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The Importation And Sale Of Marijuana Is Condemned And Punished As A Serious Crime, But We Accept As Legitimate The Manufacture And Sale Of An Infinitely More Addictive And Deadly Drug: The Nicotine In Cigarettes That Cost The Lives Of 390,000 American Citizens Last Year.

-Jimmy Carter

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The Importation And Sale

Jimmy Carter

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The Importation And Sale Of Marijuana Is Condemned And Punished As A Serious Crime, But We Accept As Legitimate The Manufacture And Sale Of An Infinitely More Addictive And Deadly Drug: The Nicotine In Cigarettes That Cost The Lives Of 390,000 American Citizens Last Year.

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When I Speak At My Local Church, Which I Try To Do 35 To 40 Times A Year, I Try In Every Lesson To Take The Old Testament Text Or New Testament Text And Apply Them To What Is Happening To Me Or How That Applies To The Audience That I'm Teaching In A Modern, Fast-changing, Technological World. I Use Headlines, Interfaith And That Sort Of Thing.

I Don’t Claim To Be Knowledgeable About Theology. Most Of My Knowledge Comes Out Of My Experience And The Lessons In The Bible. Every Sunday I’m Home I Teach 45 Minutes And We Boiled Them Down To One Page For The New Book, “through The Year With Jimmy Carter.”

I Hate To See Complacency Prevail In Our Lives When It's So Directly Contrary To The Teaching Of Christ.

I Guess My Biggest Failure Was Not Getting Re-elected. And I Learned Two Things; One Is That You Ought Not To Ever Let American Hostages Be Held For 444 Days In A Foreign Country Without Extracting Them. I Did The Best I Could, But I Failed.

To Work For Better Understanding Among People, One Does Not Have To Be A Former President Sitting At A Fancy Conference Room Table. Peace Can Be Made In The Neighborhoods, The Living Rooms, The Playing Fields, And The Classrooms Of Our Country.

Sadat Was A Great And Good Man, And His Most Bitter And Dangerous Enemies Were People Who Were Obsessed With Hatred For His Peaceful Goals.

My Wish Is Peace For Israel And For Israel's Neighbors.

Let Us Learn Together And Laugh Together And Work Together And Pray Together, Confident That In The End We Will Triumph Together In The Right.

Working Together

In General The 53 Countries On The Continent Of Africa Have Made Great Progress Towards Freedom And Democracy, And In Terms Of Electing Good, Sound Administrations.

Great American Power And Responsibility Are Not Unprecedented, And Have Been Used With Restraint And Great Benefit In The Past. We Have Not Assumed That Super Strength Guarantees Super Wisdom, And We Have Consistently Reached Out To The International Community To Ensure That Our Own Power And Influence Are Tempered By The Best Common Judgment.

In General, In The Matters That Relate To Theology Or Behavior, People To One Another, Paul Was Obviously Biblically Correct. But When He Said That Women Should Always Cover Their Hair Or That Women Should Not Teach Men, Women Should Not Have Leadership Positions In The Church, Women Should Not Speak In The Church, I Don't' Think That Those Writings Of Paul Can Be Extracted By Themselves To Stand Alone. Also, Paul Said That Women Should Be Subservient To Their Husbands But If You Read A Couple Of Verses Down It Says Husbands Should Treat Their Wives As Equals.

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

Government Is A Contrivance Of Human Wisdom To Provide For Human Wants. People Have The Right To Expect That These Wants Will Be Provided For By This Wisdom.

"solid Wastes" Are The Discarded Leftovers Of Our Advanced Consumer Society. This Growing Mountain Of Garbage And Trash Represents Not Only An Attitude Of Indifference Toward Valuable Natural Resources, But Also A Serious Economic And Public Health Problem.

I Tried To Eliminate The Need For Israel To Strike Out, Militarily, By Removing Its Major Threat And Attacker, And That Was Egypt. I've Written A Few Books On The Subject. There's No Doubt That The Best Way To Resolve Israel's Problems Is To Negotiate Peace Between Israel And Its Immediate Neighbors, Particularly The Palestinians. And That's Something That's Not Going To Be Achieved, In My Opinion, Without The Strong Involvement Of The American President.

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

If Any Agreement Between Two Nations Is To Last, It Must Serve The Best Interests Of Both Nations.

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.

