nothing is more destructive than the gap between people's perceptions of their own day-to-day economic well-being and what politicians and statisticians are telling them about the economy

There are remuneration packages that will no longer be tolerated because they bear no relation to merit. That those who create jobs and wealth may earn a lot of money is not shocking. But that those who contribute to destroying jobs and wealth also earn a lot of money is morally indefensible.

I want to wage war against illiteracy, poverty, unemployment, unfair competition, communitarianism, delinquency.

I understand that people might be poor if they don't have any work, but I don't accept that someone is poor if they've worked really hard.

What made America great was her ability to transform her own dream into hope for all mankind.

We live in a world where people don't all have the same scruples, where all blows can be given, and where, in order to down somebody, all means can be used. Nothing will lead me astray from the path that I have chosen.

America did not tell the millions of men and women who came from every country in the world and who - with their hands, their intelligence and their heart - built the greatest nation in the world: "Come, and everything will be given to you." She said: "Come, and the only limits to what you'll be able to achieve will be your own courage and your own talent."