110+ Chris Matthews Quotes On Education, Culture And And Marriage

Chris Matthews is an American journalist and political commentator. He is the host of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews and the syndicated NBC News-produced panel talk show, The Chris Matthews Show. Matthews is also the author of several books on American politics. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Chris Matthews on leadership, education, culture.

Top 10 Chris Matthews Quotes

1. The difference between me and them is that I'll look at Jesse Jackson and I'll see four Jesse Jacksons, and they'll just see one, the clown ambulance chaser.
2. Once it was suggested that Saddam Hussein might give his weaponry to terrorists, or might use weapons himself in the region, then it became hard for the Democrats to say, 'Well, that can't happen.'
3. Five years from now, 10 years from now, there's going to be a huge Islamic population in the world, they're going to be nationalistic, they're going to be religious, and they're going to be militant.
4. Toastmasters changed my life. They really did. Put me on the stage. I don’t know what I would have done without that positive boost.
5. I'm not just gonna go after the black Jesse Jackson they all want to make fun of, but I know the wrong people are gonna laugh at that. I don't want to play to that crowd. I don't.
6. I don't believe he had a responsibility to even answer that question - you have no responsibility to answer personal questions that people have no right to ask you.
7. And then there's Israel - a lot of people support Israel, and it's important to Israel to take out Iraq. So it's all mixed together. It's a combination of motives.
8. It doesn't serve an American interest. It really doesn't really serve Israeli interests - it serves the interests of the political party that's getting the votes of the settlers on the West Bank.
9. We've always had a dual role in the region - friend of Israel, and honest broker. We've given up the honest broker role completely.
10. You don't know whether he's thought through how this is going to affect the Middle East.

Chris Matthews Short Quotes

• My, I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don't have that too often.
• I can't find a reason to be for this war. I've looked, and I can't, so I'm not.
• The last person to be beatified by Pope John Paul II was Mother Teresa of Calcutta in 2003.
• Why didn't we recognize how much it bothered them spiritually and politically?
• That is the voice of God because its the voice of truth and experience.
• If you think what you see on TV is prejudiced, it is. Follow your instincts.
• I'm center left, but I think - most things, left on some, center on some, right on very few.
• Canonization in modern times is a very, almost scientific process.
• The reason I had unfaithfulness in one of my marriages is because I was too patriotic.
• I never wrote off [Donald] Trump.

Chris Matthews Quotes About Love

Isn't Hollywood - and I love movies - a lot of it about a big lie? — Chris Matthews

Pope John Paul II spoke with a lot of clarity and consistency. But he always spoke with immense compassion. He's the one who said the best way to love somebody is to tell them the truth. So, he did that well. — Chris Matthews

I used to love hand raising. — Chris Matthews

I love what Joe Eszterhas written about Bill Clinton. It's hilarious, Clinton as a rock star, which is the way we should remember him. — Chris Matthews

You can't be loved for long if you're not feared. — Chris Matthews

Chris Matthews Quotes About People

Just look at who won the third debate between Bush and Gore. I knew Bush won, because people liked him more. People just didn't like Gore. But all the journalists thought Gore won big, he cleaned the guy's clock. — Chris Matthews

The big lie is that the people who make a lot of money were the only ones that worked hard. — Chris Matthews

People don`t like getting dirty or living in an environment that`s been contaminated and is covered in hazardous waste. — Chris Matthews

While I have questions about the language used in describing the two economic systems, I think people have fairly good gut sense of the difference between socialism and capitalism. — Chris Matthews

Just come in there and stand before a live crowd, thousands of people at an Ivy League School, like Eleanor Roosevelt said, always do what you're afraid to do. — Chris Matthews

People - Hollywood doesn't talk about how bad cigarette smells when it smells like they wake up in bed with somebody who has been smoking the night before. — Chris Matthews

If Bernie Sanders hasn't been able to draw a contrast with Hillary Clinton, why is he doing so well, a guy - most people never heard of this fellow before this year. — Chris Matthews

In life, as in death, Pope John Paul II was one of the most visible people on Earth. — Chris Matthews

Around the globe, millions more are mourning the death and celebrating the life of Pope John Paul II .Could any other world leader have drawn so many people to one place? — Chris Matthews

Even if you're not a Catholic, even if you're not a Christian, in fact even if you have no religious faith at all, what people could see in Pope John Paul was a man of true and profound spiritual faith. — Chris Matthews

Chris Matthews Quotes About World

We've got to recognize that when we march into Iraq, we're setting up the card tables in front of every university in the Arab world, the Islamic world, to recruit for al-Qaida. — Chris Matthews

I mean, the idea that Bar could have sent him off on a Grand Tour. But he wasn't the least bit interested. Why? Why isn't he interested in the world? Because here's the bad news for him: He's in the world now. — Chris Matthews

They were unable to stand up and say: "Here's our policy. It's Unite the world against terrorism." — Chris Matthews

