Top 128 Quotes & Sayings by Mike Pompeo

My goal in getting rid of tax loopholes is not to raise taxes. Our problem in Washington, D.C. is not a revenue problem, it is a spending problem.

It would be extremely naive to conclude anything other than the following: America's most vital secrets are in the hands of our adversaries because Secretary Clinton intentionally avoided using official government communication systems.

If you choose to put political expediency and politics ahead of the men and women on the ground, for that, you'll have to answer to yourself. I find it morally reprehensible.

Every Muslim leader must unequivocally proclaim that terror committed in the name of Islam violates the core tenets of the Prophet Mohammed, and they must do so repeatedly. Period.

There are many Muslims of good will and despise this extremism as much as anyone of any other faith.

I eat and breathe small government and freedom.

You eventually have to figure out how to balance the books. So that's the reason I gave up my day job to come do this was to go fight to create the space where spending matches America's capacity to tax, and that means economic growth and a smaller, humbler federal government.

We now see hacking taking place by foreign governments and by private individuals all around the world.

The detainees at GTMO are treated exceptionally well - so well that some have even declined to be resettled, instead choosing to stay at GTMO.

I have traveled to GTMO and have seen the honorable and professional behavior of the American men and women in uniform who serve at the detention facility.

When I served in the Army, along the Iron Curtain we had a word for a person who absconds with information and provides it to another nation: traitor. We also had a name for a person who chooses to reveal secrets he had personally promised to protect: common criminal.

I am a West Point graduate and an Army veteran.

Old ideas of not trading because 'they won't open their markets to us' miss the entire point of allowing goods to be imported into the United States - because we want and need them and because someone here believes that the good or service received in exchange for our dollars creates value for them.

If you need a tax credit to compete, you are probably not that competitive.

I still remember the first acronym I learned, BLUF: Bottom Line Up Front. I still try to communicate that way. No reason to dance around getting to the point.

The Democrats' obsession with the Kochs as a political target is, indeed, additional evidence of a truly Nixonian approach to politics.

One of the things you don't always realize when you're younger is that not everything you try is going to work.

GTMO has been a goldmine of intelligence about radical Islamic terrorism.

The Islamic State has apparently gained control of several dozen kilograms of radioactive material from research institutions in Mosul, Iraq. It cannot be made into a nuclear bomb, but it could be used in a 'dirty bomb' to contaminate a wide area with radioactivity.

Koch Industries is an amazing business that has succeeded by building a product that customers love dearly. The folks who run Koch are very clear. They would love to have government just get out of the way and allow companies to compete, whether in their particular sectors or other sectors. They are true believers in small government.

The federal government has been a proven failure in picking winners and losers in the energy sector.

I am a deeply committed conservative who wants to keep maximal privacy for every U.S. citizen.

To say the U.S. government is targeting U.S. persons, to listen to their phone calls and read their emails, is just false.

Russia continues to side with... rogue states and terrorist organizations, following Vladimir Putin's pattern of gratuitous and unpunished affronts to U.S. interests.

Advocates of GMO labeling aren't seeking a warning label. We're simply asking for a factual, non-judgmental disclosure on the back of the package.

We must protect the very things that make America so special - most certainly including our civil liberties. But we cannot do so without strong national security and a thoughtful and informed discourse.

I am working hard to provide solutions to meet a most pressing goal: preserving our way of life for our kids and grandkids.

Don't allow politically connected folks to get their particular tax breaks.

As the urgency of the threat presented by Islamic extremism grows, we cannot afford to have the commander-in-chief issue executive orders in direct contravention of laws that he enacted.

We must not allow last year's mistakes to cloud our judgment today.

Liberty Through Strength II is simply aimed at retaining data that was already available. It has already been collected lawfully.

The Medical Society of Sedgwick County, the Kansas Hospital Association and doctors have really done some remarkable work on wellness-related issues.

What you find is, you have to deliver a product that has value to the customer. When you do, and I think the wind community is getting much closer to that, customers will want it.

I have run two small businesses in Kansas, and I have seen how government can crush entrepreneurism. That's why I ran for Congress. It just so happens that there are a lot of people in south central Kansas who agree with me on that.

Intent to harm America is not required to make the mishandling of information criminal - it simply requires that the actor was grossly negligent.

It's much too easy to come here illegally and very, very difficult to become an immigrant through lawful process. I think we need to reverse those.

I'd start a business again in a heartbeat. Indeed, I hope that one day I may get the chance to do so when my mission here in Washington, D.C. is complete.

Historically, we have lived in a nation of energy dependence. Dependence on others for our heating and electricity, and for our fuel for transportation.

Conservatives have deep distrust of government power, so I not only understand their privacy concerns, I share them.

Protectionist politicians cannot stand the notion of a fossil-fuel-rich America maintaining record levels of production through exports.

We stand for getting government out of the way, letting people make good decisions for themselves, in education, returning power to school boards and to teachers and to parents so they can educate the children.

We must recognize that we cannot allow the Islamic State to continue to present an existential threat to America.

There is an enormous consensus about the disaster that Obamacare has been.

There's no doubt West Point impacted who I am... It has an enormous emphasis, not only on military aspects, but character development. Whether it's the honor code, or the interactions you have, both with the cadet leadership and the academy leadership, every place you are is a character test.

Legal and bureaucratic impediments to surveillance should be removed.

The military tribunals currently underway at Guantanamo Bay create a clear legal process, as affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, for adjudicating the cases of these terrorists, when possible. Those efforts would be severely undercut by moving the detainees to the United States.

It should surprise no one that I'm out arguing for small government, reduced spending and getting our financial house in order, along with reasonable regulations and no more.

For folks in Washington to believe that they are smart enough to pick the next energy technology is, in my judgment, the height of arrogance. For me or any of my peers to pick energy-technology X as the solution to solving America's energy problems is just a fool's errand.

Even if Koch Industries had a financial interest in the Keystone XL pipeline, what possibly could be wrong with that? Perhaps more important, under what circumstances would such an interest be worthy of a congressional inquisition?

I know how to stay focused on a mission.

Charles Koch and David Koch, co-owners of Koch Industries, are U.S. citizens, taxpayers, entrepreneurs and employers.

Federal policy should not block those who are prepared to risk their own wealth to create an enormous energy export industry here in America.

At some point, the government expands into the private sphere so far that you live in a place with a whole lot less freedom. I didn't like that that was the direction of travel for our country, and decided to come to Washington to try and be a small part of bringing it back.

Unfortunately, instead of standing up to Iran, the Obama administration is giving in to the Iranians' bizarre tantrums and illogical arguments.

President Barack Obama talks about the need to 'invest' in alternative energy sources. But the reality is that he is not investing his money - he's spending yours.

Feeding the world will be one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. It will be impossible without using scientific advancements and biotechnology.

To the degree that we can demonstrate support for the Ukrainian government, we can change Putin's calculus and increase the risk to him and to Russia for moving combat forces closer to Kiev.

I'm not sure that too many Americans would choose the president to manage their retirement accounts.

The goal of isolating extremists and making them unwelcome in Muslim communities has been abandoned.

My generation was the tail end of the Cold War.