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It Would Be Naïve To Think That Peace And Justice Can Be Achieved Easily. No Set Of Rules Or Study Of History Will Automatically Resolve The Problems ... However, With Faith And Perseverance, ... Complex Problems In The Past Have Been Resolved In Our Search For Justice And Peace.

-Jimmy Carter

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It Would Be Naïve

Jimmy Carter

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It Would Be Naïve To Think That Peace And Justice Can Be Achieved Easily. No Set Of Rules Or Study Of History Will Automatically Resolve The Problems ... However, With Faith And Perseverance, ... Complex Problems In The Past Have Been Resolved In Our Search For Justice And Peace.

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A Nation's Domestic And Foreign Policies And Actions Should Be Derived From The Same Standards Of Ethics, Honesty And Morality Which Are Characteristic Of The Individual Citizens Of The Nation.

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I Advocate The Modification Of The '67 Borders To Let About Half Of The Israeli Stay In Palestine.

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Whatever Starts In California Unfortunately Has An Inclination To Spread.

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If I Should Ever Decide In The Future To Discuss My Deep Christian Beliefs And Condemnation And Sinfulness, I Would Use Another Forum Besides Playboy.

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Common Humanity

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African American

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I Have A Very Real Political Awareness That At Least On A Transient Basis The More Drastic Action Taken By The President, The More Popular It Is.

I Obviously Hoped That Everything That I Found Would Make A Difference. It Ended Up Being Way Behind My Wildest Dreams.

Making A Difference

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A Strong Nation, Like A Strong Person, Can Afford To Be Gentle, Firm, Thoughtful, And Restrained. It Can Afford To Extend A Helping Hand To Others. It's A Weak Nation, Like A Weak Person, That Must Behave With Bluster And Boasting And Rashness And Other Signs Of Insecurity.

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I've Never Won An Argument With My Wife; And The Only Time I Thought I Had I Found Out The Argument Wasn't Over Yet.

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There Should Be An Honest Attempt At The Reconciliation Of Differences Before Resorting To Combat.

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George Bush Asked Me If There Was Anything He Could Do For Me, And I Said, "yes, You Can Help Promote Peace In Sudan After Eight Years Of Different Policy." And He Said, "i'll Do It." So To Make A Long Story Short, He Did It, Not Necessarily Because I Requested It, But They Were Very Successful.

Always I'm Working On Some Of Book. That's The Way I Make A Living.

I Want To Make It Clear,if There Is Ever A Conflict [between Environmental Quality And Economic Growth], I Will Go For Beauty, Clean Air, Water, And Landscape.

Environmental Quality

Those Who Start War Often Know That Because Of Their High Political Position Their Own Lives Will Not Be In Danger. On The Diane Rehm Show.

In Many Courts, Plea Bargaining Serves The Convenience Of The Judge And The Lawyers, Not The Ends Of Justice, Because The Courts Simply Lack The Time To Give Everyone A Fair Trial.

The Existing And Long-standing Use Of The Word 'evolution' In Our State's Textbooks Has Not Adversely Affected Georgians' Belief In The Omnipotence Of God As Creator Of The Universe, There Can Be No Incompatibility Between Christian Faith And Proven Facts Concerning Geology, Biology, And Astronomy. There Is No Need To Teach That Stars Can Fall Out Of The Sky And Land On A Flat Earth In Order To Defend Our Religious Faith.

The Founding Of Our Nation Was More Than A Political Event; It Was An Act Of Faith, A Promise To Americans And To The Entire World. The Declaration Of Independence Declared That People Can Govern Themselves, That They Can Live In Freedom With Equal Rights, That They Can Respect The Rights Of Others.