[ John F.Kennedy's friend] Chuck Spalding at the wedding said Jack was two guys: the groom and somebody else observing from a distance. ... It must have been maddening to be married to a guy like that, but you could at the same time argue that characteristic kept the world from being blown up. — Chris Matthews

[Donald] Trump faces the perhaps accumulation of all the wealth in the world on the head of [Marco] Rubio, because Rubio's the last gasp of hawks and establishment Republicans. — Chris Matthews

The Catholic Church [with Pope John Paul II] has lost its shepherd. The world has lost a champion of human freedom. — Chris Matthews

I think, internally, we Catholics have known this for a long time. I think we're just thrilled and grateful that the rest of the world now is sharing in the esteem and gratitude that we've had for Pope John Paul II for 26 and a half years. — Chris Matthews

I think the Clintons are going to make their decision based on the merits. And their focus, like mine, is on middle class jobs. We`re in a different world than 1994. The China we dealt with in 1994 is a lot different than the China today in 2015. — Chris Matthews

Are Democrats for expanding U.S. trade with the world and perhaps creating new jobs, or are they out to protect existing U.S. jobs? — Chris Matthews

America's the one country in the world where anybody who comes here does better than where they came from. — Chris Matthews

Chris Matthews Quotes About Israel

Then the administration tied it in to the regional dispute between Israel and its enemies, as if that's about international terrorism. No, it's not. — Chris Matthews

I think a lot it was the theology, that the road to Jerusalem runs through Baghdad, that somehow if we broke apart the rejectionist states, like Iraq, then the whole Middle East would reconfigure itself into a more favorable environment for democracy and Israel and us. — Chris Matthews

Well, the right-wing policy with regard to Israel - the people who don't want to deal with Arafat, who don't want a Palestinian state - the whole sort of right-wing view is consistent with the view toward Iraq. It's the same policy and the same people. — Chris Matthews

Chris Matthews Quotes About President

I don't know why his lawyers didn't tell him, 'You don't have to answer any questions about your private life, Mr. President. Let them sue you. Take the heat. You don't have to answer.' — Chris Matthews

This is a fundamental question, Mr. Mayor [ Rudy Giuliani ]. Is the president of the United States legitimate or not? Do you believe it? If you believe it, why doesn't your candidate state it. — Chris Matthews

I've never heard anybody [of president's candidates] talk about the poorly educated. — Chris Matthews

I have never heard a president in bad times running against - let's face it, that's what he's doing here - running against bad times, when he's the presiding officer. — Chris Matthews

I think in places like Pennsylvania, there`s folks who want our next president to talk like a hawk, but fly like a dove. — Chris Matthews

The President Barack Obama said if we get out of this business of trade expansion, we turn it over to the Chinese. This brings us into partnership with 11 other Pacific Rim countries. — Chris Matthews

President Barack Obama benefits from the shared experience and wisdom of top national security and foreign policy advisers, many of them career professionals. — Chris Matthews

There is absolutely no record ever of Hillary Clinton or anyone in her campaign ever saying that President [Barack] Obama is not legitimate. — Chris Matthews

I'm trying to put the ridiculousness to bed. The president of the United States is the president of the United States. — Chris Matthews

Natural-born American means you don`t have to be naturalized. You were born to an American mother, like President Obama, no matter where you were born. — Chris Matthews

Chris Matthews Quotes About Sense

I tell my staff, we're riding a tour bus around, and we're going to stop and look at some weird stuff - but we're taking our viewers around safely. They're just looking out the window at it. I'm trying to create a sense of comfort for my center audience. — Chris Matthews

You know, there were 29 Democratic votes for censure in the Senate. And if the Republicans had any sense, they would have censured him before the '98 midterm election, and they would have won the election. — Chris Matthews

Someone needs to talk sense to the president. But these people are not world travelers. This president, much as I like him, had all the opportunities in the world. — Chris Matthews

I don't sense an [Barack] Obama party. I think politics is transactional for him. — Chris Matthews

Chris Matthews Famous Quotes And Sayings

I mean, if somebody said to me, junior year of college, you can go anywhere, your old man's paying for it, I'd have been gone in a flash. But I had to work. Every summer my mother would say, 'Get that job and hold on to it until August 30.' — Chris Matthews

It looks to me like the Republican Party`s in no mood to give them [voters] a reasonable choice with this clown show going on right now from the likes of, well, Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump. What a duo. — Chris Matthews

Reagan was all about America, and you talked about it. Obama is, 'We are above that now. We're not just parochial, we're not just chauvinistic, we're not just provincial. We stand for something.' I mean, in a way, Obama's standing above the country, above - above the world. He's sort of God. He's going to bring all different sides together. — Chris Matthews

Sarah Palin - now don't laugh - is writing a book. Not just reading a book, writing a book. Actually, in the word of the publisher, she's 'collaborating' on a book. What an embarrassment! It's one of these 'I told you,' books that jocks do. — Chris Matthews

Right now, the old guys, the old farts, if you will, are still running the show, and the women haven't gotten their place yet at all. — Chris Matthews

