John McCain Quotes

90 Sourced Quotes

No one of good character leaves behind a wasted life — whether they die in obscurity or renown. "Character," wrote the 19th Century evangelist, Dwight Moody, "is what you are in the dark." Your character is not tested on occasions of public scrutiny or acclaim. It is not tested in moments when the object of your actions is the regard of another. Your character is what you are to yourself, not what you pretend to be to yourself or others. Although human beings often attempt self-delusion, we cannot forever hide the truth about ourselves from ourselves. It will make itself known to us by means of our conscience despite our most strenuous effort to suppress it.

John McCain
Let me say that no one has supported President Bush on Iraq more than I have.

John McCain
Why should you shake hands with somebody who's keeping Americans in prison? I mean, what's the point? Neville Chamberlain shook hands with Hitler.

John McCain
I think they put some lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig.

John McCain
Because I know that as successful as I believe we will be, and I believe that the success [in Iraq] will be fairly easy, we will still lose some American young men or women. And that's a great tragedy.

John McCain
In the words of Chairman Mao, 'It's darkest before it's totally black.'

John McCain
In all candor, if I'd been President of the United States, I'd have ordered the plane landed at the nearest Air Force base, and I'd have been over here, ok?

John McCain
I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president. And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties, but to believe, always, in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here.

John McCain
Q: My wife and I are expecting our first child, in April 2nd, next year. And frankly, we're scared. We're scared of an Obama presidency...
John McCain: First of all, I want to be President of the United States and obviously, I don't want Senator Obama to be. But, I have to tell you, he is a decent person, and a person that you do not have to be scared as President of the United States. Now, I just— [crowd boos] Now look, if I didn't think I would be one heck of a lot better president I wouldn't be runnin', okay, and that's the point.

John McCain
Glory is not a conceit. It is not a decoration for valor. Glory belongs to the act of being constant to something greater than yourself, to a cause, to your principles, to the people on whom you rely and who rely on you in return.

John McCain
There is some indication, and I don't have the conclusions, but some of this anthrax may — and I emphasize may — have come from Iraq.

John McCain
As part of Social Security reform, I believe that private savings accounts are a part of it — along the lines that President Bush proposed.

John McCain
Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan and Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right.

John McCain
As you know, there are al-Qaeda operatives that are taken back into Iran, given training as leaders, and they're moving back into Iraq.

John McCain
Americans are very frustrated, and they have every right to be. We've wasted a lot of our most precious treasure, which is American lives.

John McCain
I think if you look at the overall record and millions of jobs have been created, et cetera, et cetera, you could make an argument that there's been great progress economically over that period of time. But that's no comfort. That's no comfort to families now that are facing these tremendous economic challenges. But let me just add, Peter, the fundamentals of America's economy are strong.

John McCain
They're the government; sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy towards Hamas because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice, so... but it's a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that.

John McCain
I will not take the low road to the highest office in this land. I want the presidency in the best way, not the worst way.

John McCain
I made it very clear, at that time, before and after, that we will not negotiate with terrorist organizations, that Hamas would have to abandon their terrorism, their advocacy to the extermination of the state of Israel, and be willing to negotiate in a way that recognizes the right of the state of Israel and abandons their terrorist position and advocacy.

John McCain
Anybody who believes the surge has not succeeded, militarily, politically and in most other ways, frankly, does not know the facts on the ground.

John McCain
The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should. I've got Greenspan's book.... I've never been involved in Wall Street, I've never been involved in the financial stuff, the financial workings of the country, so I'd like to have somebody intimately familiar with it.

John McCain
You know that there's been tremendous turmoil in our financial markets and Wall Street. And it is – it's – people are frightened by these events. Our economy, I think, still, the fundamentals are – of our economy are strong, but these are very, very difficult times. And I promise you, we will never put America in this position again. We will clean up Wall Street. We will reform government.

John McCain
I looked into his eyes and saw three letters: a 'K', a 'G', and a 'B'.

John McCain
And I stopped beating my wife just a couple of weeks ago…

John McCain
By 2008, I think I might be ready to go down to the old soldiers home and await the cavalry charge there.

John McCain
While I don't in any way question your honor, your patriotism or your service to our country, I do question some of the decisions, the judgments you've made over the past two and a half years. During that time things have gotten markedly and progressively worse.

John McCain
We're no longer staring into the abyss of defeat and we can now look ahead to the genuine prospect of success.

John McCain
Diane Sawyer: Do you agree the situation in Afghanistan is precarious and urgent?
McCain: Well, I think it's very serious. I think it's a serious situation.
Sawyer: Not precarious and urgent?
McCain: Oh, I don't know exactly—run through the vocabulary. But it's a very serious situation. But there's a lot of things we need to do. We have a lot of work to do and I'm afraid that it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border.

John McCain
I don't know if I would want him as vice president. He and I have the same strengths. But to serve in other capacities? Hell, yeah.

John McCain
You know, it's interesting for the president to say something that juvenile. I'm not picking on anyone. Again, as we just said, four Americans died! Is that picking on anybody when you want to place responsibility and find out what happened so that we can make sure it doesn't happen again?

John McCain