Top 79 Quotes & Sayings by John Ashcroft

The FBI has long been a part of the security for the nation's banks because bank robberies have been a priority.

The Internet provides very serious challenges to our ability to keep from children the kinds of things that are destructive to them.

We need to strengthen our analytic capacity in Washington, we need to centralize the anti-terrorism effort.

It's a different world.

People who commit crimes should be responsible for those crimes. It doesn't matter whether they're priests or ministers or atheists.

Nothing that we have authorized conflicts with any law regarding privacy or any provision of the constitution.

All of us want to have meaning in our lives and want to feel like we're doing something that makes a difference. I believe we're doing that in the Justice Department.

The liberties and freedoms which we hold dear and we recognize and cherish and respect guide the way we gather information in the United States.

It doesn't help to wait until something happens and then prosecute the offenders, especially if it's the idea of the offender to extinguish himself in the commission of the crime.

Nothing remains great without a capacity to change and to accommodate the conditions of a changing world.

We've got to understand that the whole nature of the way American democracy guards its freedom has been changed.

Prior to September 11, we thought the world beyond our shores was one world of risk and the world in our continent was another world of risk.

What we learned on September 11 is that the unthinkable is now thinkable in the world.

The FBI. is a massive culture. It's been a culture that served America well, and it's been focused on prosecution. But what we need in terms of terrorism is prevention.

The new rule says that the FBI has the right to go to public places on the same terms and conditions as other members of the public for counter-terrorism purposes.

The way the terrorist is trained to operate, especially the suicide terrorists, makes punishment and the threat of punishment far less valuable to those who would prevent the crime.

Reasonable regulations regarding the ownership of weapons are appropriate.

Agents need to be free to pursue investigations in ways that they haven't. There have been restraints that a reformed FBI needs to make sure we don't impose.

We have to think outside the box, inside the Constitution, find ways to do things that will elevate our security, reduce the risk of the incidence of terrorist attack.

I don't play full court anymore. I just play half-court.

The Patriot Act allows and provides a basis for an exchange of information.

The path we have chosen is constitutional.

An FBI agent ought to be able to surf the net and look for sites that instruct people how to make bombs.

If necessity is the mother of invention, it's the father of cooperation. And we're cooperating like never before.

There is no priority higher than the prevention of terrorism.

The worst mistake a boss can make is not to say 'well done'.

I feel the best way to ensure Americans' freedom is to tighten restrictions on that freedom in any way possible. Only through wiretaps, illegal searches and seizures, unfettered government intrusion, a controlled media and a complete crackdown on free speech can we ensure the liberties of all people.

We're going to protect and honor the Constitution, and I don't have the authority to set it aside.... If I had the authority to set it aside, this would be a dangerous government, and I wouldn't respect it.

We need to strengthen our analytic capacity in Washington, we need to centralize the anti-terrorism effort

Only God, no other kings!

Prior to September 11, we thought the world beyond our shores was one world of risk and the world in our continent was another world of risk

A trustee has a responsibility to guard the assets of others with a higher degree of care than he does his own.

Any citizen who's offended ... can leave the service.

Christianity is a faith in which God sent his Son to die for you.

Civilized people - Muslims, Christians and Jews - all understand that the source of freedom and human dignity is the Creator.

Doing what is right in the face of adversity is not always easy or popular. Critics may assail you, but the critics don't always realize what they don't know or don't understand, because they don't have access to all the information.

We have to think outside the box, inside the Constitution, find ways to do things that will elevate our security, reduce the risk of the incidence of terrorist attack

What did John Ashcroft say about moderates, he said, quote, there are two things you find in the middle of the road, a moderate and a dead skunk and I don't want to be either.

[The war on terrorism isn't a religious war, but] a defense of our right to make moral choices, to seek fellowship with God that is chosen and not commanded.

Just as the First and Fourth Amendment secure individual rights of speech and security respectively, the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. This view of the text comports with the all but unanimous understanding of the Founding Fathers.

We are a nation called to defend freedom - a tradition that is not a grant of any government or document, but is an endowment from God.

What we learned on September 11 is that the unthinkable is now thinkable in the world

To those who scare peace loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: your tactics aid terrorists for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve. They give ammunition to America's enemies and pause to America's friends.

The new rule says that the FBI has the right to go to public places on the same terms and conditions as other members of the public for counterterrorism purposes.

For the first time in a long time, our leaders in Washington understand what Americans of all religious backgrounds have long held to be true: through faith, all things are possible.

There's nothing more rewarding or important than to be involved in God's work of redemption.

We've got to understand that the whole nature of the way American democracy guards its freedom has been changed

By tearing down the wall between law enforcement and the intelligence community, we have been able to share information in a way that was virtually impossible before the Patriot Act.

To me, failure is not fatal unless you quit; getting knocked down is not embarrassing unless you allow it to keep you down.

[Ashcroft vowed to] spare no effort to preserve the rights of all our citizens to pledge allegiance to the American flag.

If America is to be great in the future, it will be if we understand that our source is not civic and temporal, but our source is godly and eternal.

We must embrace the power of faith, but we must never confuse politics and piety. For me, may I say that it is against my religion to impose my religion.

I think all we should legislate is morality.

There is no priority higher than the prevention of terrorism

Do not allow your sorrow or your rage to become hostility toward people on the basis of their ethnicity or their religious views. That is unacceptable; it is out of bounds, and if you break the law, we will prosecute you for it.

People want to see other people who have 'non-negotiables,' things for which they're willing to say, 'This is it' we take our stand right here.' That's a leadership quality which people respect.

Unique among the nations, America recognized the source of our character as being godly and eternal, not being civic and temporal. And because we have understood that our source is eternal, America has been different. We have no king but Jesus.

The state's interest in effective crime-fighting should never vitiate the citizens' Bill of Rights.

The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved.

Our priorities should be: recognizing the voice of God and responding to the voice of God.