Quotes from George H. W. Bush

From last night's All Together Now, a Celebration of Service: There can be no definition of a successful life that does not include service to others.

We can realise a lasting peace and transform the East-West relationship to one of enduring co-operation.

I think the 24-hour news cycle has helped exaggerate the differences between the parties. You can always find someone on TV somewhere carping about something. That didn't happen 20 years ago.

A new breeze is blowing, and a world refreshed by freedom seems reborn; for in man's heart, if not in fact, the day of the dictator is over. The totalitarian era is passing, its old ideas blown away like leaves from an ancient, lifeless tree.

The defense budget is more than a piggy bank for people who want to get busy beating swords into pork barrels.

I think when you see an aircraft fire, these angry, black puffs of smoke, knowing that one of them could kill you that you - you - you understand the seriousness of the mission. And you understand your own mortality.

Well, I think everybody is frustrated by the finances of the U.N. and the inability to solve problems of war and peace.

Never answer a hypothetical question. It gets you beyond where you want to be.

Old fashioned as it may seem to some, it is my duty to serve my country. And I didn't seek this job but I want to do it, and I will do my very best.

I remember when I was shot down in that war. I remember how terrified I was. And it made me feel close to my family, and to God, and to life, and I was scared.

No president can easily commit our sons and daughters to war.

I can tell you this: If I'm ever in a position to call the shots, I'm not going to rush to send somebody else's kids into a war.

I want a kinder, gentler nation.

Voodoo economics.

We have before us the opportunity to forge for ourselves and for future generations a new world order—a world where the rule of law, not the law of the jungle, governs the conduct of nations.

A new breeze is blowing, and a world refreshed by freedom seems reborn for in man's heart, if not in fact, the day of the dictator is over. The totalitarian era is passing, its old ideas blown away like leaves from an ancient, lifeless tree.

A line has been drawn in the sand.

Well, I think everybody is frustrated by the finances of the U.N. and the inability to solve problems of war and peace.

But let me tell you, this gender thing is history. You're looking at a guy who sat down with Margaret Thatcher across the table and talked about serious issues.

I hope my own children never have to fight a war.

One of the good things about the way the Gulf War ended in 1991 is, you'd see the Vietnam veterans marching with the Gulf War veterans.

I can tell you this: If I'm ever in a position to call the shots, I'm not going to rush to send somebody else's kids into a war.

We are a nation of communities, of tens and tens of thousands of ethnic, religious, social, business, labor union, neighborhood, regional and other organizations, all of them varied, voluntary, and unique… a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky.

We know what works. Freedom Works. We know what's right. Freedom is right.