George W. Bush's Quotes

The resolve of our great nation is being tested. But make no mistake, we will show the world that we will pass the test.

We've climbed the mighty mountain. I see the valley below, and it's a valley of peace.

Americans are rising to the tasks of history, and they expect the same of us.

Faith crosses every border and touches every heart in every nation.

You can't put democracy and freedom back into a box.

Saddam Hussein is a homicidal dictator who is addicted to weapons of mass destruction.

This way of life is worth defending.

We know that dictators are quick to choose aggression, while free nations strive to resolve differences in peace.

The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them.

Now, there are some who would like to rewrite history - revisionist historians is what I like to call them.

And the cornerstone of my economic policies, when I first got elected, was cutting taxes on everybody on who paid taxes.

I will never relent in defending America - whatever it takes.

There's no bigger task than protecting the homeland of our country.

This young century will be liberty's century.

For all who love freedom and peace, the world without Saddam Hussein's regime is a better and safer place.

I believe a marriage is between a man and a woman.

It is clear our nation is reliant upon big foreign oil. More and more of our imports come from overseas.

The terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States - and war is what they got.

The true history of my administration will be written 50 years from now, and you and I will not be around to see it.

The tyrant has fallen, and Iraq is free.

This was not an act of terrorism, but it was an act of war.

We can't allow the world's worst leaders to blackmail, threaten, hold freedom-loving nations hostage with the world's worst weapons.

For diplomacy to be effective, words must be credible - and no one can now doubt the word of America.

I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but for predecessors as well.

I sent American troops to Iraq to make its people free, not to make them American. Iraqis will write their own history and find their own way.

Iraq is no diversion. It is a place where civilization is taking a decisive stand against chaos and terror, we must not waver.

It's going to be the year of the sharp elbow and the quick tongue.

Look, when you're the president, there's all kinds of things said about us. I mean, it's just the nature of the job.

No one was more shocked or angry than I was when we didn't find the weapons. I had a sickening feeling every time I thought about it. I still do.

Only a liberal senator from Massachusetts would say that a 49 percent increase in funding for education was not enough.

Senator Kerry has been in Washington long enough to take both sides on just about every issue.

The legislature's job is to write law. It's the executive branch's job to interpret law.

The once all-powerful ruler of Iraq was found in a hole, and now sits in a prison cell.

The United States and our allies are determined: we refuse to live in the shadow of this ultimate danger.

The United States of America will never be intimidated by thugs and assassins. The killers will fail, and the Iraqi people will live in freedom.

The United States prefers that Iraq meet its obligations voluntarily, yet we are prepared for the alternative.

We don't believe in planners and deciders making the decisions on behalf of Americans.

With those attacks, the terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States. And war is what they got.

Great tragedy has come to us, and we are meeting it with the best that is in our country, with courage and concern for others because this is America. This is who we are.

I just didn't want to get out there anymore; I didn't want to get back into what I call 'the swamp.' And the other reason why is I don't think it's good for the presidency for a former president to be opining about his successor. President Obama's got plenty of critics - and I'm just not gonna be one.

I would like to be remembered as a guy who had a set of priorities, and was willing to live by those priorities. In terms of accomplishments, my biggest accomplishment is that I kept the country safe amidst a real danger.

The momentum of freedom in our world is unmistakable - and it is not carried forward by our power alone. We can trust in that greater power Who guides the unfolding of the years. And in all that is to come, we can know that His purposes are just and true.

I think you can judge from somebody's actions a kind of a stability and sense of purpose perhaps created by strong religious roots. I mean, there's a certain patience, a certain discipline, I think, that religion helps you achieve.

Use power to help people. For we are given power not to advance our own purposes nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power and it is to serve people.

The action we take and the decisions we make in this decade will have consequences far into this century. If America shows weakness and uncertainty, the world will drift toward tragedy. That will not happen on my watch.

So, I'm lying on the couch and Laura walks in and I say, 'Free at last,' and she says 'You're free all right, you're free to do the dishes.' So I say, 'You're talking to the former president, baby,' and she said, 'consider this your new domestic policy agenda.'

The terrorists are fighting freedom with all their cunning and cruelty because freedom is their greatest fear - and they should be afraid, because freedom is on the march.

I'm hopeful. I know there is a lot of ambition in Washington, obviously. But I hope the ambitious realize that they are more likely to succeed with success as opposed to failure.

We will build new ships to carry man forward into the universe, to gain a new foothold on the moon and to prepare for new journeys to the worlds beyond our own.

America is a friend to the people of Iraq. Our demands are directed only at the regime that enslaves them and threatens us. When these demands are met, the first and greatest benefit will come to Iraqi men, women and children.

And what's interesting, and I don't think a lot of Americans understand this fact, is that, one, most new jobs are created by small businesses; two, most small businesses pay tax at the individual income tax, or many small businesses pay tax there.

Hundreds of thousands of American servicemen and women are deployed across the world in the war on terror. By bringing hope to the oppressed, and delivering justice to the violent, they are making America more secure.

I have zero desire, just so you know, to be in the limelight. I don't think it's good for the country to have a former president criticize his successor. You're not going to see me giving my opinions in the public arena, until I start selling my book. I'm going to emerge then submerge.

People forget... that we structured it so that the government, or the people, would be repaid with a really good rate of return. And as it turns out, that aspect of TARP, that's what happened.

So, for example, a country was into recession right after I was sworn in, a dot-com bust had taken place. Then the attacks of September the 11th, and then of course the great financial meltdown in the -the fundamental question facing any presidency is how do you deal with the hand you're dealt?

I believe in the transformational power of liberty. I believe that the free Iraq is in this nation's interests. I believe a free Afghanistan is in this nation's interest.

I told you I'm not going to criticize my successor. I'll just tell you that there are people at Gitmo that will kill American people at a drop of a hat and I don't believe that persuasion isn't going to work. Therapy isn't going to cause terrorists to change their mind.

People make suggestions on what to say all the time. I'll give you an example; I don't read what's handed to me. People say, 'Here, here's your speech, or here's an idea for a speech.' They're changed. Trust me.

Some have argued that confronting the threat from Iraq could detract from the war against terror. To the contrary, confronting the threat posed by Iraq is crucial to winning the war on terror.

Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.

Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward, and freedom will be defended.

Leadership to me means duty, honor, country. It means character, and it means listening from time to time.

We will not waver; we will not tire; we will not falter, and we will not fail. Peace and Freedom will prevail.

I have a different vision of leadership. A leadership is someone who brings people together.

I can hear you, the rest of the world can hear you and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.

To those of you who received honours, awards and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say you, too, can be president of the United States.

Everywhere that freedom stirs, let tyrants fear.

America is a Nation with a mission - and that mission comes from our most basic beliefs. We have no desire to dominate, no ambitions of empire. Our aim is a democratic peace - a peace founded upon the dignity and rights of every man and woman.

I believe the most solemn duty of the American president is to protect the American people. If America shows uncertainty and weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch.

America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.

When I take action, I'm not going to fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt. It's going to be decisive.

Government does not create wealth. The major role for the government is to create an environment where people take risks to expand the job rate in the United States.

Any government that supports, protects or harbours terrorists is complicit in the murder of the innocent and equally guilty of terrorist crimes.

You can fool some of the people all the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on.