George W. Bush Side Quotations

I understand I'm running against a person who is so anxious to become president, he will do whatever it takes.

”In a time of war, the president must have the power he needs to make the tough decisions, including, if need be, the decision to grant himself even more power.”

No President has ever done more for human rights than I have.

It's my first trip as president of the United States.

I regret that a private comment I made to the vice presidential candidate made it through the public airways.

Presidents, whether things are good or bad, get the blame. I understand that.

A year ago my approval rating was in the 30s, my nominee for the Supreme Court had just withdrawn, and my vice president had shot someone. Ah, those were the good ol' days.

I want to be the peace president.

Give me a chance to be your president and America will be safer and stronger and better.

Look, when you're the president, there's all kinds of things said about us. I mean, it's just the nature of the job.

I like my buddies from west Texas. I liked them when I was young, I liked them then I was middle-age, I liked them before I was president, and I like them during president, and I like them after president.

I've got God's shoulder to cry on. And I cry a lot. I do a lot of crying in this job. I'll bet I've shed more tears than you can count, as president.

There will be no going back to the era before September 11th, 2001, to false comfort in a dangerous world.

Saddam Hussein's regime is a gray and gathering danger.

And our security will require all Americans to be forward-looking and resolute, to be ready for pre-emptive action.

I want him [Saddam Hussein]. I want - I want justice. There is an old poster seen out west. As I recall, it said, Wanted Dead or Alive.

We have every reason to assume the worst.

I feel like God wants me to run for president. I can't explain it, but I sense my country is going to need me. Something is going to happen. I know it won't be easy on my family, but God wants me to do it.

If you're asking me as the President, would I understand reality, I do.

One of my hardest parts of my job is to console the family members who have lost their life.

I'm mindful in a free society that people can worship if they want to or not. You're equally an American if you choose to worship an almighty and if you choose not to.

You never know what your history is going to be like until long after you're gone.

If you don't feel something strongly you're not going to achieve.

We are not deceived by their pretenses to piety. We have seen their kind before. They are the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions - by abandoning every value except the will to power - they follow in the path of fascism, and Nazism, and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way, to where it ends: in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies.

Compassionate conservative soft bigotry of low expectations.

I came to this office to solve problems and not pass them on to future presidents and future generations.

I'm the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.

Mr. Vice President, in all due respect, it is-I'm not sure 80 percent of the people get the death tax. I know this: 100 percent will get it if I'm the president.

The fundamental question is: 'Will I be a successful president when it comes to foreign policy?' I will be, but until I'm the president, it's going to be hard for me to verify that I think I'll be more effective.

The person who runs FEMA is someone who must have the trust of the president. Because the person who runs FEMA is the first voice, often times, of someone whose life has been turned upside down hears from.

And I, unfortunately, have been to too many disasters as president.

So I analyzed that and decided I didn't want to be the president during a depression greater than the Great Depression, or the beginning of a depression greater than the Great Depression.

This is my maiden voyage. My first speech since I was the president of the United States and I couldn't think of a better place to give it than Calgary, Canada.

I suspect that had my dad not been president, he'd be asking the same questions: How'd your meeting go with so-and-so? . How did you feel when you stood up in front of the people for the State of the Union Address-state of the budget address, whatever you call it.

I never dreamed about being President, I wanted to be Willie Mays.

I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States

Let me start off by saying that in 2000 I said, 'Vote for me. I'm an agent of change.' In 2004, I said, 'I'm not interested in change --I want to continue as president.' Every candidate has got to say 'change.' That's what the American people expect.

So long as I'm the president, my measure of success is victory -- and success.

Dealing with Congress is a matter of give and take. The president doesn't get everything he wants, the Congress doesn't get everything they want. But we're finding good common ground. A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it.

I've been in the Bible every day since I've been the president.

I just didn't want to get out there anymore; I didn't want to get back into what I call 'the swamp.' And the other reason why is I don't think it's good for the presidency for a former president to be opining about his successor. President Obama's got plenty of critics - and I'm just not gonna be one.

I want to thank the President and the CEO of Constellation Energy, Mayo Shattuck. That's a pretty cool first name, isn't it, Mayo. Pass the Mayo.

I'd like to be a president [known] as somebody who liberated 50 million people and helped achieve peace.

I knew it might put him in an awkward position that we had a discussion before finality has finally happened in this presidential race.

We're too great a nation to allow the evildoers to affect our soul.

We will fight with full force and might of the United States military.

We must take the battle to the enemy, disrupt his plans, and confront the worst threats before they emerge.

The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the campaign against terror. We've removed an ally of al Qaeda.

It appears to be a re-run of a bad movie. [Iraqi President Saddam Hussein] is delaying. He's deceiving. He's asking for time. He's playing hide-and-seek with inspectors. One thing is for certain - he's not disarming.

The American people are proud to welcome your majesty back to the United States, a nation you've come to know very well. After all you've dined with 10 U.S. presidents. You've helped our nation celebrate its bicentennial in 17 -in 1976

I wish I wasn't the war president. Who in the heck wants to be a war president? I don't.

I am a war president.

Senator Kerry has been in Washington long enough to take both sides on just about every issue.

I think whoever is the president [he] must guard your liberties, must not erode your rights in America.

It's important for the writers of the presidential daily brief to feel comfortable that the documents will never be politicized and/or unnecessarily exposed for public purview.

I heard somebody say, 'Where's (Nelson) Mandela?' Well, Mandela's dead. Because Saddam killed all the Mandelas. --George W. Bush, on the former South African president, who is still very much alive, Washington, D.C., Sept. 20, 2007

Recognizing and confronting our history is important. Transcending our history is essential. We are not limited by what we have done, or what we have left undone. We are limited only by what we are willing to do.

I wanted to come to Washington, D.C. and help be a transformative President. And I think history, when they look back, will say this is a fellow who knew how to make decisions, and made some tough ones, stood by them, wasn't driven by the latest opinion poll, but was driven by some core principles from which he would not deviate.

A president must make decisions based upon principle and stand by the principles by which he makes decisions in order to achieve peace.

We hope that diplomacy works before you ever use force. The hardest decision a president makes is ever to use force.

I think that the vice president is a person reflecting a half-glass-full mentality.

The executive branch shall construe the provisions that call for furnishing information to entities outside the executive branch in a manner consistent with the president's constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and to withhold information (from Congress and, of course, the public).

One cannot be America's president without a belief in God

I'm the commander -- see, I don't need to explain -- I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being president.

I want everybody to hear loud and clear that I'm going to be the president of everybody.

I believe that God wants me to be president.

It's not an easy job for the prime minister to achieve this agreement. I understand. It's not easy for the American president to achieve this agreement.