Quotes from Ben Carson

the level of tolerance for religious differences is much greater than the politically correct crowd would have us believe.

It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors.

I don't believe in being emotionally detached from patients. I work with and operate on human beings, all creatures of God, people in pain who need help. I don't know how I can work on a girl's brain--how I can have her life in my hands--and yet not become involved. I feel particularly strong attachments to children who seem so defenseless and who haven't yet had the chance to live a full life.

if you can read, you can learn just about anything.

The very fact that so many people are joining the Tea Party or becoming politically Independent suggests that people are less willing to be spoon-fed by a largely biased media and are thinking for themselves again.

Two hundred years ago when slavery was going on it was illegal to educate a slave, particularly to teach them to read. Why do you think that was? Because when you educate a man, you liberate a man.

Many in Europe saw an opportunity to escape the oppressive and overbearing governmental systems under which they languished, and these people emigrated in droves, bringing with them a strong determination to make a better life for themselves and their offspring, unfettered by oppressive overseers disguised as government.

Do you have a brain?" And if the answer was yes, then she said, "Then you could have thought your way out of it.

In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men," James Madison pointed out, "the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.

But, after a while, I actually began to enjoy reading those books, because we were very poor. But between the covers of those books I could go anywhere, I could be anybody, I could do anything.

Rather than trying to control or confiscate guns, it might be smarter to offer free, public gun-safety courses. In countries like Switzerland, every man within a certain age range is required to possess a gun and to know how to use it, and Switzerland has one of the lowest gun homicide rates in the world. It is clear that guns do not kill people by themselves. Rather, people who are determined to kill will find whatever means are available to accomplish their mission.

As long as you have broad representation from many parts of society, representative government works extremely well. And it works even better when the representatives serve for only a short period of time and return to their communities, leaving a spot for someone else from the community to become the next representative.

John Adams when he said, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

I do not believe that the founding fathers intended for a fourth branch of government to emerge — that of special interest groups.

The founders realized that a gigantic government would require increasingly large amounts of resources from the people in the form of taxes, and that the people would consequently expect more from such a government since they were giving it so much of their money.

I submit that what is harsh is continuing to encourage irresponsible behavior and generating a permanent underclass. We also simply cannot afford welfare programs for able-bodied people who make unwise choices and expect other people to pay for it.

But now some people say, "Well that's not fair because it doesn't hurt the guy who made $10 billion dollars as much as the guy who made $10." Where does it say you have to hurt the guy? He's just put a billion dollars in the pot. We don't need to hurt him.

I didn't like general surgery and I wanted to get out. I disliked general surgery so much I was willing to sacrifice trying for a position in the neurosurgery

When the government becomes large and intrusive and feels that it has the right to as much of the resources owned by the people as it wants, then we have clearly strayed away from some of the foundational principles of this nation.

They decreed that the American government always be controlled by the will of the people, not the people by the will of the government.

an individual must believe in himself and in his abilities. To do his best, one needs a confidence that says, "I can do anything, and if I can't do it, I know how to get help.

Under the Constitution, our government follows the model set out by Thomas Jefferson: "A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.

A gigantic, bloated government has to keep itself busy in order to justify its existence; hence, you have more regulations and meddling in the affairs of the people, whether they request it, need it, or not.

I believe the logical approach would be to have each governmental agency and department trim its budget by 10 percent — with no exceptions. In each subsequent year, another 10 percent decrease would be required and would continue as long as necessary to bring the budget back into balance.