Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. Quotes
-
I am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your President by your ballots, so I ask you to confirm me with your prayers.
-
Never be satisfied with less than your very best effort. If you strive for the top and miss, you'll still 'beat the pack.'
-
I just don't think we should go hellfire damnation around the globe freeing people, unless it is directly related to our own national security.
-
This is an hour of history that troubles our minds and hurts our hearts.
-
To me, the Presidency and the Vice-Presidency were not prizes to be won, but a duty to be done.
-
Real assistance is to help people to help themselves. We can't do everything for everybody, but there is room for all who try to make it.
-
The earth will continue to regenerate its life sources only as long as we and all the peoples of the world do our part to conserve its natural resources. It is a responsibility which every human being shares. Through voluntary action, each of us can join in building a productive land in harmony with nature.
-
I had pro offers from the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers, who were pretty hard up for linemen in those days. If I had gone into professional football the name Jerry Ford might have been a household word today.
-
It's more like it is now than it ever has been.
-
The three-martini lunch is the epitome of American efficiency. Where else can you get an earful, a bellyful and a snootful at the same time?
-
All of us who served in one war or another know very well that all wars are the glory and the agony of the young.
-
So much of what passes for public life consists of little more than candidates without ideas, hiring consultants without conviction, to stage campaigns without content. The result, increasingly, is elections without voters.
-
In the firm belief that the American public deserves a better explanation than that thus far given by the Air Force, I strongly recommend that there be a committee investigation of the UFO phenomena. I think we owe it to the people to establish credibility regarding UFOs, and to produce the greatest possible enlightenment of the subject.
-
I remember as a ranger the first time I stood alone on Inspiration Point over at Canyon Station looking out over this beautiful land. I thought to myself how lucky I was that my parents' and grandparents' generation had the vision and the determination to save it for us. Now it is our turn to make our own gift outright to those who will come after us, 15 years, 40 years, 100 years from now. I want to be as faithful to my grandchildren's generation as Old Faithful has been to ours. What better way can we add a new dimension to our third century of freedom?
-
The American dream does not come to those who fall asleep.
-
There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe.
-
I do believe that the buck stops here, that I cannot rely upon public opinion polls to tell me what is right. I do believe that right makes might and that if I am wrong, 10 angels swearing I was right would make no difference. I do believe, with all my heart and mind and spirit, that I, not as President but as a humble servant of God, will receive justice without mercy if I fail to show mercy.
-
A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.
-
In the age-old contest between popularity and principle, only those willing to lose for their convictions are deserving of posterity's approval.
-
He was one of the few political leaders I have ever met whose public speeches revealed more than his private conversations. (On Ronald Reagan)
-
Obviously, it's a great privilege and pleasure to be here at the Yale Law School Sesquicentennial Convocation. And I defy anyone to say that and chew gum at the same time.
-
There is an American tragedy in which we all have played a part.
-
Ronald Reagan was an excellent leader of our nation during challenging times at home and abroad.
-
The veto is a President's Constitutional right, given to him by the drafters of the Constitution because they wanted it as a checkagainst irresponsible Congressional action. The veto forces Congress to take another look at legislation that has been passed. I think this is a responsible tool for a president of the United States, and I have sought to use it responsibly.