There Needs To Be A Similar Degree Of Flexibility And Generosity In The Recognition Of The Humaneness And Worth Of People Who We Generally Consider As Adversaries.

Christmas Has Been A Season Of Mixed Interests And Meanings, But The Very Foundation, Of Course, Is Its Religious Significance. No Matter What Other Personal Desires Or Crises We Have Faced, I've Never Forgotten That This Is The Time To Celebrate The Birth Of The Baby Jesus, And The Impact Of This Event On The History Of The World.

We Know That A Peaceful World Cannot Long Exist, One-third Rich And Two-thirds Hungry.

I've Committed Adultery In My Heart.

As A Matter Of Fact, Although We Had Some Terrible Challenges And Temptations When I Was In Office, We Never Dropped A Bomb... We Never Launched A Missile... And We Never Fired A Bullet. I Think That One Of The Main Requirements For A Strong Military, Like A Strong Submarine Force, Is To Prevent War, Not To Cause War.

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.

Israel's Continued Control And Colonization Of Palestinian Land Have Been The Primary Obstacles To A Comprehensive Peace Agreement In The Holy Land.

There Are Some Discrepencies In The Writings Of Paul. Some Christians Chose Those Ones That Say That Women Should Be Restricted In Their Services. I Choose To Emphasize The Equality Of People In God's Eyes.

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

Making A Difference

I Believe Men And Women Are The Same And That Women Should Be Given An Equal Chance To Serve God With Men.

I Think There's An Awakening Now Of A Realization That We Too Early Congratulated Ourselves On The End Of Racial Prejudice And White Supremacy. And That Was A Feeling That We Had When I Was President, That We Had Pretty Much Overcome That Problem.

What Has Happened At Guantanamo Bay... Does Not Represent The Will Of The American People. I'm Embarrassed About It, I Think Its Wrong. I Think It Does Give Terrorists An Unwarranted Excuse To Use The Despicable Means To Hurt Innocent People.

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.

Rosalynn Said, "jimmy, If We Could Only Get Prime Minister Begin And President Sadat Up Here On This Mountain For A Few Days, I Believe They Might Consider How They Could Prevent Another War Between Their Countries." That Gave Me The Idea, And A Few Weeks Later, I Invited Both Men To Join Me For A Series Of Private Talks. In September 1978, They Both Came To Camp David.

Since I Was 18 Years Old, I Have Taught The Bible. For The Last Fifteen Or Twenty Years, I Have Taught Every Sunday When I Was Home Or Near My Own House, So That Would Be 35 Or 40 Times Per Year. Half Of Those Sundays, The Text Comes From The Hebrew Bible. I Have Had A Deep Personal Interest In The Holy Land And In The Teachings Of The Hebrew People. God Has A Special Position For The Jewish People, The Hebrews, Or Whatever. I Know The Difference Between Ancient Israel And Judaea, And I Know The History. I Don't Have Any Problem With The Jewish People.

In This Great Country Of Ours, It Is Inexcusable That So Many Children Grow Up In Poverty And Despair. The Well-being Of Our Children Must Be The National Priority And The Responsibility Of Every Individual.

The Preeminent Obstacle To Peace Is Israel's Colonization Of Palestine.

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.

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.

I Am No Big Shot. I Am Not Anybody's Boss. I Want To Be Everybody's Servant.

I Have Often Wanted To Drown My Troubles, But I Can't Get My Wife To Go Swimming.

At The Carter Center We Work With Victims Of Oppression, And We Give Support To Human Rights Heroes.

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.

We've Got To Stop Crying And Start Sweating, Stop Talking And Start Walking, Stop Cursing And Start Praying. The Strength We Need Will Not Come From The White House, But From Every House In America.

When I Reflect Upon My Blessings During My Very Nice Lifetime, I Am Inspired To Make Sure That I Spend The Balance Of The Days Of My Existence In A Productive Way.

One Of The Turning Points Of My Life Was When I Got My First Bait-casting Outfit.

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.

In A Nation That Was Proud Of Hard Work, Strong Families, Close Knit Communities, And Our Faith In God , Too Many Of Us Now Tend To Worship Self Indulgence And Consumption .

