Richard M. Nixon Quotes

The press is the enemy.

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

In the long term we can hope that religion will change the nature of man and reduce conflict. But history is not encouraging in this respect. The bloodiest wars in history have been religious wars.

only if we act greatly in meeting our responsibilities abroad will we remain a great nation, and only if we remain a great nation will we act greatly in meeting our challenges at home

I reject the cynical view that politics is a dirty business.

We must always remember that America is a great nation today not because of what government did for people but because of what people did for themselves and for one another.

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

Voters quickly forget what a man says.

It is necessary for me to establish a winner image. Therefore, I have to beat somebody.

To write a novel, you need an iron butt.

I was born in the house my father built.

If you take no risks, you will suffer no defeats. But if you take no risks, you win no victories.

I can see clearly now... that I was wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate.

I let the American people down.

In the television age, the key distinction is between the candidate who can speak poetry and the one who can only speak prose.

The greatest honor history can bestow is that of peacemaker.

Black Americans, no more than white Americans, they do not want more government programs which perpetuate dependency. They don't want to be a colony in a nation.

Government can provide opportunity. But opportunity means nothing unless people are prepared to seize it.

The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.

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.

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

When the President does it, that means that it is not illegal.

Finishing second in the Olympics gets you silver. Finishing second in politics gets you oblivion.

Don't get the impression that you arouse my anger. You see, one can only be angry with those he respects.

I can take it. The tougher it gets, the cooler I get.

We do not learn by inference and deduction and the application of mathematics to philosophy, but by direct intercourse and sympathy.

If I had feelings, I probably wouldn’t have even survived.

I don't know anything that builds the will to win better than competitive sports.

You must pursue this investigation of Watergate even if it leads to the president. I'm innocent. You've got to believe I'm innocent. If you don't, take my job.

I played by the rules of politics as I found them.