Barry Goldwater Quotes

Quotes about:

• Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.

  Barry Goldwater

  Christian, Religious, Party

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  Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

  Barry Goldwater

  Memorial Day, Freedom, Gay

  Speech accepting nomination for president at Republican National Convention, San Francisco, Cal., 16 July 1964

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• Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed.

  Barry Goldwater

  Heaven, Liberty, Doe

  Speech Accepting the Republican Presidential Nomination, delivered 16 July 1964, San Francisco

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• A woman has a right to an abortion. That's a decision that's up to the pregnant woman, not up to the pope or some do-gooders or the Religious Right.

  Barry Goldwater

  Religious, Abortion, Decision

  Barry Morris Goldwater, C. C. Goldwater (2007). “The Conscience of a Conservative”, p.133, Princeton University Press

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• I am a conservative Republican, but I believe in democracy and the separation of church and state. The conservative movement is founded on the simple tenet that people have the right to live life as they please as long as they don't hurt anyone else in the process.

  Barry Goldwater

  Inspirational, Life, Hurt

  Barry Morris Goldwater, C. C. Goldwater (2007). “The Conscience of a Conservative”, p.129, Princeton University Press

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  Small men, seeking great wealth or power, have too often and too long turned even the highest levels of public service into mere personal opportunity.

  Barry Goldwater

  Opportunity, Men, Long

  Speech Accepting the Republican Presidential Nomination, delivered 16 July 1964, San Francisco

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• The conservative movement, to which I subscribe, has as one of its basic tenets the belief that government should stay out of people’s private lives. Government governs best when it governs least – and stays out of the impossible task of legislating morality. But legislating someone’s version of morality is exactly what we do by perpetuating discrimination against gays.

  Barry Goldwater

  Gay, Government, People

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  Religious factions will go on imposing their will on others unless the decent people connected to them recognize that religion has no place in public policy. They must learn to make their views known without trying to make their views the only alternatives.

  Barry Goldwater

  Religious, Freedom, Views

  "Excerpts From Goldwater Remarks". Remarks in the Congressional Record, www.nytimes.com. September 15, 1981.

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• The oldest philosophy in the world is conservatism, and I go clear back to the first Greeks. ... When you say 'radical right' today, I think of these moneymaking ventures by fellows like Pat Robertson and others who are trying to take the Republican Party away from the Republican Party, and make a religious organization out of it. If that ever happens, kiss politics goodbye.

  Barry Goldwater

  Goodbye, Religious, Philosophy

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  While I am a great believer in the free enterprise system and all that it entails, I am an even stronger believer in the right of our people to live in a clean and pollution-free environment.

  Barry Goldwater

  People, Stronger, Environment

  Barry Morris Goldwater (1970). “The conscience of a majority”, Prentice Hall

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• I am frankly sick and tired of the political preachers telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in A, B, C, and D. Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me?

  Barry Goldwater

  Believe, Tired, Thinking

  "Excerpts From Goldwater Remarks". Remarks in the Congressional Record, www.nytimes.com. September 15, 1981.

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• The Republicans have a positive talent for self-destruction.

  Barry Goldwater

  Self, Talent, Republican

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• The fellow has absolutely no principles."Money and gall" is all he has.

  Barry Goldwater

  Presidential, Principles, Fellows

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• The big thing is to make this country - quit discriminating against people just because they're gay. You don't have to agree with it, but they have a constitutional right to be gay. They're American citizens.

  Barry Goldwater

  Country, Gay, People

  "Barry Goldwater's Left Turn". Interview with Lloyd Grove, www.washingtonpost.com. July 28, 1994.

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• Politics [is] the art of achieving the maximum amount of freedom for individuals that is consistent with the maintenance of social order.

  Barry Goldwater

  Art, Freedom, Order

  Barry Goldwater (1994). “The Conscience of a Conservative”, p.7, Regnery Publishing

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• We shall return to proven ways - not because they are old, but because they are true.

  Barry Goldwater

  Inspirational, Way, Return

  Speech Accepting the Republican Presidential Nomination, delivered 16 July 1964, San Francisco

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• I say further that for this great legislative body to ignore the Constitution and the fundamental concepts of our governmental system is to act in a manner which could ultimately destroy the freedom of all American citizens, including the freedoms of the very persons whose feelings and whose liberties are the major subject of this legislation.

  Barry Goldwater

  Feelings, Liberty, Body

  Barry Morris Goldwater (1964). “Where I stand”

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• I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed in their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is "needed" before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible.

  Barry Goldwater

  Mean, Government, Law

  Barry Morris Goldwater, C. C. Goldwater (2007). “The Conscience of a Conservative”, p.15, Princeton University Press

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• I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws but to repeal them.

  Barry Goldwater

  Law, Welfare, Aim

  Barry Goldwater (2010). “The Conscience of a Conservative”, p.19, Bottom of the Hill

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• [G]overnment can, instead of extending freedom, restrict freedom. And note ... that the 'can' quickly becomes 'will' the moment the holders of government power are left to their own devices. This is because of the corrupting influence of power, the natural tendency of men who possess some power to take unto themselves more power. The tendency leads eventually to the acquisition of all power - whether in the hands of one or many makes little difference to the freedom of those left on the outside.

  Barry Goldwater

  Men, Hands, Differences

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• We Americans understand freedom; we have earned it, we have lived for it, and we have died for it. This nation and its people are freedom's models in a searching world. We can be freedom's missionaries in a doubting world. The genius of the American system is that through freedom we have created extraordinary results from plain old ordinary people.

  Barry Goldwater

  War, People, Doubt

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• Can any of us refute the wisdom of Madison and the other framers? Can anyone look at the carnage in Iran, the bloodshed in Northern Ireland or the bombs bursting in Lebanon and yet question the dangers of injecting religious issues into the affairs of state?

  Barry Goldwater

  Religious, Iran, Issues

  Barry Morris Goldwater, C. C. Goldwater (2007). “The Conscience of a Conservative”, p.132, Princeton University Press

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• The constitution is an instrument, above all, for LIMITING the functions of government.

  Barry Goldwater

  Government, Constitution, Function

  Barry Goldwater (2010). “The Conscience of a Conservative”, p.14, Bottom of the Hill

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• By maintaining the separation of church and state, the United States has avoided the intolerance which has so divided the rest of the world with religious wars.

  Barry Goldwater

  Religious, War, Years

  Remarks in the Congressional Record, www.nytimes.com. September 15, 1981.

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• The great decisions of government cannot be dictated by the concerns of religious factions. We have succeeded for 205 years in keeping the affairs of state separate from the uncompromising idealism of religious groups and we mustn't stop now. To retreat from that separation would violate the principles of conservatism and the values upon which the framers built this democratic republic.

  Barry Goldwater

  Religious, Government, Years

  "Excerpts From Goldwater Remarks". Remarks in the Congressional Record, www.nytimes.com. September 15, 1981.

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