In The Great Depression In Which I Grew Up And Remember Vividly, Unemployment Was Over 25 Percent, And Over 35 Percent Where I Lived. A Grown Man Would Work All Day, 16 Hours, For A Dollar. I Remember Hundreds Of People Walking By, People Who Had Come Down From The North Just To Get Warm. They Would Come To Our House As Beggars Even Though They Might Have A College Education. People Didn't Have Money. They Bartered; They'd Trade Eggs Or Pigs. It Was Just Completely Different.

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.

The Election Of Barack Obama Was A Very Wonderful Step Forward For America, Which Has Unfortunately Been Tainted By The Ugly Reaction Of Some Right Wing Activist Who Are Doing Their Best To Cast Aspersions On His Character And To Question His Religion And Citizenship.

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

Whether The Borders That Divide Us Are Picket Fences Or National Boundaries, We Are All Neighbors In A Global Community.

I Don't Think The Tea Party People Are Racist, Except Maybe A Tiny Portion Of Them. But There Has Been A Deliberate Effort - Again, Referring To Fox Broadcasting - To Inject The Race Issue Into It. They Have Actually Called Obama A Racist On Television.

When Your Troops Go To War, The Prime Minister Or The President Change Overnight From An Administrator, Dealing With Taxation And Welfare And Health And Deteriorating Roads, Into The Commander-in-chief. And It's Just Become Almost Unpatriotic To Describe Bush's Fallacious And Ill-advised And Mistaken And Sometimes Misleading Actions.

The Love Of Liberty Is A Common Blood That Flows In Our American Veins.

I Would Say The Biggest Handicap We Have Right Now Is Some Nutcases In Our Country That Don't Believe In Global Warming. I Think They Are Going To Change Their Position Because Of Pressure From Individuals, Because The Evidence Of The Ravages Of Global Warming Is Already There.

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.

I Want To Stress Again That Human Rights Are Not Peripheral To The Foreign Policy Of The United States. Our Pursuit Of Human Rights Is Part Of A Broad Effort To Use Our Great Power And Our Tremendous Influence In The Service Of Creating A Better World, A World In Which Human Beings Can Live In Peace, In Freedom, And With Their Basic Needs Adequately Met.

In The Bible Homosexuality Is Condemned, But Along With Divorce And Greed And Callousness Toward Poor People. So Its Elevation To A Highest Priority Among Some Religious Groups Has Been Very Disturbing To Me.

There's No Way To Have A Peace Agreement Unless The Mediator Or Negotiator Looks At Both Sides From An Equal Basis.

When I Was President, I Announced And I Still Maintain That I Can Live With Roe V. Wade. I Did Everything I Possibly Could As President Under That Ruling, Which I Don't Think Ought To Be Changed, To Minimize The Need For Abortions. I Think Every Abortion Is A Result Of A Horrible Series Of Errors On The Part Of People Involved.

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

Some Devout Christians Are Among The Most Fervent Advocates Of The Death Penalty, Contradicting Jesus Christ And Justifying Their Belief On An Erroneous Interpretation Of Hebrew Scriptures. "an Eye For An Eye, And A Tooth For A Tooth," Their Most Likely Response, Overlooks The Fact That This Was Promulgated By Moses As A Limitation- A Prohibition Against Taking Both Eyes Or All Of An Offender's Teeth In Retribution.

I Think An Overwhelming Portion Of The Intensely Demonstrated Animosity Toward President Barack Obama Is Based On The Fact That He Is A Black Man, That He's African American.

African American

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.

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.

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

On Balance, My Life Has Been A Constant Stream Of Blessings Rather Than Disappointments And Failures And Tragedies. I Wish I Had Been Re-elected. I Think I Could Have Kept Our Country At Peace. I Think I Could Have Consolidated What We Achieved At Camp David With A Treaty Between Israel And The Palestinians.

I Enjoyed Being President.

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.

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.

In 1891, During The Presidency Of William Henry Harrison [benjamin Harrison], Electric Lights Were First Installed In The White House, The Residence Of The Leaders Of Our Country. At That Time, Commercial Electricity Was Not Economically Feasible, But President Harrison Wanted To Affirm His Confidence In The Technological Capability Of Our Country.

We Are Grossly Wasting Our Energy Resources And Other Precious Raw Materials As Though Their Supply Were Infinite. We Must Even Face The Prospect Of Changing Our Basic Ways Of Living. This Change Will Either Be Made On Our Own Initiative In A Planned And Rational Way, Or Forced On Us With Chaos And Suffering By The Inexorable Laws Of Nature.

