Richard Nixon Quotes

190 Sourced Quotes

At home, we must reject the mistaken notion - a notion that has dominated too much of the public dialogue for too long - that ever bigger Government is the answer to every problem.

Richard Nixon
Now, some may ask why we don't get rid of the bases, since the Soviet Government declares today that it has only peaceful intentions. The answer is that whenever the fear and suspicions that caused us and our Allies to take measures for collective self-defense are removed, the reason for our maintaining bases will be removed. In other words, the only possible solution of this problem lies in mutual, rather than unilateral action leading toward disarmament.

Richard Nixon
We must maintain the integrity of the White House, and that integrity must be real, not transparent. There can be no whitewash at the White House.

Richard Nixon
When they go to take a bite out of the world, the Soviets are not fussy eaters.

Richard Nixon
By taking this action, I hope that I will have hastened the start of the healing.

Richard Nixon
Men of intellectual and moral eminence who encourage public disobedience of the law are responsible for the acts of those who inevitably follow their counsel: the poor, the ignorant and the impressionable. For example, to the professor objecting to de facto segregation, it may be crystal clear where civil disobedience may begin and where it must end. But the boundaries have become fluid to his students and other listeners. Today in the urban slums, the limits of responsible action are all but invisible.

Richard Nixon
My strong point, if I have a strong point, is performance. I always do more than I say. I always produce more than I promise.

Richard Nixon
The Soviet Union began by banishing God. The United States began as a community of people who wanted to worship God as they chose... Man does not live by bread alone. Those in the United States whose desire to create a strictly secular society is as strong as Lenin's was should study this Cold War lesson closely. Communism was defeated by an alliance spearheaded by 'one nation under God.'

Richard Nixon
What are our schools for if not for indoctrination against communism?

Richard Nixon
The most important thing about man's first footsteps on the Moon is what they promise for the future.

Richard Nixon
While technically I did not commit a crime, an impeachable offense... these are legalisms, as far as the handling of this matter is concerned; it was so botched up, I made so many bad judgments. The worst ones, mistakes of the heart, rather than the head. But let me say, a man in that top job - he's got to have a heart, but his head must always rule his heart.

Richard Nixon
In our own lives, let each of us ask—not just what government will do for me, but what can I do for myself?

Richard Nixon
As our cities and suburbs relentlessly expand, those priceless open spaces needed for recreation areas accessible to their people are swallowed up-often forever. Unless we preserve these spaces while they are still available, we will have none to preserve.

Richard Nixon
I call it the Madman Theory, Bob. I want the North Vietnamese to believe I've reached the point where I might do anything to stop the war. We'll just slip the word to them that, for God's sake, you know Nixon is obsessed about Communism. We can't restrain him when he's angry and he has his hand on the nuclear button and Ho Chi Minh himself will be in Paris in two days begging for peace.

Richard Nixon
This administration has proved that it is utterly incapable of cleaning out the corruption which has completely eroded it and reestablishing the confidence and faith of the American people in the morality and honesty of their government employees.

Richard Nixon
My strong point is not rhetoric, it isn't showmanship, it isn't big promises - those things that create the glamour and the excitement that people call charisma and warmth.

Richard Nixon
Those few days after Kent State were among the darkest of my presidency.

Richard Nixon
Many Jews in the Communist conspiracy. Chambers and Hiss were the only non-Jews. Many thought that Hiss was. He could have been a half. Every other one was a Jew—and it raised hell for us. But in this case, I hope to God he's not a Jew.

Richard Nixon
This country needs good farmers, good businessmen, good plumbers, good carpenters.

Richard Nixon
We must adopt reforms which will expand the range of opportunities for all Americans. We can fulfill the American dream only when each person has a fair chance to fulfill his own dreams. This means equal voting rights, equal employment opportunity and new opportunities for expanded ownership, because in order to be secure in their human rights, people need access to property rights.

Richard Nixon
Being controversial in politics is inevitable. If an individual wants to be a leader and isn't controversial, that means he never stood for anything. In the world today, there are not many good choices—only choices between the half-good and the less half-good.

Richard Nixon
The average American is just like the child in the family. You give him some responsibility and he is going to amount to something. He is going to do something. If, on the other hand, you make him completely dependent and pamper him and cater to him too much, you are going to make him soft, spoiled and eventually a very weak individual.

Richard Nixon
I recognize that this additional material I am now furnishing may further damage my case.

Richard Nixon
Until he has been part of a cause larger than himself, no man is truly whole.

Richard Nixon
To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. But as President I must put the interests of America first. America needs a full-time President and a full-time Congress, particularly at this time with problems we face at home and abroad.

Richard Nixon