Inspirational Life

We Have The Heaviest Concentration Of Lawyers On Earth -- One For Every Five-hundred Americans; Three Times As Many As Are In England, Four Times As Many As Are In West Germany, Twenty-one Times As Many As There Are In Japan. We Have More Litigation, But I Am Not Sure That We Have More Justice. No Resources Of Talent And Training In Our Own Society, Even Including The Medical Care, Is More Wastefully Or Unfairly Distributed Than Legal Skills. Ninety Percent Of Our Lawyers Serve 10 Percent Of Our People. We Are Over-lawyered And Under-represented.

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Last Night When I Was Commenting On The Fbi And The Cia, The Sound Went Off For 27 Minutes. I Should Have Known Better.

We Have Seven And A Half Times As Many People In Prison. And We Have Eight Times As Many Black Women In Prison Now As We Did In 1981, When I Left The White House. So That's Been One Of The Major Concerns I've Had As A Non-lawyer, To Criticize The American Justice System, Which Is Highly Biased Against Black People And Poor People. And It Still Is.

Our Individual Fates Are Linked Our Futures Intertwined

I Believe There Is Complete Equality Between Men And Women.

But I Am Not Discouraged. I Do Not Despair For Our Country. I Believe Tonight, As I Always Have, That The Essential Decency, Compassion And Common Sense Of The American People Will Prevail.

In This Outward And Physical Ceremony We Attest Once Again To The Inner And Spiritual Strength Of Our Nation. As My High School Teacher, Miss Julia Coleman, Used To Say: 'we Must Adjust To Changing Times And Still Hold To Unchanging Principles.'

It Would Be Almost Politically Suicidal For Members Of Congress To Espouse A Balanced Position Between Israel And Palestine, To Suggest That Israel Comply With International Law Or To Speak In Defense Of Justice Or Human Rights For Palestinians. If They Did So, They Couldn't Be Reelected.

Except During My Childhood, When I Was Probably Influenced By Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel Depiction Of God With A Flowing White Beard, I Have Never Tried To Project The Creator In Any Kind Of Human Likeness. The Vociferous Debates About Whether God Is Male Or Female Seem Ridiculous To Me. I Think Of God As An Omnipotent And Omniscient Presence, A Spirit That Permeates The Universe, The Essence Of Truth, Nature, Being, And Life. To Me, These Are Profound And Indescribable Concepts That Seem To Be Trivialized When Expressed In Words.

With This New Stupid Supreme Court Ruling, Secret Money Can Come In On An Unlimited Level From Corporations. Nobody Knows Where It Comes From. That Distorts The Political Situation In Our Country Tremendously. Most Of That Money Is Spent On Negative Advertising That Is Tearing Down The Character And Reputation Of Your Opponent, And It Works, Although Most American People Say, "we Don't Like Negative Advertising," It Works.

I Just Look At Death As Not A Threat. It's Inevitable, And I Have An Assurance Of Eternal Life.

I've Just Finished My 20th Book This Past Year And I'm Working On My 21st Book About The Middle East Right Now That I'll Finish This Year. And I Get Up Early In The Morning And When I Get Tired Of The Computer And Tired Of Doing Research, I Walk 20 Steps Out To My Woodshop And I Either Build Furniture Or Paint Paintings. I'm An Artist Too.

You Can Not Divorce Religious Belief And Public Service. I've Never Detected Any Conflict Between God's Will And My Political Duty. If You Violate One, You Violate The Other.

We Simply Must Balance Our Demand For Energy With Our Rapidly Shrinking Resources. By Acting Now We Can Control Our Future Instead Of Letting The Future Control Us.

I Think A Good Husband Has To Depend On Having A Good Wife.

The Abuse Of Women And Girls Is The Most Pervasive And Unaddressed Human Right Violation On Earth.

I Look Forward To These Confrontations With The Press To Kind Of Balance Up The Nice And Pleasant Things That Come To Me As President.

I Believe In The Separation Of Church And State And Would Not Use My Authority To Violate This Principle In Any Way.

I Think The Most Challenging Thing For Me In My Life And In The Bible Is That We Worship Jesus As The Prince Of Peace.