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.

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.

I Remember The Last Three Days That I Was President, I Never Went To Bed At All. I Never Went To Bed Until We Had Negotiated The Final Release Of The Hostages.

My Life Since The White House Has Been Much More All-encompassing, Much More Enjoyable. The Main Thing That I've Acquired Has Been Access To The Poorest And Most Destitute, Forgotten, And Suffering People On Earth. It's Not Possible For A President To Actually Know Them.

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

In The Final Analysis, True Justice Is Not A Matter Of Courts And Law Books, But Of A Commitment In Each Of Us To Liberty And Mutual Respect.

We Consider These Settlements To Be Contrary To The Geneva Convention, That Occupied Territory Should Not Be Changed By Establishment Of Permanent Settlements By The Occupying Power.

Any System Of Economics Is Bankrupt If It Sees Either Value Or Virtue In Unemployment.

The Superfund Legislation Set Up A System Of Insurance Premiums Collected From The Chemical Industry To Clean Up Toxic Wastes. This New Program May Prove To Be As Far-reaching And Important As Any Accomplishment Of My Administration. The Reduction Of The Threat To America's Health And Safety From Thousands Of Toxic-waste Sites Will Continue To Be An Urgent But Bitterly Fought Issue-another Example For The Conflict Between The Public Welfare And The Profits Of A Few Private Despoilers Of Our Nation's Environment.

Jesus Is The Son Of God, We Have A Chance For God's Blessings, God's Salvation Through Our Faith In Jesus Christ And All Of Us Are Sinners Who Fall Short Of The Glory Of God, And The Wages Of Sin Is Death But Through Our Faith That Jesus Christ, We Can Be Saved.

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.

God Always Answers Prayer, Sometimes With A Yes, Sometimes With A No And Sometimes With A 'you've Got To Be Kidding!'

Go Out On A Limb. That's Where The Fruit Is.

I'm 86, And Too Old To Be President.

My Proudest Accomplishment Was That I Never Dropped A Bomb, Fired A Bullet, Or Shot A Missile.

But Love Must Be Aggressively Translated Into Simple Justice.

It's Clear That The True Problems Of Our Nation Are Much Deeper - Deeper Than Gasoline Lines Of Energy Shortages, Deeper Even Than Inflation Or Recession. And I Realize More Than Ever That As President I Need Your Help. So, I Decided To Reach Out And Listen To The Voices Of America.

I Have Nothing Against A Community That Is Made Up Of People Who Are Polish, Or Who Are Czechoslovakians, Or Who Are French Canadians Or Who Are Blacks Trying To Maintain The Ethnic Purity Of Their Neighborhoods. This Is A Natural Inclination... Government Should Not Break Up A Neighborhood On A Numerical Basis. As Soon As The Government Does, The White Folks Flee.

The Importation And Sale Of Marijuana Is Condemned And Punished As A Serious Crime, But We Accept As Legitimate The Manufacture And Sale Of An Infinitely More Addictive And Deadly Drug: The Nicotine In Cigarettes That Cost The Lives Of 390,000 American Citizens Last Year.

One Of Our Nation's Greatest Leaders Of All Time Was Hubert Horatio Hornblower.

When I Was Elected President Nobody Asked Me To Negotiate Between Israel And Egypt. It Was Not Even A Question Raised In My Campaign. But I Felt That One Of The Reasons That I Was Elected President Was To Try To Bring Peace To The Holy Land.

The Fact Is That We Would Have Had Comprehensive Health Care Now Had It Not Been For Ted Kennedy's Deliberately Blocking The Legislation That I Proposed In 1978 Or '79.

Quite Often ... These Little Guys, Who Might Be Making Atomic Weapons Or Who Might Be Guilty Of Some Human Rights Violation ... Are Looking For Someone To Listen To Their Problems And Help Them Communicate.

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.

Our American Values Are Not Luxuries But Necessities, Not The Salt In Our Bread, But The Bread Itself. Our Common Vision Of A Free And Just Society Is Our Greatest Source Of Cohesion At Home And Strength Abroad, Greater Than The Bounty Of Our Material Blessings.

All I Want Is The Same Thing You Want. To Have A Nation With A Government That Is As Good And Honest And Decent And Competent And Compassionate And As Filled With Love As Are The American People.

