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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.

-Jimmy Carter

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The Special Relationship Between

Jimmy Carter

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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.

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There's No Doubt That The Christian Right Has Gone To Bed With The More Conservative Elements Of The Republican Party. And There's Been A Melding In Their Goals When It Comes To The Separation Of Church And State. I've Always Believed In The Separation Of Church And State.

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.

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.

We Must Make It Clear That A Platform Of 'i Hate Gay Men And Women' Is Not A Way To Become President Of The United States.

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.

Our Laws Were Not Designed To Accommodate Three Or Four Thousand Refugees Coming Here Per Day. Our Laws Were Designed For People To Be Screened In A Foreign Country, Carefully Catalogued, And Brought Here A Few At A Time. This Just Didn't Happen.

Unless Both Sides Win, No Agreement Can Be Permanent.

I'll Never Tell A Lie. I'll Never Make A Misleading Statement. I'll Never Betray The Confidence That Any Of You Had In Me. And I'll Never Avoid A Controversial Issue.

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

Harry Truman Was Courageous Enough To Command That Racial Segregation Be Ended In The Military. I Was Serving In A Submarine In The U.s. Navy At The Time He Issued The Order.

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?

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.

It's Not Necessary To Fear The Prospect Of Failure But To Be Determined Not To Fail.

I Believe There Is Complete Equality Between Men And Women.

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.

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.

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

The Best Way To Enhance Freedom In Other Lands Is To Demonstrate Here That Our Democratic System Is Worthy Of Emulation.

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.

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

In A Nuclear Age, Each Of Us Is Threatened When Peace Is Not Secured Everywhere.

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.

We Have A Tendency To Condemn People Who Are Different From Us, To Define Their Sins As Paramount And Our Own Sinfulness As Being Insignificant.

The Evidence Shows That Investing In Women And Girls Delivers Major Benefits For Society. An Educated Woman Has Healthier Children. She Is More Likely To Send Them To School. She Earns More And Invests What She Earns In Her Family.

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.

There Was Promulgation Of False Propaganda By The Administration About The Existence Of Weapons Of Mass Destruction In Iraq. There Was Promulgation Of False Propaganda About Iraq As A Base For Al Qaeda.

Mass Destruction

During The 1960s, We Used Twice As Much Oil As During The 1950s. And In Each Of Those Decades, More Oil Was Consumed Than In All Of Mankind's Previous History.

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.

It Is The Fundamental Right Of Every American, As Guaranteed By The First Amendment Of The Constitution, To Worship As He Or She Pleases... This Legislation Sets Forth The Policy Of The United States To Protect And Preserve The Inherent Right Of American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut, And Native Hawaiian People To Believe, Express, And Exercise Their Traditional Religions

There Were Two Unpleasant Surprises [about Washington]. One Was The Inertia Of Congress, The Length Of Time It Takes To Get A Complicated Piece Of Legislation Through ... And The Other Was The Irresponsibility Of The Press.

The United States...has A Warm And A Unique Relationship Of Friendship With Israel That Is Morally Right. It Is Compatible With Our Deepest Religious Convictions, And It Is Right In Terms Of America's Own Strategic Interests. We Are Committed To Israel's Security, Prosperity, And Future As A Land That Has So Much To Offer The World.

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

I Happen To Be A Scientist. My Background Is In Nuclear Physics. I Was A Nuclear Engineer. But I Don't See Any Incompatibility At All With My Religious Faith And God The Creator Of Everything And The Incompatibility Between When The Earth Was Created As Specified In The Bible. I Don't See Any Incompatibility There Because Those That Were Interpreting God's Overall Message Didn't Know Anything About Modern-day Science.

We Become Not A Melting Pot But A Beautiful Mosaic. Different People, Different Beliefs, Different Yearnings, Different Hopes, Different Dreams.

In Retrospect, I Can See That President Brezhnev Was Quite Proud Of The Limited Agreement That He Had Concluded In Vladivostok; And To Have A New American President Come In And Say, "that Is Not Good Enough - Let's Do Much More, And Do It Quite Rapidly," Took Him By Surprise.

