Quotes from George W. Bush

I was concerned about the legality of the program, and so I asked lawyers—of which you got plenty of them in Washington—to determine whether or not I could do this legally. And they came back and said yes.

A great nation does not hide its history. It faces its flaws and corrects them.

Our country must abandon all the habits of racism because we cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same time.

Women are imprisoned in their homes, and are denied access to basic health care and education. Food sent to help starving people is stolen by their leaders. The religious monuments of other faiths are destroyed. Children are forbidden to fly kites, or sing songs... A girl of seven is beaten for wearing white shoes.

From the day of our founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has rights, and dignity, and matchless value because they bear the image of the Maker of heaven and earth. Across the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave.

America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude.

From the perspective of a single day, including this day of dedication, the issues and questions before our country are many. From the viewpoint of centuries, the questions that come to us are narrowed and few. Did our generation advance the cause of freedom? And did our character bring credit to that cause?

The grandest of these ideals is an unfolding American promise that everyone belongs, that everyone deserves a chance, that no insignificant person was ever born.

It's hard to imagine how Dad managed to do it all—to be a top student, a star athlete, a man with a huge group of friends, and a devoted husband and father. As Mother put it with characteristic bluntness, "He worked hard." That's true. George Bush did not waste time. He filled every minute of every day with activity.

We find the fullness of life not only in options but in commitments.

America has an honored tradition of never leaving its soldiers on the battlefield—and we never should.

From his earliest days, George Bush was a man who valued courage, loyalty, and service. Those were the traits that his mother and father had instilled in him. And the United States of America, especially its citizens in uniform, embodied those ideals. That was the country that Dad risked everything to defend.

When we look to the unborn child, the real issue is not when life begins, but when love begins.

I ask you to seek a common good beyond your comfort; to defend needed reforms against easy attacks; to serve your nation, beginning with your neighbor.

Fool me once, shame on… shame on you. Fool me, you can't get fooled again.

I can only speak to myself. (Bush, George W.; 2005).

I took my time to arrive, entering the world only after my grandmother Dorothy Walker Bush administered a healthy dose of castor oil to Mother. (It was my first taste of the oil business.)

George Washington once wrote that leading by conviction gave him "a consolation within that no earthly efforts can deprive me of." He continued: "The arrows of malevolence, however barbed and well pointed, never can reach the most vulnerable part of me.

I can only speak to myself. (Bush, 2005).

It was a good reminder that Congressmen from opposite parties could put their differences aside and enjoy each other's company.

constituents. Many of them greeted their Congressman

I had taken office during a raging intifada, with Yasser Arafat running the Palestinian Authority, Israeli leaders committed to a Greater Israel policy, and Arab nations complaining from the sidelines. By the time I left, the Palestinians had a president and prime minister who rejected terrorism. The Israelis had withdrawn from some settlements and supported a two-state solution. And Arab nations were playing an active role in the peace process.

He talked about the struggling economy, rising inflation, and declining American power abroad.

My first challenge was explaining Andover to my friends in Texas. In those days, most Texans who went away to high school had discipline problems. When I told a friend that I was headed to a boarding school in Massachusetts, he had only one question: "Bush, what did you do wrong?