Our Values Are Not Luxuries, But Necessities. They Are Not The Salt In Our Bread, But The Bread Itself.

I Can Get Up At 8am And Be Rested... Or I Can Get Up At 5am And Be President.

In Religious And In Secular Affairs, The More Fervent Beliefs Attract Followers. If You Are A Moderate In Any Respect - If You're A Moderate On Abortion, If You're A Moderate On Gun Control, Or If You're A Moderate In Your Religious Faith - It Doesn't Evolve Into A Crusade Where You're Either Right Or Wrong, Good Or Bad, With Us Or Against Us.

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.

"adjust To Changing Times But Sticking To Unchanging Principles" - Committing Me And All Americans To Real Ideals Of Justice And Truth, No Matter What Difficulties Faced Us.

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

America Has About Three Times As Many Abortions As They Have In Norway, Or Sweden, Or Nordic Countries, And They Don't Have Any Laws At All About Abortion, But They Care For Women And Infant Children, Which Is A Major Cause For Abortion.

I Think As Far As The Adverse Impact On The Nation Around The World, This Administration Has Been The Worst In History... The Overt Reversal Of America's Basic Values As Expressed By Previous Administrations, Including Those Of George H.w. Bush And Ronald Reagan And Richard Nixon And Others, Has Been The Most Disturbing To Me.

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.

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.

War And Good Health Are Incompatible. There's No Way We Can Go [eradicate Diseases] Into An Area That Is At War.

As President, I Was Able To Save With The Stroke Of The Pen A Hundred Million Acres Of Wilderness Area In Alaska. This Is The Kind Of Thing That Is Is Gratifying To A President, But To Be On A Solitary Stream With Good Friends, With A Fly Rod In Your Hand, And To Have A Successfull Or Even An Unsuccessful Day-they're All Successful-is An Even Greater Delight.

The Energy Crisis Has Not Yet Overwhelmed Us, But It Will If We Do Not Act Quickly. It's A Problem That We Will Not Be Able To Solve In The Next Few Years, And It's Likely To Get Progressively Worse Through The Rest Of This Century. We Must Not Be Selfish Or Timid If We Hope To Have A Decent World For Our Children And Grandchildren. 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.

There Is A Strong Religious Commitment To The Sanctity Of Human Life, But, Paradoxically, Some Of The Most Fervent Protectors Of Microscopic Stem Cells Are The Most Ardent Proponents Of The Death Penalty.

Everyone Who Has Run Knows That Its Most Important Value Is In Removing Tension And Allowing A Release From Whatever Other Cares The Day May Bring.

Important Values

The Awareness That Health Is Dependent Upon Habits That We Control Makes Us The First Generation In History That To A Large Extent Determines Its Own Destiny.

I Have One Life And One Chance To Make It Count For Something... My Faith Demands That I Do Whatever I Can, Wherever I Am, Whenever I Can, For As Long As I Can With Whatever I Have To Try To Make A Difference.

I Am Convinced That Ufos Exist Because I've Seen One.

We Know Definitively That Al-qaida Isn't All Over Afghanistan Anymore. According To Cia Estimates, There Are Less Than A Hundred Al-qaida Members In The Entire Country. Most Of Them Are In Pakistan. So, It's Hard For Me To Understand Why We're Still Fighting There And Sending In More And More Troops. I Would Get Out Of Afghanistan As Quickly As Possible.

Because We Are Free We Can Never Be Indifferent To The Fate Of Freedom Elsewhere. Our Moral Sense Dictates A Clearcut Preference For These Societies Which Share With Us An Abiding Respect For Individual Human Rights. We Do Not Seek To Intimidate, But It Is Clear That A World Which Others Can Dominate With Impunity Would Be Inhospitable To Decency And A Threat To The Well-being Of All People.

We Can Drift Along As Though There Were Still A Cold War, Wasting Hundreds Of Billions Of Dollars On Weapons That Will Never Be Used, Ignoring The Problems Of People In This Country And Around The World, Being One Of The Worst Environmental Violators On Earth, Standing Against Any Sort Of Viable Programs To Protect The World's Forests Or To Cut Down On Acid Rain Or The Global Warming Or Ozone Depletion. We Can Ignore Human Rights Violations In Other Countries, Or We Can Take These Things On As True Leaders Ought To And Accept The Inspiring Challenge Of America For The Future.

