41 Quotes

“Bill Clinton also benefited from a friendly press corps. With their baby boomer background, more liberal views, and Ivy League lawyer credentials, the Clintons fit the mold of many of the baby boomer reporters. In time, of course, the press would turn on Clinton. In the 1992 campaign, however, it seemed to me that some news outlets allowed their zeal for change to undermine their high standards of journalistic objectivity. (The pattern would later repeat with another exciting candidate promising change, Barack Obama.)”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“History would remember him as the liberator of Kuwait and the President who oversaw the peaceful end of the Cold War. In some ways, he was like Winston Churchill, who had been tossed out of office in 1945 just months after prevailing in World War II. The British voters felt that Churchill had completed his mission and that they wanted someone else for the next phase. Ultimately, that’s what happened to George Bush in 1992.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“The military was providing him (George H.W. Bush) with an education that was not available at Andover or Yale.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“The lessons his mother had instilled had taken hold: Do your best. Don’t be arrogant. Never complain.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“My grandfather asked whether the country had “come to the point in our life as a nation where the Governor of a great state—one who perhaps aspires to the nomination for President of the United States—can desert a good wife, [the] mother of his grown children, divorce her, then persuade a young mother of four youngsters to abandon her husband and their four children and marry the Governor.” Clearly Prescott Bush was not afraid to express his beliefs. I can only imagine what he would say if he saw what our society looks like today.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“A generation of reporters saw the Washington Post win a Pulitzer for exposing the scandal, and many dreamed of being the next Woodward or Bernstein. A strong and skeptical press corps is good for democracy. Often the media’s first instinct is to portray every story as a scandal, however, which presents a distorted picture of government and leaves the public cynical.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“Boston Mayor James Michael Curley once summarized the philosophy of many politicians as, “There go the people. I must follow them, for I am their leader.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“One thing was for sure: Barbara Bush was willing to speak her mind. That was something she did quite frequently in later years. Mother’s quick wit and self-deprecating humor endeared her to millions of Americans. Her willingness to speak her mind stood in contrast to some tightly scripted political spouses. As a result of her wide following, she helped many Americans understand and love her husband.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“His father had always stressed that the comforts they enjoyed came with a responsibility to give back. In the words of the Bible, “To whom much is given, much is required.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“When I arrived, they had to move out because the landlord allowed dogs but not babies.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“Americans have the capacity now, as we’ve had in the past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“Do not allow defeat to extinguish your dreams. If you keep working and remain optimistic, opportunities can come your way.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“Americans do not yet have the distance of history,” I said. “But our responsibility to history is already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil. War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder. This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others. It will end in a way, and at an hour, of our choosing.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“It is a sign of the shallowness of the presidential debate process that their most memorable moments have centered not on issues but on gestures or quips.)”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“In time, of course, the press would turn on Clinton. In the 1992 campaign, however, it seemed to me that some news outlets allowed their zeal for change to undermine their high standards of journalistic objectivity. (The pattern would later repeat with another exciting candidate promising change, Barack Obama.)”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“voters base their decisions on values as much as any other factor.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“When President Reagan began his inaugural address, I was inspired by his optimism and determination to move the country forward. As he said in his speech, “Americans have the capacity now, as we’ve had in the past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“he spoke out forcefully against leakers, including former CIA agent Philip Agee, who had just released a tell-all book. My father could forgive a lot of mistakes, but he believed that it was disgraceful for a man to violate his oath and reveal state secrets, especially when it could lead to the loss of innocent American life.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“IN THE PRESIDENTIAL race of 1968, Richard Nixon defeated Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who had stepped forward to run when LBJ shocked the country by declining to seek reelection. Nixon carried thirty-two states and more than three hundred electoral votes. He took his oath of office on January 20, 1969. An hour later, LBJ departed the nation’s capital, where he had been a fixture since his election to Congress in 1937. He left with few friends.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“When I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“My father enjoyed working hard, and he liked to see the result of his efforts. The lessons his mother had instilled had taken hold: Do your best. Don’t be arrogant. Never complain.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“My parents first rented a tiny apartment on Chapel Street with their black standard poodle, Turbo. When I arrived, they had to move out because the landlord allowed dogs but not babies. They found a place on Edwards Street, where the owner allowed babies but not dogs. Fortunately, I made the cut and Turbo went to live at Grove Lane.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“The jump did not go as planned. My father gashed his head and tore his parachute on the tail of the plane. He hit the water hard and submerged. When he surfaced, his head was bleeding, he was vomiting from swallowing seawater, and he had been stung by a Portuguese man-of-war.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“Pilots say that learning to fly makes you feel taller. In my father’s case that was certainly true. By the time his commanding officer pinned on his gold flight wings at Corpus Christi Naval Air Station in June 1943, he had grown two inches since his enlistment, topping out at six feet, two inches. He was not quite nineteen years old, making him the youngest pilot in the United States Navy.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“EVERY PILOT REMEMBERS his first flight. For me, it was in a Cessna 172 at Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta, Georgia, in 1968.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“always stressed that the comforts they enjoyed came with a responsibility to give back.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“One of their first decisions was to donate Robin’s body to Memorial Sloan Kettering. The doctors told them that they could learn from studying her disease, and my parents hoped that Robin’s death might lead to some benefit for other suffering children. Childhood cancer research became a lifelong cause for them.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“America is never wholly herself unless she is engaged in high moral principle,” he said. “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.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“It was a good reminder that Congressmen from opposite parties could put their differences aside and enjoy each other’s company.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father

“Your behavior is disgraceful,” she said. I stared at her blankly. “Go upstairs and see your father,” she said. I defiantly charged upstairs and put my hands on my hips. “I understand you want to see me.” Dad was reading a book. He lowered his book, calmly slid off his reading glasses, and stared right at me. Then he put his reading glasses back on and lifted up the book. I felt like a fool. I slunk out of the room, chastened by the knowledge that I had disappointed my father so deeply that he would not speak to me.”
― George W. Bush, 41: A Portrait of My Father