26 quotes
We must get the American public to look past the glitter, beyond the showmanship, to the reality, the hard substance of things.
Democratic National Convention Address (1984)
I have no plans, and no plans to plan.
Every time I've done something that doesn't feel right, it's ended up not being right.
In God's Care : Daily Meditations on Spirituality in Recovery (1991)
I am a trial lawyer… Matilda says that at dinner on a good day I sound like an affidavit.
There are few things more amusing in the world of politics than watching moderate Republicans charging to the right in pursuit of greater glory.
The Nastiest Things Ever Said about Republicans (2006)
I’d say, “That’s it, Charlie, you’re going to be by yourself for a hundred years.”
Lincoln isn’t a man with ingrown toenails, he’s an idea.
You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.
People expect Byzantine, Machiavellian logic from politicians. But the truth is simple. Trial lawyers learn a good rule: 'Don't decide what you don't have to decide.' That's not evasion, it's wisdom.
The Quotable Politician (2003)
I talk and talk and talk, and I haven’t taught people in 50 years what my father taught by example in one week.
I can offer you no final truths, complete and unchallengeable.
Religious Belief and Public Morality (1984)
Entertainers and sports figures achieve fame and wealth but find the world empty and dull without the solace and stimulation of drugs.
Address at Iona College (1984)
Do you blame me, ladies and gentlemen, for being reluctant to deliver to them the message that is traditional on commencement day?
Address at Iona College (1984)
The mugger who is arrested is back on the street before the police officer, but the person mugged may not be back on the street for a long time, if ever.
We speak for millions of reasoning people fighting to preserve our environment from greed and from stupidity.
Democratic National Convention Address (1984)
Indeed, as I think about it, I have to conclude that these young people before me today are the best reason for hope that this world knows.
Address at Iona College (1984)
You want calamities? What about the Ice Age? … God made this world, but didn't complete it.
I said I didn’t want to run for president. I didn’t ask you to believe me.
I told them that my grandfather had died in the Great Crash of 1929 — a stockbroker jumped out of a window and crushed him and his pushcart down below.
If you can manipulate news, a judge can manipulate the law. A smart lawyer can keep a killer out of jail, a smart accountant can keep a thief from paying taxes, a smart reporter could ruin your reputation — unfairly.