Iran Is An Island Of Stability In A Turbulent Corner Of The World

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.

If You're Totally Illiterate And Living On One Dollar A Day, The Benefits Of Globalization Never Come To You.

Our Individual Fates Are Linked Our Futures Intertwined

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

We Have Been Involved In More Wars, On A Bilateral Basis, Since The United Nations Was Formed Than Any Other Country By Far.

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.

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

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

Penalties Against Possession Of A Drug Should Not Be More Damaging To An Individual Than The Use Of The Drug Itself

Trust Is Very Much A Part Of Our Democracy.

Unfortunately, After Sept. 11, There Was An Outburst In America Of Intense Suffering And Patriotism, And The Bush Administration Was Very Shrewd And Effective In Painting Anyone Who Disagreed With The Policies As Unpatriotic Or Even Traitorous.

For The First Time In The History Of Our Country The Majority Of Our People Believe That The Next Five Years Will Be Worse Than The Past Five Years.

I Think That The Best Approach Would Be If The American People Ever Insist That We Cut Down On The Massive Amounts Of Money That Moves Into The Campaigns From Special Interest Groups, And If We Resist Publicly By Saying "no More Negative Advertisements That Destroy The Reputations Of One's Opponents." In The Meantime, Just Don't Pay Any Attention To Negative Ads, If You Can Avoid Them, And Try To Focus On The Issues.

I Believe That We Are Given An Order By Jesus. One Of The Last Things He Did Was To Spread The Word Of God And He Being The Basis For Our Salvation. Christians Are Supposed To Be Evangelicals. And I Am.

I Am Pro-israeli, Not Because Of Political Expediency, But Because I Believe Israel Is The Fulfillment Of Biblical Prophecy.

What Are The Things That You Can't See That Are Important? I Would Say Justice, Truth, Humility, Service, Compassion, Love...they're The Guiding Lights Of A Life.

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.

I Would Like People To Remember That I Kept The Peace When I Was President And I Worked For Peace, That I Espoused Human Rights In Its Broadest Definition, Not Only Freedom Of Speech But Freedom Of Assembly, Freedom Of Worship And Trial By Jury But Also The Right Of People For People To Have A Decent Home To Live, Food To Eat, Employment, Healthcare, Self Respect, Dignity. So I Think The Broad Gamut Of Human Rights, Peace And Freedom. I Would Like To Be Remembered For Those Things To The Degree That I Deserve It And I Still Have A Long Way To Go.

God Always Answers Prayers. Sometimes It's 'yes.' Sometimes The Answer Is 'no.' Sometimes It's 'you Gotta Be Kidding.

I've Been An Evangelistic Baptist All My Life And Still Am To Some Degree.

I Have A Great Deal Of Confidence In Myself And In My Faith.

Ahmadinejad Is Just A Buffoon, Sort Of A Clown On The International Scene Who Tries To Be Provocative So He Can Get His Name In The Paper And His Face On Television.

We'll Never Know Whether Something New And Wonderful Is Possible Unless We Try. Let's Scratch Our Heads, Stretch Our Minds, Be Adventurous! Serve God With Boldness, And Who Knows What Wonders The Lord May Work?

The Major Violence Now Is Because Of A Plethora, Explosion Almost, Of Rebel Groups, All Of Whom Oppose The Government, And They're Fighting Each Other, Strangely Precipitated By The Fact That The United Nations And African Union Has Now Planned Peace Talks.

According To Gandhi, The Seven Sins Are Wealth Without Works, Pleasure Without Conscience, Knowledge Without Character, Commerce Without Morality, Science Without Humanity, Worship Without Sacrifice, And Politics Without Principle. Well, Hubert Humphrey May Have Sinned In The Eyes Of God, As We All Do, But According To Those Definitions Of Gandhi's, It Was Hubert Humphrey Without Sin.

In Order For Us Human Beings To Commit Ourselves Personally To The Inhumanity Of War, We Find It Necessary First To Dehumanize Our Opponents, Which Is In Itself A Violation Of The Beliefs Of All Religions. Once We Characterize Our Adversaries As Beyond The Scope Of God's Mercy And Grace, Their Lives Lose All Value.

We Simply Must Have Faith In Each Other, Faith In Our Ability To Govern Ourselves, And Faith In The Future Of This Nation. Restoring That Faith And That Confidence To America Is Now The Most Important Task We Face.

