Presidency Quotes - Page 17

• Take our politicians: they're a bunch of yo-yos. The presidency is now a cross between a popularity contest and a high school debate, with an encyclopedia of cliches.

  Saul Bellow

  School, Politics, Firsts

  "The Portable Curmudgeon". Book by Jon Winokur, p. 219, 1987.

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• No man who ever held the office of president would congratulate a friend on obtaining it.

  John Adams

  Men, Office, Presidential

  Letter to Josiah Quincy, 14 Feb. 1825

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• Of the various executive abilities, no one excited more anxious concern than that of placing the interests of our fellow-citizens in the hands of honest men, with understanding sufficient for their stations. No duty is at the same time more difficult to fulfil. The knowledge of character possessed by a single individual is of necessity limited. To seek out the best through the whole Union, we must resort to the information which from the best of men, acting disinterestedly and with the purest motives, is sometimes incorrect.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Honesty, Character, Men

  Letter to Elias Shipman and Merchants of New Haven, July 12, 1801.

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• The whole framework of the presidency is getting out of hand. It's come to the point where you almost can't run unless you can cause people to salivate and whip each other with big sticks. You almost have to be a rock star to get the kind of fever you need to survive in American politics.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Running, Stars, Rocks

  "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72". Book by Hunter S. Thompson, 1973.

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• America is too great for small dreams.

  Ronald Reagan

  Dream, 4th Of July, America

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• In 1891, during the Presidency of William Henry Harrison [Benjamin Harrison], electric lights were first installed in the White House, the residence of the leaders of our country. At that time, commercial electricity was not economically feasible, but President Harrison wanted to affirm his confidence in the technological capability of our country.

  Jimmy Carter

  Country, Technology, White

  United States. President (1977-1981 : Carter), Jimmy Carter (1979). “Jimmy Carter”

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• When I joined the ANC, I never thought I would be anything. In no way, did I say, 'One day I could be the president. I think I am good material for the presidency.' Not at all.

  Jacob Zuma

  Thinking, One Day, President

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• When you see how the President makes political or policy decisions, you see who he is. The essence of the Presidency is decision-making.

  Bob Woodward

  Essence, Decision, Political

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• Seriously, I do not think I am fit for the Presidency.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Self Esteem, Thinking, Self Respect

  "The Life and Writings of Abraham Lincoln".

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• I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5-lb. perch in my lake. (Answering a reporter who asked him to name the best moment of his Presidency.)

  George W. Bush

  Names, Lakes, Moments

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• Likewise the piercing of the body for multiple rings in the ears, in the nose, even in the tongue. Can they possibly think that is beautiful? It is a passing fancy, but its effects can be permanent. Some have gone to such extremes that the ring had to be removed by surgery. The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve have declared that we discourage tattoos and also “the piercing of the body for other than medical purposes.” We do not, however, take any position “on the minimal piercing of the ears by women for one pair of earrings”-one pair only.

  Gordon B. Hinckley

  Tattoo, Beautiful, Thinking

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• I think it has sullied his presidency. As brilliant a politician as Bill Clinton is, as magnetic a personality as he can be, there is one little screw loose somewhere.

  Morley Safer

  Thinking, Personality, Littles

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• If a President of the United States ever lied to the American people, he should resign.

  William J. Clinton

  Stupid, Humorous, People

  "IMPEACHMENT; The Debate on Articles of Impeachment Against President Clinton". www.nytimes.com. December 19, 1998.

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• I think that the presidency really brings out the best in a lot of people.

  Caroline Kennedy

  Thinking, People

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• I once told Nixon that the Presidency is like being a jackass caught in a hail storm. You've got to just stand there and take it.

  Lyndon B. Johnson

  Storm, Hail, Caught

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• A President's hardest task is not to do what is right, but to know what is right.

  Lyndon B. Johnson

  Political, Presidential, Tasks

  State of the Union address to Congress, 4 Jan. 1965, in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson 1965 vol. 1, p. 9

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• The presidency has made every man who occupied it, no matter how small, bigger than he was; and no matter how big, not big enough for its demands.

  Lyndon B. Johnson

  Men, Demand, Matter

  Johnson, Lyndon B. (1965). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1963-1964”, p.593, Best Books on

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• Postman is a media analyst and his theory is that television doesn't influence our culture, but that it is our culture and the presidency and anything that relies on television.

  Val Kilmer

  Media, Culture, Television

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• Steve Sailer gives us the real Barack Obama, who turns out to be very, very different - and much more interesting - than the bland healer/uniter image stitched together out of whole cloth this past six years by Obama's packager, David Axelrod. Making heavy use of Obama's own writings, which he admires for their literary artistry, Sailer gives the deepest insights I have yet seen into Obama's lifelong obsession with 'race and inheritance,' and rounds off his brilliant character portrait with speculations on how Obama's personality might play out in the Presidency.

  John Derbyshire

  Real, Character, Writing

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• In the course of his presidency, Obama has gone from an almost magical charismatic figure to an ordinary politician. Ordinary. Average.

  Charles Krauthammer

  Average, Ordinary, Gone

  "Obama Is Average". Interview with Klaus Brinkbäumer and Gregor-Peter Schmitz, www.spiegel.de. October 26, 2009.

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• If I were president of the United States, I would include Moslems in my presidency.

  Jerry Falwell

  President, United States, Great Wall

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• We look a little bit disorderly, indecisive, leaderless. That's a real problem, and that's a problem that concerns me particularly on foreign affairs. The presidency, not just President Obama, but the presidency in recent years has lost some of the terrain that they used to dominate in the making of foreign policy. I think President Obama has to make a serious effort to regain it because he lost some of it himself.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Real, Thinking, Years

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• In the experiences of a year of the Presidency, there has come to me no other such unwelcome impression as the manifest religious intolerance which exists among many of our citizens. I hold it to be a menace to the very liberties we boast and cherish.

  Warren G. Harding

  Religious, Years, Presidential

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• When I ran for Presidency of the United States, I knew that this country faced serious challenges, but I could not realize - nor could any man realize who does not bear the burdens of this office - how heavy and constant would be those burdens

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Men, Office

  Kennedy, John F. (1962). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1961”, p.539, Best Books on

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• Removing Saddam Hussein was the right decision early in my presidency, it is the right decision now, and it will be the right decision ever.

  George W. Bush

  Decision, Hussein, Bushism

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