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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.

-Jimmy Carter

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When People First Vote

Jimmy Carter

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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.

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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.

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

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.

Unless Both Sides Win, No Agreement Can Be Permanent.

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.

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.

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

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

We've Become Increasingly Addicted To Consumption Of Goods That We Don't Produce Ourselves, And A Lot Of The Manufacturing Has Gone Overseas.

And I Think The Almost Undeviating Support By Great Britain For The Ill-advised Policies Of President Bush In Iraq Have Been A Major Tragedy For The World.

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.

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.

I Believe There Is Complete Equality Between Men And Women.

My Paintings Have Gotten To Be Pretty Popular And I've Taken A Little Bit More Interest In Painting The Last Few Years. In Fact, My Novel That I Wrote Not Too Long Ago, 'the Hornet's Nest,' I Painted The Cover Picture For It And I Do A Good Bit Of Painting Now.

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.

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.

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've Lost An Edge That We Used To Have In Scientific Innovation Applications To Goods To Be Sold. In Many Ways, That Is Also Changing In The Electronic Field. Almost All Of The Materials That We Use Now Are Of Advanced Technology, I Have An Ipad And Also An Ipod, Both Of Which Are Made In China. Although We Have Designed Them Here With Apple, For Instance, They Are Manufactured Overseas.

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

The Relationship Between Government And Art Must Necessarily Be A Delicate One. It Would Not Be Appropriate For The Government To Try To Define What Is Good Or What Is True Or What Is Beautiful. But Government Can Provide Nourishment To The Ground Within Which These Ideas Spring Forth From The Seeds Of Inspiration Within The Human Mind.

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.

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

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.

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

America Does Not At The Moment Have A Functioning Democracy.

"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.

In The United States, You Might Say Every County Has Got Its Own Separate System. There's Not Even One Kind Of Ballot That You Use All Over The United States. We Require That In A Foreign Country.

I Don't Believe That China, In My Lifetime Or Maybe My Children's Lifetime, Be Equal To The United States Militarily Speaking, But They Are Very Careful To Avoid Any Engagement In War, They Are Basically A Peaceful Country, Which Gives Them Another Advantage Over The United States When We Are Much More Inclined To Go To War For Various Reasons.

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

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.

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

Thoughtful Criticism And Close Scrutiny Of All Government Officials By The Press And The Public Are An Important Part Of Our Democratic Society.

America Has No Functioning Democracy At This Moment.

When Men In Secular Life, Who Might Be Religious Or Not, See Women Being Treated As Secondary In The Eyes Of God, They Assume That It's Ok For Them To Do It.

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.

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'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.

Well, You Know, I Had Been A Peanut Farmer. I Had - You Know Who Was The First President - Democratic President I Ever Met? Bill Clinton.

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.

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.

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.

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

We All Know Grandparents Whose Values Transcend Passing Fads And Pressures, And Who Possess The Wisdom Of Distilled Pain And Joy.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

I Believe Strongly That In The Eyes Of God Women And Men Should Be The Same And They Should Be Given The Same Authority In The Church, Women Should As Men.

Testing Oneself Is Best When Done Alone.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Standing Alone Among Great Democratic Nations In Imposing The Death Penalty Is Another Moral Decision That Americansare Being Forced To Confront.

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.

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

I Believe 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.

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.

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.

When People Are Intimidated About Having Their Own Opinions, Oppression Is At Hand.

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.

I Had Very Good Support From Democrats And Republicans All Throughout My Administration. I Had A Very High Batting Average. We Added More Jobs Per Year In My Four Years Than Any Other President Since The Second World War.

I Have A Very Personal Relationship With Jesus Christ. It Doesn't Depend On The Fact That He Can Walk On Water.

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.

But Love Must Be Aggressively Translated Into Simple Justice.

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

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

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.

When You Invade Grenada, Or When You Invade Panama To Capture A Disreputable Person, Or When You Bomb The Bosnia Area, You Can Always Find Justification For Those Military Actions, But It's Really Surprising How Many Times In Those 25 Years - That's A Long Time - The United States Has Interceded, I Wouldn't Say Most Of The Time Militarily, But A Lot Of Those Have Been Military Actions.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

I've Used The Prestige And Influence Of Having Been A President Of The United States As Effectively As Possible. And Secondly, I've Still Been Able To Carry Out My Commitments To Peace And Human Rights And Environmental Quality And Freedom And Democracy And So Forth.

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

Making A Difference

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

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

I've Committed Adultery In My Heart.

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

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

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

You Just Have To Have A Simple Faith.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

We Are A Purely Idealistic Nation But Let No One Confuse Our Idealism With Weakness.

