Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American president George H. W. Bush.
Last updated on November 3, 2024.
George Herbert Walker Bush was an American politician, diplomat, and businessman who served as the 41st president of the United States from 1989 to 1993. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 43rd vice president from 1981 to 1989 under Ronald Reagan, in the U.S. House of Representatives, as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and as Director of Central Intelligence.
I can tell you this: If I'm ever in a position to call the shots, I'm not going to rush to send somebody else's kids into a war.
We don't want an America that is closed to the world. What we want is a world that is open to America.
I'm going to be so much better a president for having been at the CIA that you're not going to believe it.
I know my serve stinks, but I was a pretty good tennis player.
We are a nation of communities... a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky.
It's a very good question, very direct, and I'm not going to answer it.
We are not the sum of our possessions.
Debates, I hate.
I can't ever remember sitting around and saying, 'gosh let's hurry up and get these debates going, that'll win it for me.' Nope.
Old guys can still do fun things.
History will point out some of the things I did wrong and some of the things I did right.
We can realise a lasting peace and transform the East-West relationship to one of enduring co-operation.
The U.S.S. George H. W. Bush is a great thing in my life. It's amazing. A great honor.
I'll be glad to reply to or dodge your questions, depending on what I think will help our election most.
But let me tell you, this gender thing is history. You're looking at a guy who sat down with Margaret Thatcher across the table and talked about serious issues.
I think I'd be a better president because I was in combat.
You know I vowed when I became President not to talk about the loneliest toughest job in the world and I didn't.
I have survivor's curiosity, I guess.
Our God is a forgiving God.
For 18 years I have resisted talking about current events. I am not going to start now.
Well, I think everybody is frustrated by the finances of the U.N. and the inability to solve problems of war and peace.
I stand for anti-bigotry, anti-Semitism, and anti-racism.
A new breeze is blowing, and a world refreshed by freedom seems reborn; for in man's heart, if not in fact, the day of the dictator is over. The totalitarian era is passing, its old ideas blown away like leaves from an ancient, lifeless tree.
I will keep America moving forward, always forward, for a better America, for an endless enduring dream and a thousand Points of Light. This is my mission, and I will complete it.
I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them.
Losing is tough.
I hope my own children never have to fight a war.
I'm not trying to get myself up a notch on the ladder by shoving somebody else down on the ladder, whether it's a candidate or the president of the United States or anybody else. I just don't believe that's the way one oughta campaign, I've never done that.
I think in defeat you grope for things that are happy, and it's hard.
You have to understand that people that are hurting are going to criticize.
Lincoln said you cannot be President without spending some item on your knees. I have repeated that and a bunch of Atheists got all over me. Wait a minute. Does that mean that you cannot be President if you are an Atheist? I say yea that does mean that.
No, I'm not anguished and tormented.
I'm a conservative, but I'm not a nut about it.
One of the good things about the way the Gulf War ended in 1991 is, you'd see the Vietnam veterans marching with the Gulf War veterans.
I think when you see an aircraft fire, these angry, black puffs of smoke, knowing that one of them could kill you that you - you - you understand the seriousness of the mission. And you understand your own mortality.
Please don't ask me to do that which I've just said I'm not going to do, because you're burning up time. The meter is running through the sand on you, and I am now filibustering.
It's no exaggeration to say that the undecideds could go one way or another.
As his vice president for eight years, I learned more from Ronald Reagan than from anyone I encountered in all my years of public life.
Poland should be strong and prosperous and independent and play its proper role as a great nation in the heart of Europe.
I have been very happy in the House of Representatives.
Many schools include a service project as part of their curriculum, and many corporations have in-house projects for their employees or give them time off to do volunteer work.
I am not one who - who flamboyantly believes in throwing a lot of words around.
We know what works. Freedom Works. We know what's right. Freedom is right.
Read my lips: no new taxes.
I like a colorful sock. I'm a sock man.
I think the 24-hour news cycle has helped exaggerate the differences between the parties. You can always find someone on TV somewhere carping about something. That didn't happen 20 years ago.
I have a form of Parkinson's disease, which I don't like. My legs don't move when my brain tells them to. It's very frustrating.
Ageing's alright, better than the alternative, which is not being here.
The glory of being a carrier pilot has certainly worn off.
The day will come - and it is not far off - when the legacy of Lincoln will finally be fulfilled at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, when a black man or woman will sit in the Oval Office. When that day comes, the most remarkable thing about it will be how naturally it occurs.
You cannot be President of the United States if you don't have faith. Remember Lincoln, going to his knees in times of trial in the Civil War and all that stuff.
I was offered a job on Wall Street by my uncle. But I wanted to get out. Make-it-on-my-own kinda thing.
Every loss of life is terrible.
I don't write letters anymore.
I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli.
America is never wholly herself unless she is engaged in high moral principle. We as a people have such a purpose today. It is to make kinder the face of the nation and gentler the face of the world.
It's much worse to read criticism about your son than yourself.