Linda Tripp Quotations

Look, if America - if being an American means anything, it means not having to lie under oath, not even for the president.

People should be allowed to document evidence of criminal wrongdoing. Where is the expectation of privacy if someone is conspiring to commit crime?

The first tenet is that you should report corruption regardless of loyalty to incumbent or party.

Where is the expectation of privacy in the commission of a crime?

I didn't write a book. It wasn't for self-enrichment.

There is no method by which an average citizen can effectively fight the White House in the media.

The only person I ever saw her with was Linda ... I'd see them having coffee once in a while.

Loyalty is to the government. I take this so seriously.

So I don't see it as being a snitch.

She was 21. Monica is 21 going on 14 on a good day. And she was a child. She was a mixed-up, unstable, volatile child.

Much as I don't want to talk about Monica Lewinsky, I will say she and the president have a commonality: a full sense of extraordinary entitlement and an unwillingness to accept accountability or consequences for their actions.

On January 12, 1998, the day I approached the Office of the Independent Counsel, I decided that fear would no longer be my master. This investigation have never been, quote, 'just about sex.' It has been about telling the truth. The truth matters.

No, I don't think money was really his motivator.

Because of the political flavor of this unusual prosecution, anything can happen.

There is no evidence, so you can deny, deny, deny.

I think the country needed to know the arrogance - the reckless arrogance - that was going on in the Oval Office.

I think what I'm most interested in getting across is to all those people out there who might have evidence of criminal wrongdoing, whether it's a high elected official or anyone, not to be put off by what has happened to me.

I watched his metamorphosis for eight years, and where I could have voted for Al Gore eight years ago, I could not have voted for him now.

I wish I had done a better job. I wish I had had advisers.

I think I'll be filing for bankruptcy. Look, I've never, ever been without a job. I've never not worked for the government.

I was never one to really think a whole lot about that. I thought I looked fine.

Well, I think it just looks as though it always had a political agenda.

What it did for me was make me recapture the old Linda, the pre-scandal Linda, because I had gained so much weight during the Clinton years, just obsessing on these horrible things I was witnessing and didn't know what to do.

Well, yes. I mean, look, you can only do your job, and my job was to ensure that they were aware of what the law was.

You can tell that I've kept such a low profile.

I've tried so hard to get my life back. And frankly, I don't think it is possible.

The terror was emotionally difficult because I was so afraid that I'd put my children through so much with this Clinton thing, I didn't want to now leave them without a mom.

I've lost my benefits. I've lost my health benefits. I've lost everything.

Despite this expensive lesson, I continue to believe that each and every citizen has the duty to turn over evidence of criminal wrongdoing, especially evidence that implicates our highest elected government officials.

There seems to be the sense that I was a vast right-wing conspirator, yet, five years later, I think it should be clear I never took a cent, I never made a cent on the notoriety.

It was a moral victory. It was not a financial victory.

It's interesting how it completely changes your life because you can never get your privacy back. Your anonymity is gone.

It was never about Monica Lewinsky. It was never about me.

I want them to see that there is life after tragedy, after nefarious notoriety, and see that you can hold your head up.

It truly was about the president of the United States trying to fix a court case.

Again, I can only say what I saw, and it appeared to me that Mrs. Clinton had always two - a focus on two levels. One was power, and one was money.

I'm more centered and happy inside than I think I've been in 10 years.

I know I'll be a footnote to history, and I've learned to live with that. But I think the public probably needs to know that Monica Lewinsky and Linda Tripp are nothing but footnotes; we're not the story.

I had great faith that law enforcement would take care of this.

But I know I did the right thing.

I don't take it personally. I just know that it's hurtful. But it was hurtful, I think, for everyone involved.

I am mesmerized, mesmerized beyond belief at their ability to fool all of the people all of the time.

You know, I was never really angry. I know that sounds crazy. I was very upset for my children.

And if nothing else, I've learned that there are people in life who have a need to sort of bask and reflect in glory or to take credit.

I had a 20-year, stellar government career.

I can live with myself.

Respect is not ever assigned; it's earned.

I just know that what happened in the Clinton White House should never have happened to anyone.

The reality is I believe there has never been in the history of our White House such an unscrupulous pair as what I witnessed in this White House.

My government career is over.