Not Good Enough

Our Goals Are Also The Same, To Have A Just System Of Economics And Politics, To Let The People Of The World Share In Growth, In Peace, In Personal Freedom, And In The Benefits To Be Derived From The Proper Utilization Of Natural Resources. We Believe In Enhancing Human Rights. We Believe That We Should Enhance, As Independent Nations, The Freedom Of Our Own People.

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.

I'm Still, Except For Making Overseas Trips, I'm Staying Just About As Busy As I Ever Did.

Governance Should Be Designed As An Equalizer. Democrats Are More Inclined Towards Working Families And Those Who Are Struggling For A Better Life.

I Think All Americans Believe In Human Rights. And Health Is An Often Overlooked Aspect Of Basic Human Rights. And It's One That's Easily Corrected. The Reason I Say That Is That Many Of The Diseases That We Treat Around The World, I Knew When I Was A Child. My Mother Was A Registered Nurse. And They No Longer Exist In Our Country.

I'm Concerned About The Negative Aspect Of Political Campaigning In American Nation, Which Is A New Phenomenon. When I Ran For President Against Gerald Ford And Later Against Ronald Reagan We Never Referred To Each Other Except As 'my Distinguished Opponent'. And Had We Criticised Personally Our Opponent It Would Have Been Political Suicide, We Would Have Been Castigated And Condemned For It.

Elvis Presley's Death Deprives Our Country Of A Part Of Itself. He Was Unique, Irreplaceable. More Than Twenty Years Ago, He Burst Upon The Scene With An Impact That Was Unprecedented And Will Probably Never Be Equaled. His Music And His Personality, Fusing The Styles Of White Country And Black Rhythm And Blues, Permanently Changed The Face Of American Popular Culture. His Following Was Immense. And He Was A Symbol To People The World Over Of The Vitality, Rebelliousness And Good Humor Of This Country.

As Far As Being In Dangerous Situations Around The World Is Concerned, I Always Have A Secret Service Detail With Me As One Of The Privileges Of A Former President.

Dangerous Situations

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.

Everyone Has A Right To Peaceful Coexistence, The Basic Personal Freedoms, The Alleviation Of Suffering, And The Opportunity To Lead A Productive Life.

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.

If You Fear Making Anyone Mad, Then You Ultimately Probe For The Lowest Common Denominator Of Human Achievement.

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.

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.

The Cost Of An On-site Inspection Team Would Be Minuscule Compared To War, Saddam Would Have No Choice Except To Comply, The Results Would Be Certain, Military And Civilian Casualties Would Be Avoided, There Would Be Almost Unanimous Worldwide Support, And The United States Could Regain Its Leadership In Combating The Real Threat Of International Terrorism.

Before I Became President, In The Aftermath Of The Vietnam War, There Had Been Fairly Dramatic, And I Think Excessive, Reductions In The Capability Of Our Military Forces, And As A Former Military Man Myself - I Was A Professional Naval Officer, A Submarine Officer - I Thought It Was Better, On A Step-by-step, Very Carefully Planned Way, To Increase The Technical, Or Technological, Capability Of Our Weapons Systems.

There's Always Enough To Fill Up The Headlines In A Newspaper, The Evening News Broadcasts. I'm Always Grateful When I Get The Weekly News Magazines On Monday Morning And Don't See My Picture On The Front.

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

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.

The Test Of A Government Is Not How Popular It Is With The Powerful And Privileged Few But How Honestly And Fairly It Deals With The Many Who Must Depend On It.

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

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

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.

The Government Ought To Stay Out Of The Prayer Business.

My Esteem In This Country Has Gone Up Substantially. It Is Very Nice Now When People Wave At Me, They Use All Their Fingers.

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.

Ours Is The Most Wasteful Nation On Earth. We Waste More Energy Than We Import. With About The Same Standard Of Living, We Use Twice As Much Energy Per Person As Do Other Countries Like Germany, Japan, And Sweden.

