One of mankind's problems is we keep committing the same errors.

Only our deep moral values and our strong social institutions can hold back that jungle and restrain the darker impulses of human nature.

I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and heart to get there. That's how I saw it, and see it still.

Love your country, not for her power or wealth, but for her selflessness and her idealism.

In case anybody asks you about my position on capital punishment, you can tell them I favor it; and if they want to know why, you can tell them this story.

I would have voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

My golf-loving friend Bob Hope asked me what my handicap was, so I told him - the Congress.