Within the first few months I discovered that being a president is like riding a tiger. A man has to keep riding or be swallowed.

An honest public servant can't become rich in politics. He can only attain greatness and satisfaction by service.

I sincerely regret the unfortunate choice of language which I used in my letter of August 29 to Congressman McDonough concerning the Marine Corps.

Work Hard. Do your best. Keep your word. Never get too big for your britches. Trust in God. Have no fear; and Never forget a friend.

My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. To tell the truth, there's hardly a difference.

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.

Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifices.

A President needs political understanding to run the government, but he may be elected without it.

Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it.

Everybody has the right to express what he thinks. That, of course, lets the crackpots in. But if you cannot tell a crackpot when you see one, then you ought to be taken in.

Term limits would cure both senility and seniority- both terrible legislative diseases.

A shower is the perfect place for crying. No one can hear you if you do it quietly, into a wash-cloth, with the water running.

Take it from an old cadaver. Let go of the past.

my unexpected trip to the light may have been cancelled, but here I was, still paying the cost of the return ticket

Who was he if not destined for fame?

Because we build the worlds we wouldn't mind living in. They contain scary things, problems, but also a sense of rightness that makes them alive and makes us want to live there.

I think the blues is fine for blues players, but free blues has never made much sense to me.

Ma sighed gently and said, "A whole year gone, Charles." But Pa answered, cheerfully: "What's a year amount to? We have all the time there is.

I always act better when I'm able to curse.

The assignment of purpose to everything is called teleology. Children are native teleologists, and many never grow out of it.

Our challenge is to find the compassion for others that we want them to have for us.