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

The Government And The Church Are Two Different Realms Of Service, And Those In Political Office Have To Face A Subtle But Important Difference Between The Implementation Of The High Ideals Of Religious Faith And Public Duty.

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.

The North Korean Communists Are Implacably Pursuing Their Military Buildup In Defiance Of The International Trend Toward Rapprochement And Of The Stark Reality Of The Korean Situation, As Well As Of The Long-cherished Aspiration Of The 50 Million Koreans. The North Koreans Have Already Constructed A Number Of Underground Invasion Tunnels Across The Demilitarized Zone.

I Have Come To Realize That In Every Person There Is Something Fine And Pure And Noble, Along With A Desire For Self-fulfillment.

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.

Our Decision About Energy Will Test The Character Of The American People And The Ability Of The President And The Congress To Govern This Nation. This Difficult Effort Will Be The Moral Equivalent Of War, Except That We Will Be Uniting Our Efforts To Build And Not To Destroy.

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

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.

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'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.

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.

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

I Think The Israelis Are Beginning To Realize More That They Are Moving Toward A One-state Solution, Which Would Be A Catastrophe For Israel.

I Thought A Lot About Our Nation And What I Should Do As President. And Sunday Night Before Last, I Made A Speech About Two Problems Of Our Countryenergy And Malaise.

America Did Not Invent Human Rights. In A Very Real Sense Human Rights Invented America.

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.

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.

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

This Intolerable Dependence On Foreign Oil Threatens Our Economic Independence And The Very Security Of Our Nation. The Energy Crisis Is Real. It Is Worldwide. It Is A Clear And Present Danger To Our Nation. These Are Facts And We Simply Must Face Them.

Because (grandparents) Are Usually Free To Love And Guide And Befriend The Young Without Having To Take Daily Responsibility For Them, They Can Often Reach Out Past Pride And Fear Of Failure And Close The Space Between Generations.

When I Was In The White House, I Was Confronted With The Challenge Of The Cold War. Both The Soviet Union And I Had 30,000 Nuclear Weapons That Could Destroy The Entire Earth And I Had To Maintain The Peace.

The Entire Islamic World Condemned Iran. Nowadays, Because Of The Unwarranted Invasion Of Iraq By Bush And Blair, Which Was A Completely Unjust Adventure Based On Misleading Statements, And The Lack Of Any Effort To Resolve The Palestinian Issue, There Is Massive Islamic Condemnation Of The United States.

Energy Will Be The Immediate Test Of Our Ability To Unite This Nation, And It Can Also Be The Standard Around Which We Rally. On The Battlefield Of Energy We Can Win For Our Nation A New Confidence, And We Can Seize Control Again Of Our Common Destiny.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In The Life Of The Human Spirit, Words Are Action, Much More So Than Many Of Us Realize Who Live In Countries Where Freedom Of Expression Is Taken For Granted. The Leaders Of Totalitarian Nations Understand This Very Well. The Proof Is That Words Are Precisely The Action For Which Dissidents In Those Countries Are Being Persecuted.

We Can Choose To Alleviate Suffering. We Can Choose To Work Together For Peace. We Can Make These Changes - And We Must.

Working Together

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

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.

This Is The First National Administration We've Ever Seen Where The Housewife Couldn't Afford To Buy Groceries And The Farmer Couldn't Afford To Grow Them.

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

There Has Never Been Any Evidence That The Death Penalty Reduces Capital Crimes Or That Crimes Increased When Executions Stopped. Tragic Mistakes Are Prevalent...it Is Clear That There Are Overwhelming Ethical, Financial, And Religious Reasons To Abolish The Death Penalty.

America Has No Functioning Democracy At This Moment.

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

The Respect For Human Rights Is One Of The Most Significant Advantages Of A Free And Democratic Nation In The Peaceful Struggle For Influence, And We Should Use This Good Weapon As Effectively As Possible.