I Officially Designated Every Us Ambassador On Earth To Be My Personal Human Rights Representative, And To Have The Embassy Be A Haven For People Who Suffered From Abuse By Their Own Government.

We Have No Desire To Be The World's Policeman. But America Does Want To Be The World's Peacemaker.

Always Tell The Truth, And Take An Interest In Serving The People Around You As Much As Possible.

Telling The Truth

That Difference Between The Rich And Poor Is Growing Every Month.

The Bottom Line Is This: Peace Will Come To Israel And The Middle East Only When The Israeli Government Is Willing To Comply With International Law, With The Roadmap For Peace, With Official American Policy, With The Wishes Of A Majority Of Its Own Citizens - And Honor Its Own Previous Commitments - By Accepting Its Legal Borders. All Arab Neighbors Must Pledge To Honor Israel's Right To Live In Peace Under These Conditions.

The First Step In Providing Economic Equality For Women Is To Ensure A Stable Economy In Which Every Person Who Wants To Work Can Work.

During The Period Of The Saturn-apollo Missions We Were Pilgrims In Space, Ranging From Home In Search Of Knowledge. Now We Will Become Shepherds Tending Our Technological Flocks, But Like The Shepherds Of Old, We Will Keep Our Eyes Fixed On The Heavens.

There's Always An Element Of Self Delusion Among People Who Believe They Ought To Be President. There's An Underestimation Of Your Opponent And An Overestimation Of Your Own Abilities. This Is Compatible With Being Rich And Powerful, The Idea That We Were Blessed By God Because We Deserve To Be Blessed.

We Are Of Course A Nation Of Differences. Those Differences Don't Make Us Weak. They're The Source Of Our Strength.

Spirit Is Like The Wind, In That We Can't See It But Can See Its Effects, Which Are Profound.

It's Important To Meet With The People Who Can Shape Future Events, And Who Might Be Causing A Current Problem. And To Ignore Them Means That The Problem Will Continue.

I Think That, Regardless Of Our Culture, Age, Or Even Personal Handicaps, We Can Still Strive For Something Exceptional. Why Not Expand Our Sights Instead Of Restricting Our Lives And Accepting The Lowest Common Denominator Of A Dormant Existence? Faith. . . Will Permit Us To Take A Chance On A New Path, Perhaps Different From The One We Now Follow. It May Be Surprising Where It Leads.

Thomas Jefferson Declared, Stating That He Was Speaking On Behalf Of The Other Founding Fathers, ...(that) We Should Build A Wall Between The Church And State.

History Teaches, Perhaps, Very Few Clear Lessons. But Surely One Such Lesson Learned By The World At Great Cost Is That Aggression, Unopposed, Becomes A Contagious Disease.

If We Do Not Learn To Eliminate Waste And To Be More Productive And More Efficient In The Ways We Use Energy, Then We Will Fall Short Of This Goal [for The Nation To Derive 20 Percent Of All The Energy We Use From The Sun, By 2000]. But If We Use Our Technological Imagination, If We Can Work Together To Harness The Light Of The Sun, The Power Of The Wind, And The Strength Of Rushing Streams, Then We Will Succeed.

I Think The Bible Is Completely Inspired By God In Its Overall Messages. But, For The People Of Those Days To Know What Was Going To Happen 4,000 Years Later In A World Of Astronomy Or Subatomic Particles. They Didn't Have Access To The Knowledge That We Presently Have About Geology. So, We Know Now That The World Was Created Many Of Billions Of Years Ago, 13 Or 14 Billion Years Ago. As Far As They Knew, The Earth Was The Center Of The Universe. They Thought That Stars Were Little Twinkling Things In The Sky Where As Now We Know Stars Are Very Distant And Much Larger Than The Earth.

