So you are lean and mean and resourceful and you continue to walk on the edge of the precipice because over the years you have become fascinated by how close you can walk without losing your balance.

The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.

For among nations - as within nations - the soundest unity is that which respects diversity, and the strongest cohesion is that which rejects coercion.

To the ordinary guy, all this is a bunch of gobbledygook. But out of the gobbledygook comes a very clear thing: you can't trust the government, you can't believe what they say, and you can't rely on their judgment.

People react to fear, not love; they don't teach that in Sunday School, but it's true.

Sure there are dishonest men in local government. But there are dishonest men in national government too.

My telephone calls and meetings and decisions were now parts of a prescribed ritual aimed at making peace with the past; his calls, his meetings and his decisions were already the ones that would shape America's future." (On transfer of power to Gerald R Ford)