Each Of Us Must Rededicate Ourselves To Serving The Common Good. We Are A Community. Our Individual Fates Are Linked; Our Futures Intertwined; And If We Act In That Knowledge And In That Spirit Together, As The Bible Says: "we Can Move Mountains."

If I Were President, I'd Be Very Glad To See The Palestinians Have A Nation Recognized By The United Nations. There's No Downside To It.

Carter Is Doing A High-wire Act Over A Cesspool, Preaching All The Way. Sinclair Lewis, Thou Shouldst Be Living In This Hour. We Have A Warren Harding Impersonating Elmer Gantry.

Life Is Just Too Short To Go Quail Hunting With The Wrong People.

The Carter Center Has A Policy Of Doing What Others Do Not Want To Do. We Do Not Compete With The World Health Organization, The United Nations Or The Us Government.

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.

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

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.

The Truth Is That Male Religious Leaders Have Had - And Still Have - An Option To Interpret Holy Teachings Either To Exalt Or Subjugate Women. They Have, For Their Own Selfish Ends, Overwhelmingly Chosen The Latter.

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.

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.

On Both Of My Major Trips To North Korea, The Leaders Of The Country Made It Plain That They Want To Make Progress Towards Doing Away With Nuclear Weapons And Towards Ending The Longstanding, Official State Of War Which Persists Between North Korea And The United States And South Korea, A War Which Has Continued Since The Ceasefire Over Fifty Years Ago. That Sort Of Thing Happens Quite Often When We Meet With People Who Are Kind Of International Outcasts With Whom The Government Of The United States Won't Meet.

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.

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

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.

Then When [isis] Moved Into Iraq, The Sunni Muslims Didn’t Object To Their Being There And About A Third Of The Territory In Iraq Was Abandoned.

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 See A Lot Of Parallels Between My Candidacy And The Tea Party. I Would Not Have Been Elected Had There Not Been A Tremendous Amount Of Dissatisfaction And Discouragement And Disgust With What Was Going On In Washington.

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.

At The Beginning Of This Year Also, I Called Upon The North Korean Side To Open Dialog Between The Responsible Authorities Of The South And The North At Any Place, At Any Time, And At Any Level, In Order To Prevent A Recurrence Of War And To Cooperate To Speed Up The Peaceful Unification Of Our Fatherland. However, No Sincere Response Has Yet Been Made By North Korea.

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.

Within The Stable Economy It's Necessary To Eliminate All Forms Of Sexual Discrimination, And To Provide Women For The First Time In Our History With Economic Opportunities Equal To Those Of Men.

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.

God Wisely Designed The Human Body So That We Can Neither Pat Our Own Backs Nor Kick Ourselves Too Easily.

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.

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.

People In The United States, Including Me, Are Naturally Inclined To Support Israel. I'm An Evangelical Christian Who Teaches The Bible Every Sunday At My Church. I Teach Half The Old Testament And Half The New Testament. We Americans Identify The Hebrews, The Israelites, With Ourselves.

My Opinion Of The Russians Has Changed Most Drastically In The Last Week Than Even (sic) The Two-and-a-half Years Before That. It's Only Now Dawning Upon The World The Magnitude Of The Action That The Soviets Undertook In Invading Afghanistan.

America Has Had The Best University System In The World For A Long Time. And So We Have Been Innovators, Not Only In The Discoveries As Proven By Nobel Prizes In Chemistry And Physics And That Sort Of Thing, But We've Been Able To Put That Into Practical Application With New Gadgets That People Admire.

A Lot Of The Things That We Passed In The Energy Policy Were Embedded In Law, And They Resulted In Tremendous Reductions In Waste Of Energy In All Kinds Of Things.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

I Don't Believe That Jesus Would Approve Abortion Except In The Case Of Incest, Rape Or The Mother's Life In Danger. But I Had To Enforce The Supreme Court Ruling On Roe V. Wade So I Tried To Do Everything I Could To Minimize The Need For Abortions.

"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.

On Saint Paul, He's Probably One Of The Best Theologians Of All Time, But I Don't Believe That Some Of His Teachings Are Appropriate Today.