The Most Important Bible Teaching That I Remembered When I Was In The Navy And When I Was Commander-in-chief, Was That We Worshipped The Prince Of Peace. Jesus Christ Is The Prince Of Peace. So, I Considered Myself, As A Submarine Officer, As Helping To Preserve The Peace. And I Felt The Same Way When I Was President.

You Always Get Back Much More Than You Give.

When I Ran, I Didn't Have Any Money. Now, It Requires Raising Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars Just To Get The Nomination, And I Don't Care To Be Involved In That Process.

Communicating Our Questions, Hopes, And Fears In Prayer Makes Them-even To Ourselves-more Open And Clear.

If I Become President, I'll Make Every Piece Of Information This Country Has About Ufo Sightings Available To The Public, And The Scientists. I Am Convinced That Ufos Exist Because I've Seen One.

We Should Live Our Lives As Though Christ Were Coming This Afternoon.

Too Many Of Us Now Tend To Worship Self Indulgence And Consumption.

I Have Experienced The Intensity Of Patriotism As A Submarine Officer, The Ambitions Of A Competitive Businessman, And The Intensity Of Political Debate. I Have Been Sorely Tempted To Launch A Military Attack On Foreigners, And Have Felt The Frustration Of Having To Negotiate With Allies Or Even Former Enemies To Reach A Consensus Instead Of Taking More Decisive Unilateral Action.

I Believe That Anyone Can Be Successful In Life, Regardless Of Natural Talent Or The Environment Within Which We Live. This Is Not Based On Measuring Success By Human Competitiveness For Wealth, Possessions, Influence, And Fame, But Adhering To God's Standards Of Truth, Justice, Humility, Service, Compassion, Forgiveness, And Love.

We Must Adjust To Changing Times And Still Hold To Unchanging Principles.

It's Very Difficult For The American People To Believe That Our Government, One Of The Richest On Earth, Is Also One Of The Stingiest On Earth.

I Think I Governed Effectively. I Don't Have Any Doubts About That. I Had The Benefit, When I Was In Office, Of Having An Excellent Relationship With The Republican Party. We Had Superb Bipartisan Support And We Had The Highest Batting Average Of Any President Since The Second World War, Except Lyndon Johnson. He Had A Little Better Average Than I Did.

We Can't Equate Democracy With Christianity Because The Largest Democracy On Earth Is India, Which Is Primarily Hindu. The Third Largest Democracy Is Indonesia, Which Is Islamic. Democracy And Freedom Are Not Dependent On Christian Beliefs.

I Don't Think That Israel Has Any Legal Or Moral Justification For Their Massive Bombing Of The Entire Nation Of Lebanon. What Happened Is That Israel Is Holding Almost 10,000 Prisoners, So When The Militants In Lebanon Or In Gaza Take One Or Two Soldiers, Israel Looks Upon This As A Justification For An Attack On The Civilian Population Of Lebanon And Gaza. I Do Not Think That's Justified, No.

All My Playmates Were Black. I Lived In A Little Community Called Archery (ph) In A Rural Area. And I Didn't Have Any White Neighbors At All. So All My Kids With Whom I Fought And Wrestled And Went Fishing And Worked In The Field And So Forth Were African-americans. And That Was My Life. So When I Got To Be School Age, We Had To Separate During The Daytime, But I Always Felt Like I Was In An Alien Environment When I Was In Plains, Georgia With White Kids. I Was Eager To Get Back Where I Belonged With My Black Playmates.

I Can't Think Of A Man More Worthy Of The Presidency Then My Good Friend Sam Nunn.

Many Of The Most Highly Publicized Events Of My Presidency Are Not Nearly As Memorable Or Significant In My Life As Fishing With My Daddy.

I Let God Be The Judge And I Believe That We Worship A Just And Fair God Who Won't Punish Innocent People Unnecessarily.

The President Publicly Apologized Today To All Those Offended By His Brother's Remark, There's More Arabs In This Country Than There Is Jews! Those Offended Include Arabs, Jews, And English Teachers.