One Of The Most Serious Problems That Our Country Has Inherited An Unwillingness To Talk To Anyone Who Disagrees With Us Or Who Won't Accept, Before A Discussion, All The Premises That We Demand.

After All These Years, I Still Feel Like A Boy When I'm On A Stream

We Not Only Brought Peace To Many Countries And People Around The World, But We Never Dropped A Bomb, We Never Launched A Missile, And We Never Fired A Bullet While I Was In Office. Yet We Protected The Interests Of The American People In A Peaceful, But Strong Way.

And I'm Asking You For Your Good And For Your Nation's Security To Take No Unnecessary Trips, To Use Carpools Or Public Transportation Whenever You Can, To Park Your Car One Extra Day Per Week, To Obey The Speed Limit, And To Set Your Thermostats To Save Fuel. Every Act Of Energy Conservation Like This Is More Than Just Common Sense-i Tell You It Is An Act Of Patriotism.

The World Is Safer Without Saddam [hussein]. Certainly The People Of Iraq Are Better Without Saddam.

America Does Not At The Moment Have A Functioning Democracy.

One Of The Surprising Things That Brezhnev Said When We Were In Our Talks, Was - When I Proposed That We Make These Changes In Nuclear Weaponry, He Said, "god Will Never Forgive Us If We Don't Succeed." And, You Know, Coming From The Leader Of An Atheistic Communist Country, This Surprised Everyone.

I Will Never Lie To You.

With Overwhelming Military Strength Now Deployed Against Him And With Intense Monitoring From Space Surveillance And The U.n. Inspection Team On The Ground, Any Belligerent Move By Saddam Against A Neighbor Would Be Suicidal....if Iraq Does Possess Such Concealed Weapons, As Is Quite Likely, Saddam Would Use Them Only In The Most Extreme Circumstances, In The Face Of An Invasion Of Iraq, When All Hope Of Avoiding The Destruction Of His Regime Is Lost.

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.

The First Time I Ever Saw Snow Skis Was When I Was 62 Years Old And That Was 19 Years Ago And I'm Still Skiing. So, We'll Be Skiing With Some Very Close Friends Of The Carter Center Letting Them Know What The Carter Center Is Doing Around The World. We Have Programs In Over 65 Countries.

I'm Not A Mediator Or A Negotiator. I Don't Want To Be One.

Failure Is A Reality; We All Fail At Times, And It's Painful When We Do. But It's Better To Fail While Striving For Something Wonderful, Challenging, Adventurous, And Uncertain Than To Say, " I Don't Want To Try Because I May Not Succeed Completely.

We Cannot Resort To Simplistic Or Extreme Solutions Which Substitute Myths For Common Sense.

The Blood Of Abraham, God's Father Of The Chosen, Still Flows In The Veins Of Arab, Jew, And Christian, And Too Much Of It Has Been Spilled In Grasping For The Inheritance Of The Revered Patriarch In The Middle East. The Spilled Blood In The Holy Land Still Cries Out To God--an Anguished Cry For Peace.

I Believed What My Father Taught Me About The Separation Of Church And State, So When I Was President I Never Invited Billy Graham To Have Services In The White House Because I Didn't Think That Was Appropriate. He Was Injured A Little Bit, Until I Explained It To Him.

Aggression Unopposed Becomes A Contagious Disease.

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 Stronger The Ties That Bind Us To God, The More Likely We Are To Live, React, And Behave In Harmony With...greater Joy, Peace, And Happiness.

War May Sometimes Be A Necessary Evil. But No Matter How Necessary, It Is Always An Evil, Never A Good. We Will Not Learn How To Live Together In Peace By Killing Each Other's Children.

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

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.

One Of The Most Basic Principles For Making And Keeping Peace Within And Between Nations. . . Is That In Political, Military, Moral, And Spiritual Confrontations, There Should Be An Honest Attempt At The Reconciliation Of Differences Before Resorting To Combat

If One Of Our Fellow Citizens Can Be Executed With So Much Doubt Surrounding His Guilt, Then The Death Penalty System In Our Country Is Unjust And Outdated.

There's No Doubt That Usually A President's Public Image Is Enhanced By Going To War. That Never Did Appeal To Me.