I'm Going To Stay Active As Long As I Can Politically, And With The Carter Center Primarily, And If I'm Able Mentally And Physically, Will Continue To Be Quite Active.

The Bond Of Our Common Humanity Is Stronger Than The Divisiveness Of Our Fears And Prejudices.

Common Humanity

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 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.

If You Have A Task To Perform And Are Vitally Interested In It, Excited And Challenged By It, And Then You Will Exert Maximum Energy. But In The Excitement, The Pain Of Fatigue Dissipates, And The Exuberance Of What You Hope To Achieve Overcomes The Weariness.

I Am Not Here As A Public Official, But As A Citizen Of A Troubled World Who Finds Hope In A Growing Consensus That The Generally Accepted Goals Of Society Are Peace, Freedom, Human Rights, Environmental Quality, The Alleviation Of Suffering, And The Rule Of Law.

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

The First Year I Was In Office, Only About 800 People Came Out Of The Soviet Union, Jews. By The Third Year I Was In Office... Second Year, 1979, 51,000 Came Out Of The Soviet Union. And Every One Of The Human Rights Heroes - I'll Use The Word - Who Have Come Out Of The Soviet Union, Have Said It Was A Turning Point In Their Lives, And Not Only In The Soviet Union But Also In Places Like Czechoslovakia And Hungary And Poland [they] Saw This Human Rights Policy Of Mine As Being A Great Boost To The Present Democracy And Freedom That They Enjoy.

It Is Good To Realize That If Love And Peace Can Prevail On Earth, And If We Can Teach Our Children To Honor Nature's Gifts, The Joys And Beauties Of The Outdoors Will Be Here Forever.

People Would Ask Me How I Could Stand The Long Campaigning, How I Could Stand Being Charged With The Responsibilities Of A Great Nation, One Of The Most Powerful And Difficult Jobs In The World. It Wasn't Any More Difficult Than Picking Cotton All Day Or Shaking Peanuts.

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 Think I Was Identified As A Failed President Because I Wasn't Re-elected.

Nobody Knows When You Make An Effort Or When You Plant A Seed If It Will Bear Fruit Or Not.

To Me, Faith Is Not Just A Noun But Also A Verb

It Is Often Just As Important To Be Perceived As Something As Actually To Be That Something And, As A Matter Of Fact, A Candidate Need Not Be Anything Ideologically At All.

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

The United States Is Squandering International Prestige And Goodwill And Intensifying Global Anti-american Terrorism By Unofficially Condoning Or Abetting The Israeli Confiscation And Colonization Of Palestinian Territories.

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.

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

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.

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.

Penalties Against Possession Of A Drug Should Not Be More Damaging To An Individual Than The Use Of The Drug Itself; And Where They Are, They Should Be Changed. Nowhere Is This More Clear Than In The Laws Against Possession Of Marijuana In Private For Personal Use... Therefore, I Support Legislation Amending Federal Law To Eliminate All Federal Criminal Penalties For The Possession Of Up To One Ounce [28g] Of Marijuana.

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 Thought Then And I Think Now That The Invasion Of Iraq Was Unnecessary And Unjust And I Think The Premises On Which It Was Launched Were False.

I Have A Great Respect For The Flag, (but) If The Government Passed A Law Saying That I Had To Pledge Allegiance To The Flag, I Don't Think I Would Do It. I've Always Felt That I Lived In A Country...where If I Wanted To Worship God As A Baptist, I Could Do So. If I Were An Atheist, I Could Be One. If I Wanted To Be A Catholic But Was Born A Jew, There's No Condemnation...from A Government Authority.

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.

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.

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

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. And America Is Constantly At War.

Billy Graham Is One Of My Great Lifetime Heroes. I Think He Epitomizes The Essence Of What A Christian Leader Should Be. I Have Participated In Some Of His Crusades A Couple Of Times In Atlanta. I've Seen The Profound Impact He's Had On Me Personally, And On Other People Who Were Not Christians And Accepted Christ As Savior.

