George H. W. Bush/Quotes: Difference between revisions

 

* '''It is possible to tell things by a handshake.''' I like the "looking in the eye" syndrome. It conveys interest. I like the firm, though not bone crushing shake. The bone crusher is trying too hard to "macho it.: The clammy or diffident handshake — fairly or unfairly — get me off to a bad start with a person.

** Letter to Gary Hanauser (18 September 1979), as quoted in ''All the Best, George Bush : My Life in Letters and Other Writings'' (2000), p. 282

** [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=16628&st George Bush: "Remarks to Members of the Senior Executive Service," January 26, 1989. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project.]

 

 

 

*'''To all who mourn a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a friend — I can only offer you the gratitude of a nation, for your loved one served his country with distinction and honor."''' … '''"Your men are under a different command now, one that knows no rank, only love; knows no danger, only peace, May God bless them all.'''

 

* My dog Millie knows more about foreign affairs than these two bozos.

 

* Trying to eliminate [[Saddam Hussein|Saddam]], extending the ground war into an occupation of Iraq, would have violated our guideline about not changing objectives in midstream, engaging in "mission creep", and would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible. We had been unable to find Noriega in Panama, which we knew intimately. We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. The coalition would instantly have collapsed, the Arabs deserting it in anger and other allies pulling out as well. Under those circumstances, furthermore, we had been self-consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-cold war world. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the U.N.'s mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the U.S. could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land. It would have been a dramatically different — and perhaps barren — outcome.

 

* '''Even though I'm a tranquil guy now at this stage of my life, I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the identity of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors.'''

 

* '''Most of the money that [[Bill Clinton|President Clinton]] and I raised has not been spent yet, and it will go into reconstruction. … This is bigger than politics; this is about saving lives, and I must confess I’m getting a huge kick out of it.'''

 

* '''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.'''

 

** "'''I'll never apologize for the United States. Ever. I don't care what the facts are'''," Bush told about 200 members of his newly formed Coalition of American Nationalities, a group with representatives of ethnic backgrounds from about two dozen countries. Bush attributed his indiscriminate support for the nation to his belief that the United States is '''"the only hope for freedom and democracy"''' in the world and that '''"no other country is strong enough to lead the free world."'''

***in his closing remarks at a Vice-Presidential debate with Geraldine Ferraro in Philadelphia, PA, in October 1984. ''Bush, Ferraro Clash at Civic Center'' CHRISTOPHER HEPP. Philadelphia Daily News. Philadelphia, Pa.: October 12, 1984. pg. 3

*'''No nation can fully understand itself or find its place in the world if it does not look with clear eyes at all the glories and disgraces, too, of the past. We, in the United States, acknowledge such an injustice in our own history: The internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry was a great injustice, and it will never be repeated.'''

*'''Message: I care'''

**To a town-hall meeting in Exeter, New Hampshire, while campaigning during the 1992 Republican primaries. [http://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/16/us/1992-campaign-republicans-immersing-himself-nitty-gritty-bush-barnstorms-new.html]. Some sources claim that this was the result of Bush mistakenly reading aloud from a cue card. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ePRIONzLmEoC&pg=PA263&lpg=PA263&dq=message+i+care+cue+card&source=bl&ots=0fIXEXQwyo&sig=drmXN3NkMLS6wozWkKuPv_12khE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAmoVChMI09PW0-f3xwIVVC-ICh2dsAkl#v=onepage&q=message%20i%20care%20cue%20card&f=false]

* '''I do not mistrust the future; I do not fear what is ahead. For our problems are large, but our heart is larger. Our challenges are great, but our will is greater. And if our flaws are endless, God's love is truly boundless.'''<br> Some see leadership as high drama, and the sound of trumpets calling, and sometimes it is that. But I see history as a book with many pages, and each day we fill a page with acts of hopefulness and meaning. '''The new breeze blows, a page turns, the story unfolds. And so today a chapter begins, a small and stately story of unity, diversity, and generosity &mdash; shared, and written, together.'''

 

 

 

== Quotes about Bush ==