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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.

-Jimmy Carter

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We Know Definitively That

Jimmy Carter

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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.

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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?

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.

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.

Unless Both Sides Win, No Agreement Can Be Permanent.

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.

Because We Are Free, We Can Never Be Indifferent To The Fate Of Freedom Elsewhere.

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

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.

The Government Ought To Stay Out Of The Prayer Business.

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.

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.

My Decision To Register Women Confirms What Is Already Obvious Throughout Our Society-that Women Are Now Providing All Types Of Skills In Every Profession. The Military Should Be No Exception.

For Me Personally And For Most Other Americans, This Commitment To Peace And Diplomacy Does Not Imply A Blind Or Total Pacifism. There Are Times When War Is Justified, And For Many Centuries The Moral Criteria For Violence Have Been Carefully Delineated.

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

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.

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 .

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

It Is Clear That Global Challenges Must Be Met With An Emphasis On Peace, In Harmony With Others, With Strong Alliances And International Consensus. Imperfect As It May Be, There Is No Doubt That This Can Best Be Done Through The United Nations, Not Merely To Preserve Peace But Also To Make Change, Even Radical Change, Without Violence.

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

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.

[jerry Brown] Is California's Way Of Celebrating The Year Of The Child.

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.

The Decision To Attack The Entire Nation [of Yugoslavia] Has Been Counterproductive, And Our Destruction Of Civilian Life Has Now Become Senseless And Excessively Brutal. ... The United States' Insistence On The Use Of Cluster Bombs, Designed To Kill Or Maim Humans, Is Condemned Almost Universally And Brings Discredit On Our Nation (as Does Our Refusal To Support A Ban On Land Mines). Even For The World's Only Superpower, The Ends Don't Always Justify The Means.

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

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

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 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.

We Only Have To Recall The Color Of The Faces Of Those Who Were Most Devastated By Katrina, To Know That There Are Not Yet Equal Opportunities For All Americans.

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

People Who Have Lust In Their Heart As Just As Guilty As Those Who Commit Adultery.

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

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

I Don't Think That Israel Has Any Legal Or Moral Justification For Their Massive Bombing Of The Entire Nation Of Lebanon.

I've Looked On Many Women With Lust. I've Committed Adultery In My Heart Many Times. God Knows I Will Do This And Forgives Me.

You Have Given Me A Great Responsibility: To Stay Close To You, To Be Worthy Of You And To Exemplify What You Are.

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.

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

We Believe In Separation Of Church And State, That There Should Be No Unwarranted Influence On The Church Or Religion By The State, And Vice Versa.

I'm Much More Introspective Than I Was, Say, Thirty Years Ago.

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.

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

Throughout My Life, I've Seen The Difference That Volunteering Efforts Can Make In People's Lives. I Know The Personal Value Of Service As A Local Volunteer.

There Is No Other Even Moderately Equal Abuse Than The Murder Of Little Baby Girls - Nothing Else Compares With That, In Horror.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

To Be True To Ourselves, We Must Be True To Others.

When I Feel Something Very Intensely Or Deeply Or Personally, I Can Go To Extremes Of Self-expression Or Self-analysis By Writing A Poem - More Than I Can Just Talking To Somebody Or Writing Prose.

The Social Security Program Is A Pact Between Workers And Their Employers That They Will Contribute To A Common Fund To Ensure That Those Who Are No Longer Part Of The Work Force Will Have A Basic Income On Which To Live. It Represents Our Commitment As A Society To The Belief That Workers Should Not Live In Dread That A Disability, Death, Or Old Age Could Leave Them Or Their Families Destitute.

Two Centuries Ago Our Nation's Birth Was A Milestone In The Long Quest For Freedom, But The Bold And Brilliant Dream Which Excited The Founders Of Our Nation Still Awaits Its Consummation. I Have No New Dream To Set Forth Today, But Rather Urge A Fresh Faith In The Old Dream.

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.

Americans Long Thought That Nature Could Take Care Of Itself-or That If It Did Not, The Consequences Were Someone Else's Problem. As We Know Now, That Assumption Was Wrong; None Of Us Is A Stranger To Environmental Problems.

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.

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.

(doctors) Collectively Have Done More To Block Adequate Medical Care For People Of This Country Than Any Other Single Group.

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

When People First Vote For Democracy, They Have Extremely High Hopes, Excessive Expectations, And They're Not Realized. They Don't Instantly Get Richer And The Schools Don't Instantly Get Better And The Garbage Isn't Instantly Picked Up Quicker. So They Get Disillusioned.

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.

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

Jesus Never Mentions Abortion. But I Think That Jesus Did Care For The Unborn Child, I Think That Jesus Did Care For People Who Were Completely Helpless, Who Depend On Others For Their Life And Livelihood. I Just Believe That This Should Be Minimized If Possible.

I Think Doctors Care Very Deeply About Their Patients, But When They Organize Into The Ama, Their Responsibility Is To The Welfare Of Doctors, And Quite Often, These Lobbying Groups Are The Only Ones That Are Heard In The State Capitols And In The Capitol Of Our Country.

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.

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.

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.

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.

America Is Constantly Involved In Unnecessary Wars.

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 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.

