Richard M. Nixon Quotes

There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white.

Never forget, the press is the enemy. The establishment is the enemy. The professors are the enemy. Professors are the enemy. Write that on a blackboard 100 times and never forget it.

When the President does it, that means that it's not illegal.

Only if you have been in the deepest valley, can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.

People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I earned everything I've got.

We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another - until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.

I don't think a woman should be in any government job whatever. I mean, I really don't. The reason why I do is mainly because they are erratic and emotional.

I know you heard what you thought I said, but what I said isn't what I meant.

I was not lying. I said things that later on seemed to be untrue.

I gave 'em a sword. And they stuck it in, and they twisted it with relish. And I guess if I had been in their position, I'd have done the same thing.

When I retire I'm going to spend my evenings by the fireplace going through those boxes. There are things in there that ought to be burned.

Defeat doesn't finish a man, quit does. A man is not finished when he's defeated. He's finished when he quits.

No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now.

You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference.

If we take the route of the permanent handout, the American character will itself be impoverished.

Nothing would please the Kremlin more than to have the people of this country choose a second rate president.

We will establish a new system that makes high-quality health care available to every American in a dignified manner and at a price he can afford.

Sure there are dishonest men in local government. But there are dishonest men in national government too.

Listen, I don't know anything about polygraphs and I don't know how accurate they are, but I know they'll scare the hell out of people.

The press is the enemy.

Capitalism works better than it sounds, while socialism sounds better than it works.

Remember, always give your best. Never get discouraged. Never be petty. Always remember, others may hate you. But those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.

The mark of a true politician is that he is never at a loss for words because he is always half-expecting to be asked to make a speech.

If an individual wants to be a leader and isn't controversial, that means he never stood for anything.

I didn't do anything wrong and I promise to never do it again.

My strong point is not rhetoric , it isn't showmanship, it isn't big promises - those things that create the glamour and the excitement that people call charisma and warmth.

The memory of that scene for me is like a frame of film forever frozen at that moment: the red carpet, the green lawn, the white house, the leaden sky. The new president and his first lady.

Watergate had become the center of the media's universe, and during the remaining year of my presidency the media tried to force everything else to revolve around it.

What a strange creature man is that he fouls his own nest.

The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.

President Johnson and I have a lot in common. We were both born in small towns and we're both fortunate in the fact that we think we married above ourselves.

Our chief justices have probably had more profound and lasting influence on their times and on the direction of the nation than most presidents.

The important thing is that we maintain plausible deniability.

If I were to make public these tapes, containing blunt and candid remarks on many different subjects, the confidentiality of the office of the president would always be suspect.

I would not like to be a political leader in Russia. They never know when they're being taped.

Any nation that decides the only way to achieve peace is through peaceful means is a nation that will soon be a piece of another nation.

To me, the most unhappy people in the world are the people ... in Palm Beach- Going to parties every night. Playing golf every afternoon, then bridge. [They have] no purpose.

Rarely have so many people been so wrong about so much.

If you want to make beautiful music, you must play the black and the white notes together.

Those who hate us only win if we hate them back

What was Watergate? A little bugging!

You have to face the fact that the whole problem is really the blacks. The key is to devise a system that recognizes this all while not appearing to.

I'm not at liberty to discuss the governments knowledge of extraterrestrial UFO's at this time. I am still personally being briefed on the subject!

Communism denies God, enslaves men, and destroys justice.

Honesty may not be the best policy, but it is worth trying once in a while.

The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word "crisis." One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity.

Idealism without realism is impotent. Realism without idealism is immoral.

My concern today is not with the length of a person's hair but with his conduct.

A politician knows that his friends are not always his allies, and that his adversaries are not always his enemies.

Never say no when a client asks for something, even if it is the moon. You can always try, and anyhow there is plenty of time afterwards to explain that it was not possible.