I Think There Ought To Be A Strict Separation Or Wall Built Between Our Religious Faith And Our Practice Of Political Authority In Office. I Don't Think The President Of The United States Should Extoll Christianity If He Happens To Be A Christian At The Expense Of Judaism, Islam Or Other Faiths.

Although Military, Economic And Political Strength Certainly Favors The More Powerful Side, The Matter Of Simple Justice Is A Counterbalancing Factor.

For This Generation, Ours, Life Is Nuclear Survival, Liberty Is Human Rights, The Pursuit Of Happiness Is A Planet Whose Resources Are Devoted To The Physical And Spiritual Nourishment Of Its Inhabitants.

America Does Not At The Moment Have A Functioning Democracy.

My Faith Has Helped Me To Adjust To Life Whether I Was A Small Farm Boy, A Submarine Officer, Governor, President Or An Ex-president. I've Tried To Remember The Teaching That We Have To Accommodate Change We Can't Control In Our Lives, Whether It's Disappointment, Sorrow, Loss Or Failure, While Simultaneously Clinging To Principles That Never Change.

I Think It Was Fully Justified After 9/11 To Initiate A Military Action Against Afghanistan, Because We Hoped To Create A Democracy, And Have A Flourishing Economy, And To Do Away With Al-qaida, And To Capture Osama Bin Laden.

I'm An Expert Cook When It Comes To Preparing The Quail, Ducks, Geese And Wild Turkeys That I Hunt On The Farm.

Because We Are Now Running Out Of Gas And Oil, We Must Prepare Quickly For A Third Change, To Strict Conservation And To The Use Of ... Permanent Renewable Energy Sources, Like Solar Power.

The Oil Lobby, Perhaps The Most Powerful Lobby On Earth, Is Almost Matched By Hospital Owners And Doctors.

When The Laws Are Written And Administered By The Most Powerful Leaders In A Society, It Is Human Nature For Them To Understand, Justify, And Protect The Interests Of Themselves And People Like Them. Many Injustices Arise From This Natural Human Failing.

There Are Two Major Peace Agreements. One Is A Comprehensive Peace Agreement That Was Consummated By The Extremely Beneficial Intersession Of The George Bush Administration, Who Called On John Danforth, The Former Senator From Missouri, To Negotiate A Peace Agreement After Eight Years During Which President Clinton Did Not Want To Promote Peace In The Mideast - I Mean, In Sudan. And That's Holding So Far.

Human Rights Is The Soul Of Our Foreign Policy, Because Human Rights Is The Very Soul Of Our Sense Of Nationhood.

I Have A Lot Of Pleasures But I Don't Feel Guilty About Them.

Let Our Position Be Absolutely Clear: An Attempt By Any Outside Force To Gain Control Of The Persian Gulf Region Will Be Regarded As An Assault On The Vital Interests Of The United States Of America, And Such An Assault Will Be Repelled By Any Means Necessary, Including Military Force.

Habitat Gives Us An Opportunity Which Is Very Difficult To Find: To Reach Out And Work Side By Side With Those Who Never Have Had A Decent Home-but Work With Them On A Completely Equal Basis. It's Not A Big-shot, Little-shot Relationship. It's A Sense Of Equality.

I Think It Will Take Years Before We Can Repair The Damage Done By That Statement.

The Experience Of Democracy Is Like The Experience Of Life Itself-always Changing, Infinite In Its Variety, Sometimes Turbulent And All The More Valuable For Having Been Tested By Adversity.

I Believe That We Should Do Anything We Can To Minimize Abortion And Not To Encourage It.

I Feel That My Role As A Former President Is Probably Superior To That Of Other Presidents. Primarily Because Of The Activism And The Injection Of Working At The Carter Center, And In International Affairs, And To Some Degree, Domestic Affairs, On Energy Conservation, On Environment, And Things Of That Kind.