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

Earlier In My Life I Thought The Things That Mattered Were The Things That You Could See, Like Your Car, Your House, Your Wealth, Your Property, Your Office. But As I've Grown Older I've Become Convinced That The Things That Matter Most Are The Things That You Can't See -- The Love You Share With Others, Your Inner Purpose, Your Comfort With Who You Are.

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.

Unfortunately, Every American Citizen Takes The Same Position... That We Don’t Like Negative Advertisements. But They Work! And, As You See, Many A Candidate Has Prevailed By Tearing Down The Reputation Of An Opponent In A More Advantageous Position.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Each One Of Us Is An Individual, Just Like Talk Show Hosts Are Different From One Another, And Newspaper Columnists Are Different From Each Other. So, Former Presidents Are Different From Each Other, Too. Some Have Gone Into Relative Seclusion. Some Have Decided To Teach.

Whatever Starts In California Unfortunately Has An Inclination To Spread.

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 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 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

Globalization, As Defined By Rich People Like Us, Is A Very Nice Thing... You Are Talking About The Internet, You Are Talking About Cell Phones, You Are Talking About Computers. This Doesn't Affect Two-thirds Of The People Of The World.

America Has Always Been A Country Of Innovation And Dynamism, Entrepreneurship. And I Think That One Of The Things That Has Made Our Country Great Too Is Its Heterogeneous Population Where People Come Here From All Over The World.

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.

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.

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.

America Has No Functioning Democracy At This Moment.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Because I Know About The Holy Land, I've Taught Lessons About The Holy Land All My Life, And - But You Can't Bring Peace To Israel Without Giving The Palestinian Also Peace. And Lebanon And Jordan And Syria As Well.

Unfortunately, Some Of The African Leaders Employ Various Nefarious Means To Remain In Office Far Beyond What Their Constitutions Permit.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

I Will Never Lie To You.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 Have Never Been Disappointed When I Asked In A Humble And Sincere Way For God's Help. I Pray Often. I Think I Pray More Often Since January 12th.

In An All-out Nuclear War, More Destructive Power Than In All Of World War Ii Would Be Unleashed Every Second During The Long Afternoon It Would Take For All The Missiles And Bombs To Fall. A World War Ii Every Second-more People Killed In The First Few Hours Than All The Wars Of History Put Together. The Survivors, If Any, Would Live In Despair Amid The Poisoned Ruins Of A Civilization That Had Committed Suicide.

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.

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.'

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.

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.

We Have The Deepest Respect And Reverence For Islam And All Who Share The Faith Of Islam.

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 Think Of A Man More Worthy Of The Presidency Then My Good Friend Sam Nunn.

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.

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

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."

I Don't Have Any Complaints About Homosexuals Being Married In A Civil Ceremony. But I Don't Think That The Government Ought To Require Religious Organizations, Churches, Should Perform Marriages Between Homosexuals If A Local Congregation Decides Otherwise. I Believe In The Autonomy Of Individual Churches.

I Think With The Advent Of Reagan, And Subsequently, Both Parties, There's Been A Strong Move Towards The Advantage Given To The Richer People, In Taxation And Grants And Supplements And Things Of That Kind. Primarily Exacerbated More Recently By The Supreme Court's Stupid Ruling On Citizens United, And Now There's A Massive Flood Of Money Into The Political System That I Think Has Subverted The Essence Of A Moral And Ethical Standard That Used To Permeate American Democracy. Now It's Not An Admirable Process. I Think We've Gone Backwards.

Aggression Unopposed Becomes A Contagious Disease.

Jesus Never Said A Word About Homosexuality. In All Of His Teachings About Multiple Things - He Never Said That Gay People Should Be Condemned. I Personally Think It Is Very Fine For Gay People To Be Married In Civil Ceremonies.

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.

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.

Elvis Was A Symbol Of The Country's Vitality, Rebelliousness, And Good Humor.

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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'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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Giving People Equal Access To Enjoying The Benefits Of America Is The Biggest Problem That We're Not Making Any Progress In Resolving.

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

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.

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

I Think The Only Way That Political System Can Be Corrected Is For The American People To See Very Vividly That It Needs Repair. If Things Are Going To Worse In The Future, The American People, In Every Congressional District In The Land, Might Demand That Reforms Take Place In The Political System.

When Combined, The Small Individual Contributors Of Caring, Friendship, Forgiveness, And Love, Each Of Us Different From Our Next-door Neighbors, Can Form A Phalanx, An Army, With Great Capability.

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.

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.

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

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 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.

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.

The Measure Of A Society Is Found In How They Treat Their Weakest And Most Helpless Citizens.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

"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 Believe That The Boycott That We Have Against Cuba Is Counterproductive, And It Also Makes The Twelve Million Or So Cuban People Suffer Unnecessarily Just Because Of A Foolish Policy Of The United States.

Testing Oneself Is Best When Done Alone.

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.

My Mother's Influence To Take On New Challenges And Do What I Though Was Right Even Though Sometimes The Consequences Politically Speaking Were Not Good. My Mother Was Vivacious, She Was Full Of Life, She Got Up Every Morning Looking Forward To The Day, Trying To Figure Out What She Could Do That Was Innovative And Unprecedented And Maybe Controversial.

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.

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