GEORGE H. W. BUSH QUOTES

American politician & U.S. President (1924-2018)

America is never wholly herself unless she is engaged in high moral principle. We as a people have such a purpose today. It is to make kinder the face of the Nation and gentler the face of the world.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH

Inaugural Address, January 20, 1989

Tags: America


Our nation is the enduring dream of every immigrant who ever set foot on these shores, and the millions still struggling to be free. This nation, this idea called America, was and always will be a new world -- our new world.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH

State of the Union Address, January 31, 1990


Weakness and ambivalence lead to war.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH

RNC acceptance speech, August 18, 1988


Read my lips: no new taxes.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH

RNC acceptance speech, August 18, 1988


This is America ... a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH

RNC acceptance speech, August 18, 1988


Competence is the creed of the technocrat who makes sure the gears mesh but doesn't for a second understand the magic of the machine.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH

RNC acceptance speech, August 18, 1988


The fact is prosperity has a purpose. It's to allow us to pursue "the better angels," to give us time to think and grow.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH

RNC acceptance speech, August 18, 1988


I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of [CIA] sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious, of traitors.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH

speech, April 26, 1999


Equality begins with economic empowerment.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH

RNC acceptance speech, August 18, 1988


There is a God and He is good, and his love, while free, has a self imposed cost: We must be good to one another.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH

RNC acceptance speech, August 18, 1988


I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH

news conference, March 22, 1990


They only name things after you when you're dead or really old.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH

speech, April 26, 1999


If you believe that there's a being superior to yourself and that will guide you, strengthen you that helps a lot but, you know, you just have to stay the course. You just got to stay in there. You cannot be waffling or taking a poll to see what people think. You have to do what you think is right.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH

Larry King Live, September 5, 2005


The anchor in our world today is freedom, holding us steady in times of change, a symbol of hope to all the world.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH

State of the Union Address, January 31, 1990


There are truckloads of broccoli at this very minute descending on Washington. My family is divided. For the broccoli vote out there: Barbara loves broccoli. She has tried to make me eat it. She eats it all the time herself. So she can go out and meet the caravan of broccoli that's coming in.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH

news conference, March 22, 1990


I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH

news conference, August 27, 1987


I will never apologize for the United States -- I don't care what the facts are.... I'm not an apologize-for-America kind of guy.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH

commenting on the Navy warship USS Vincennes having shot down Iran Air Flight 655 in a commercial air corridor on July 3, killing 290 civilians, Time Magazine, September 12, 1988


I know this about the American people: We welcome competition. We'll match our ingenuity, our energy, our experience and technology, our spirit and enterprise against anyone.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH

State of the Union Address, January 31, 1990


The longer our graduation lines are today, the shorter our unemployment lines will be tomorrow.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH

address to joint session of Congress, February 9, 1989


We're going to keep trying to strengthen the American family. To make them more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH

statement at the 1992 Republican National Convention