Don't let the doom criers and the cynics persuade you that the best is past.

I think there are some things ... that may even be distorted in the practice, such as some affirmative action programs becoming quota systems. And I'm old enough to remember when quotas existed in the United States for the purpose of discrimination, and I don't want to see that happen again.

A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours.

Politics and morality are inseparable. And as morality's foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related. We need religion as a guide. We need it because we are imperfect, and our government needs the church, because only those humble enough to admit they're sinners can bring to democracy the tolerance it requires in order to survive.

God, the source of all knowledge, should never have been expelled from our children's classrooms.

We can't build a safer world with honorable intentions and good will alone. Achieving the fundamental goals our nation seeks in world affairs - peace, human rights, economics progress national independence and international stability - means supporting our friends and defending our interests.

We establish no religion in this country. We command no worship. We mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are and must remain separate.