It Is Generally Not Known In The World That, In The Years Preceding 1916, There Was A Concerted Effort Made To Eliminate All The Armenian People, Probably One Of The Greatest Tragedies That Ever Befell Any Group. And There Weren't Any Nuremberg Trials.

This Afternoon, I've Arranged For This Ceremony To Be Illuminated By Solar Power.

Today, In Directly Harnessing The Power Of The Sun, We're Taking The Energy That God Gave Us, The Most Renewable Energy That We Will Ever See, And Using It To Replace Our Dwindling Supplies Of Fossil Fuels.

The Southern Baptist Convention, As You Know, Decided In The Year 2000 That Women Should Not Be Permitted To Be Pastors Or Deacons Or Chaplains In The Military Service. Some Southern Baptist Seminaries Don't Even Permit Women To Teach Male Students. I Don't Agree With That. But They Can Go In And Quote A Few Passages Of Paul That Women Should Be Restricted In Their Services.

I Would Describe Fundamentalism As, First Of All, A Movement Led Almost Invariably By Authoritarian Males Who Consider Themselves To Be Superior To Others And Who Have An Overwhelming Commitment To Subjugate Women And To Dominate Their Fellow Believers.

You Can Already Download Any Of The Religious Texts Onto Electronic Mechanisms Like A Kindle. But I Think Many People Prefer To Hold A Book In Their Hands.

You Can Do What You Have To Do, And Sometimes You Can Do It Even Better Than You Think You Can.

I Wish I Had Known When I Was In The White House What I Know Now About The Third World.

We Have A Special Relationship With Israel. It's Absolutely Crucial That No One In Our Country Or Around The World Ever Doubt That Our Number One Committment In The Middle East Is To Protect The Right Of Israel To Exist, To Exist Permanently, And To Exist In Peace. It's A Special Relationship.

I Began To Expand My Personal Service In The Church, And To Search More Diligently For A Closer Relationship With God Among My Different Business, Professional And Political Interests.

Every Advance In This Half-century-social Security, Civil Rights, Medicare, Aid To Education, One After Another-came With The Support And Leadership Of American Labor.

I'm A Peanut Farmer At Heart, Still Grow Peanuts On My Farm In Georgia.

A Country Will Have Authority And Influence Because Of Moral Factors, Not Its Military Strength; Because It Can Be Humble And Not Blatant And Arrogant; Because Our People Want To Serve Others And Not Dominate Others. And A Nation Without Morality Will Soon Lose Its Influence Around The World.

It's A Terrible And Tragic And Counterproductive Policy To Avoid Communicating With People Who Disagree With Us.

I Don't Think That The Total Creation Took Place In Six Days As We Now Measure Time. If We Can Confirm, Say, The Big Bang Theory, That Doesn't At All Cause Me To Question My Faith That God Created The Big Bang.

I Separated From The Southern Baptists When They Adopted The Discriminatory Attitude Towards Women, Because I Believe What Paul Taught In Galatians That There Is No Distinction In God's Eyes Between Men And Women, Slaves And Masters, Jews And Non-jews - Everybody Is Created Equally In The Eyes Of God.

Forgiving Is One Of The Most Difficult Things For A Human Being To Do, But I Think It Means Looking At Some Slight You Feel, Putting Yourself In The Position Of The Other Person, And Wiping Away Any Sort Of Resentment And Antagonism You Feel Toward Them. Then Let That Other Person Know That Everything Is Perfectly Friendly And Normal Between You.

Jerry Falwell Can Go Straight To Hell - And I Mean That In A Christian Way.

I Believe We Accomplished A Lot Of Good Things While I Was In Office. We Maintained A Very Good Working Relationship With Both Republicans And Democrats During My Tenure. Consequently, We Had A Very High Batting Average In Dealing With Congress On Some Very Controversial Issues. Plus, We Kept Our Nation At Peace, We Obeyed The Law, And We Told The Truth.

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