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.

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.

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.

I Believe There Is Complete Equality Between Men And Women. And I Believe Those Passages In The New Testament, Not By Jesus, But By Paul, That Say Women Should Not Adorn Themselves, They Should Always Wear Hats Or Color Their Hair In Church - Things Like That - I Think They Are Signs Of The Times And Should Not Apply To Modern-day Life.

The Measure Of A Society Is Found In How They Treat Their Weakest And Most Helpless Citizens. As Americans, We Are Blessed With Circumstances That Protect Our Human Rights And Our Religious Freedom, But For Many People Around The World, Deprivation And Persecution Have Become A Way Of Life.

There Was Never Any Question About The Morality Of Hunting, But Neither Was There Any Acceptance Of Killing For The Sake Of A Trophy.

Homosexuality Was Massively Practiced In Some Of The Conflicting Religions At The Time Of Christ And Even At The Time Of Christ, In Roman Times Show That Homosexuality Was Widely Prevalent. I Think It's Quite Significant That Jesus Never Did Mention It.

I Have Been In Love With The Palestinian People For Many Years. I Have Two Great-grandsons That Are Rapidly Learning About The People Here And The Anguish And Suffering And Deprivation Of Human Rights That You Have Experienced Ever Since 1948.

We Cannot Be Both The World's Leading Champion Of Peace And The World's Leading Supplier Of The Weapons Of War.

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.

This View That Women Are Somehow Inferior To Men Is Not Restricted To One Religion Or Belief. It Is Widespread. Women Are Prevented From Playing A Full And Equal Role In Many Faiths.

America Is Constantly Involved In Unnecessary Wars.

Last Year I Was On Pat Robertson's Show, And We Discussed Our Basic Christian Faith - For Instance, Separation Of Church And State. It's Contrary To My Beliefs To Try To Exalt Christianity As Having Some Sort Of Preferential Status In The United States. That Violates The Constitution. I'm Not In Favor Of Mandatory Prayer In School Or Of Using Public Funds To Finance Religious Education.

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.

Like Music And Art, Love Of Nature Is A Common Language That Can Transcend Political Or Social Boundaries.

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.

We Believe That The First Time We're Born, As Children, It's Human Life Given To Us; And When We Accept Jesus As Our Savior, It's A New Life. That's What "born Again" Means.

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

A Fundamentalist Can't Bring Himself Or Herself To Negotiate With People Who Disagree With Them Because The Negotiating Process Itself Is An Indication Of Implied Equality.

In The Year 2000, The Solar Water Heater Behind Me, Which Is Being Dedicated Today, Will Still Be Here Supplying Cheap, Efficient Energy. A Generation From Now, This Solar Heater Can Either Be A Curiosity, A Museum Piece, An Example Of A Road Not Taken, Or It Can Be Just A Small Part Of One Of The Greatest And Most Exciting Adventures Ever Undertaken By The American People: Harnessing The Power Of The Sun To Enrich Our Lives As We Move Away From Our Crippling Dependence On Foreign Oil.

A Joyous Occasion Is Never Quite As Wonderful As When It Becomes A Memory.

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.

Nearly All Inmates Are Drawn From The Ranks Of The Powerless And The Poor. A Child Of Privilege Frequently Receives The Benefit Of The Doubt; A Child Of Poverty Seldom Does.

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

I Don't Want To Tell President Obama How To Make A Speech. He's A Much Better Speech Maker Than I Am. But I Think Always To Tell The Truth In A Sometimes Blatant Way, Even Though It Might Be Temporarily Unpopular, Is The Best Approach.

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.

No Matter Where You Go In The World In Any Country In Africa Or Latin America And Other Place, You Will Find That China Is Very Deeply Involved In The Affairs Of That Country.

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.

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.

No Poor, Rural, Weak, Or Black Person Should Ever Again Have To Bear The Additional Burden Of Being Deprived Of The Opportunity For An Education, A Job, Or Simple Justice.

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