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

We 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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

A Christian Should Know That God Is A Creator, That God Is An Entity That Is All-powerful And All Knowledgeable, God Is Everywhere And God Is An Entity Filled With Grace, Love, Compassion And Forgiveness, That Jesus Is The Son Of God And Jesus Came On Earth To Explain To People In A Very Revolutionary Way The Nature Of God, That God Was Not A Stern Judge Who Was Keeping Track Of 600 Or So Rules And Regulations That You Had To Keep In Order To Be Acceptable To God.

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

Genocide, In My Opinion - Is An Attempt By A Powerful Group Completely To Eradicate From The Face Of The Earth The Existence Of People Because Of Their Ethnic Makeup Or Because Of Their Race Or Religion, And That Was The Case With Hitler Trying To Exterminate The Jews, And That Was The Case In Rwanda, When The Tutsis Were Attacked And Over 500,000 Were Killed In Two Or Three Days.

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.

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

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.

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

Southerners, Whose Ancestors A Hundred Years Ago Knew The Horrors Of A Homeland Devastated By War, Are Particularly Determined That War Shall Never Come To Us Again. All Americans Understand The Basic Lessons Of History: That We Need To Be Resolute And Able To Protect Ourselves, To Prevent Threats And Domination By Others.

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

I Come Out Of The Environment Of The Deep South, Where I Had Seen The Millstone Of Racial Discrimination Weighting Down My People, Both The Black People And The White People; And I Had Seen The Enormous Progress That We Were Able To Make After We Removed The Legal Restraints Of A Two-class Society, With The Whites Superior And Blacks Inferior. So I Was Very Convinced Before I Became President That Basic Human Rights, Equality Of Opportunity, The End Of Abuse By Governments Of Their People, Was A Basic Principle On Which The United States Should Be An Acknowledged Champion.

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.

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 Think My Wife ... Is Sure Of My Loyalty.... She Knows How Hard I Work. She Knows How Tired I Am Every Night. She Knows I Have Fifty Or Sixty Reporters Watching Me Day And Night.

When We Go To The Bible We Should Keep In Mind That The Basic Principles Of The Bible Are Taught By God, But Written Down By Human Beings Deprived Of Modern Day Knowledge. So There Is Some Fallibility In The Writings Of The Bible. But The Basic Principles Are Applicable To My Life And I Don't Find Any Conflict Among Them.

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 A Christian, A Trained Engineer And Scientist, And A Professor At Emory University, I Am Embarrassed By Superintendent Kathy Cox's Attempt To Censor And Distort The Education Of Georgia's Students.... 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.

My Constant Prayer, My Number One Foreign Goal, Is To Bring Peace To Israel. And In The Process To Israel's Neighbours.

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

I First Came Into The Labor Force In 1941 When The Minimum Wage Was 40 Cents An Hour, And That Was My First Job. And Each Time That We've Tried To Boost The Lower Level Of Salary For The Most Underpaid Workers, There Have Been Predictions Of Catastrophe. But Each Time, In [m]y Opinion, The Change Has Helped Our Nation And Its Economic Strength.

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.

We Live In A Time Of Transition, An Uneasy Era Which Is Likely To Endure For The Rest Of This Century... During This Period We May Be Tempted To Abandon Some Of The Time-honored Principles And Commitments Which Have Been Proven During The Difficult Times Of Past Generations. We Must Never Yield To This Temptation. Our American Values Are Not Luxuries But Necessities - Not The Salt In Our Bread But The Bread Itself.

I Say To You Quite Frankly That The Time For Racial Discrimination Is Over.

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.

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.

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

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.

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 Abominable, And It's A Disgrace To A Great Democracy To See What's Happened In Our Country. The Main Reason For That Has Been The Enormous Infusion Of High Quantities Of Money To Campaigns - Governors, Congress, President And The U.s. Senate.

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

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.

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.

Every Act Of Energy Conservation... Is More Than Just Common Sense: I Tell You It Is An Act Of Patriotism.

Trust Is Very Much A Part Of Our Democracy.

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.

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

To Deal With Individual Human Needs At The Everyday Level Can Be Noble Sometimes.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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 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.

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.

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.

The Situation In Gaza Is Intolerable. Not One Destroyed House Has Been Rebuilt Ppl Cannot Live W The Dignity They Deserve

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

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.

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

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.”

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Building Confidence And Constructive Relations Between Sudan And South Sudan Is Urgent

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.

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

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

Habitat Has Opened Up Unprecedented Opportunities For Me To Cross The Chasm That Separates Those Of Us Who Are Free, Safe, Financially Secure, Well Fed And Housed, And Influential Enough To Shape Our Own Destiny From Our Neighbors Who Enjoy Few, If Any, Of These Advantages Of Life.

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.

America Is Constantly Involved In Unnecessary Wars.

Christians Are Supposed To Be Evangelicals. And I Am. I Am Evangelical.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Even For The World's Only Superpower, The Ends Don't Always Justify The Means.

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 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.

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

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