Being Confident Of Our Own Future, We Are Now Free Of That Inordinate Fear Of Communism Which Once Led Us To Embrace Any Dictator Who Joined Us In That Fear. I'm Glad That That's Being Changed.

The Greatest Discrimination In The World Now Is Against Poor People.

We Will Have An Unchallenged, Open, Panoramic Opportunity On A Global Scale To Demonstrate The Finest Aspects Of What We Know In This Country: Peace, Freedom, Democracy, Human Rights, Benevolent Sharing, Love, The Easing Of Human Suffering. Is That Going To Be Our List Of Priorities Or Not?

The Special Relationship Between The United States And Israel Still Stands. Our Total Committments To Israel's Security And Our Hope For Peace Is Still Preeminent Among All The Other Considerations That Our Nation Has In The Middle East ... But There Need Be No Concern Among The Israeli People Nor Among Jews In This Country That Our Nation Has Changed Or Turned Away From Israel.

They Were More Than Hostile. In The First Place, I Was A South Georgian And I Was Looked Upon As A Fiscal Conservative, And The Atlanta Newspapers Quite Erroneously, Because They Didn't Know Anything About Me Or My Background Here In Plains, Decided That I Was Also A Racial Conservative.

And So I Say To You And To Others Around The World, Whether They Wish Us Well Or Ill - Do Not Underestimate Us Americans. We Lack Neither Strength Nor Wisdom.

It Is Difficult For The Common Good To Prevail Against The Intense Concentration Of Those Who Have A Special Interest, Especially If The Decisions Are Made Behind Locked Doors.

Human Identity Is No Longer Defined By What One Does But Rather By What One Owns.

The Carter Center Has The Only Existing International Taskforce On Disease Eradication. Which Means A Total Elimination Of A Disease On The Face Of The Earth. In The History Of The World, There's Only Been One Disease Eradicated: Smallpox. The Second Disease, I Think, Is Gonna Be Guinea Worm.

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.

I Don't Laugh At People Any More When They Say They've Seen Ufos. I've Seen One Myself!

I Can't Deny I'm A Better Ex-president Than I Was A President.

[on The Republican Party] A Party With A Narrow Vision, A Party That Is Afraid Of The Future.

I'd Like To Be Remembered As Someone Who Was A Champion Of Peace And Human Rights.

I Believe That We Are Saved By The Grace Of God Because He Loves Us Provided That We Have Faith In Jesus Christ.

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 Am A Nuclear Physicist By Training And A Deeply Committed Christian. I Don't Have Any Doubt In My Own Mind About God Who Created The Entire Universe. But I Don't Adhere To Passages That So And So Was Created 4,000 Years Before Christ, And Things Of That Kind.

I Enjoy Walking By Myself On The Same Paths Where, As A Little Boy, I Delighted In Following My Father Around.

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

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

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.

It Was The Darndest Thing I've Ever Seen. It Was Big, It Was Very Bright, It Changed Colors And It Was About The Size Of The Moon.. We Watched It For Ten Minutes, But None Of Us Could Figure Out What It Was. One Thing's For Sure, I'll Never Make Fun Of People Who Say They've Seen Unidentified Objects In The Sky.

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

Under Lenin The Soviet Union Was Like A Religious Revival, Under Stalin Like A Prison, Under Khrushchev Like A Circus, And Under Brezhnev Like The U.s. Post Office.

Prostitution Thrives In The United States. We Focus In This Country On Punishing The Girls. For Every Brothel Owner Or Pimp Or Male Customer, There Are 50 Girls Who Are Arrested For Being Prostitutes. Other Countries Have Tried The Other Way Around, And It Works Beautifully...they Bring The Charges Against The Brothel Owners And The Pimps And The Male Customers, And They Do Not Prosecute The Girls, Who Quite Often Are Brought Into That Trade Involuntarily. It Works Quite Well, By The Way.

I Think All Of Us Could Insist On Preserving The Truth And Preserving The Peace. We Could Insist That Political Candidates Tell The Truth About Controversial Issues. And Secondly, We Should Be Sure To Encourage Our Political Leaders, After They're Elected, To Preserve The Peace.

America Is Constantly Involved In Unnecessary Wars.

Being President Is As Difficult As Writing The Perfect Poem. And Being President Is As Effortless As Writing The Perfect Poem. Always A Reckoning, My First Collection Of Poetry, Was Described By Booklist As 'keenly Evocative.'

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