Hillary Clinton follows a cardinal rule in politics - don't commit to a decision before you have to. — Chris Matthews

John Paul II spoke to the commoner and to the king, to the tyrant and to the democrat in that same language of freedom. — Chris Matthews

Once having said no to Donald Trump, Mitt Romney can't go back and say, I changed my mind, I'm bowing to the pressure from you. — Chris Matthews

Republicans woke up Sunday with an undeniable reality. Donald Trump's the clear front-runner now for their party's nomination. Trump, celebrated, of course, his big win in South Carolina. — Chris Matthews

Sarah Palin is an empty vessel ready to be filled by ideology that she doesn't even understand, and that is really scary. Nothing is more frightening than an empty vessel in power. — Chris Matthews

While Jeb Bush finds himself mired in the muck of an intramural fight in his own party over his remarks about the Iraq War, Hillary Clinton is sticking to the low-key strategy, and it looks like it`s working. — Chris Matthews

Unity is the most important thing on the road to stamping out terror. You need global rules of law and order, and they have to be enforced. Start with that principle. — Chris Matthews

The overall campaign launch is designed to break through the clutter and reach out to consumers. At the end of the day, consumers are the ones who benefit from the convenience and value never before seen in a free checking account. — Chris Matthews

You could see Newt Gingrich, who`s a member of Donald Trump`s country club, already getting together and talking about the new episode of "The Apprentice," with the poor kids in the city.This was a very smart thing to do. He shows that he is the grown-up in the Republican Party. — Chris Matthews

A couple of Donald Trump people, including his vice presidential running mate, Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana, and of course, Dr. Ben Carson, have both come out in the last days, hours, practically, and said they believe President [Barack] Obama is a legitimately elected president of the United States. — Chris Matthews

I care about Roger Sterling, one of the most subtle and amazing characters in dramatic history ["Mad Men"]. This guys who knows precisely who he is, yet leaves us time after time hoping desperately for him to finally grab control of his life and some responsibility for those around him. — Chris Matthews

[Hillary] Clinton was able to assemble a winning Democratic coalition out here, beating Sanders among African-Americans, women, among women, and voters from union households, so, unions, women, African-Americans. — Chris Matthews

The president of the United States, whoever it is, deserves a certain level of reverence and respect just because of the office he holds. — Chris Matthews

I do still think there is a big disconnect between Republicans in Washington, D.C., and Republicans everywhere I go. When you start talking about, you know, foreign entanglements, they just don`t want any part of it. — Chris Matthews

I`m impressed that people out there in Pennsylvania, deer hunter country, have had it with these stupid wars, that they don`t go along with the neocon theology, they don`t go along with the big money people or the evangelicals that always seem to want to fight, especially in the Middle East. — Chris Matthews

I think also people in states like Pennsylvania know that a lot of money and effort and time needs to be spent on knitting America back together, on the bridges and the roads and the infrastructure and the education. — Chris Matthews

[John F. Kennedy] was Arthur, the guy in the middle of the room with all the swords pointed at him. ... He wanted control of the situation. — Chris Matthews

A new poll out taken by a Republican group that shows most Democrats prefer socialism to capitalism. Those terms don't mean what they did maybe 40, 50 years ago. — Chris Matthews

The FBI had a right to review that. And they did and they found Hillary Clinton not in any criminal violation. — Chris Matthews

I thought, giving Jeb Bush the benefit of the doubt all these years, that he was sitting, saying, what a numbnut, what an idiot. My brother's a fool. He's listening to these neocons that talked him into this war. Dad would have never done this. — Chris Matthews

I wonder... if the Republican Party really wants to be branded right now as the party of tax cuts and torture? I mean that's what they're selling. — Chris Matthews

Pope John Paul II is the great. Only two other popes had that title. Does that suggest there is going to be a move for canonization? — Chris Matthews

His [John Paul II] humanity, combined with his extraordinary spiritual authority, was unlike anything I've ever met. — Chris Matthews

You can be Mitt Romney with three marriages and a disastrous speakership, kicked out of the speakership, being reprimanded by the House of Representatives and fined and all that stuff, it doesn`t matter if you sing the right tune with the right tone these days. — Chris Matthews

Here's our policy. It's Unite the world against terrorism. — Chris Matthews

President [Barack] Obama's staking his reelection hopes on rebuilding America's middle class. He wants higher taxes on the wealthy, tougher rules on Wall Street, and everyone else to get a fair shot to succeed. Republicans can cry "class warfare" if they want, but as the president put it today, it's about this country's welfare. — Chris Matthews

Ben Carson's not really a factor anymore. I hate to say that of anybody, but he isn't a factor anymore. — Chris Matthews

[John F. Kennedy] kept a diary and in the White House dictated his thoughts. He felt real guilt at the killing of [Ngo Dinh] Diem, the leader of South Vietnam. — Chris Matthews

I know, when I look into the eyes of my own children, the look of wonder when I speak of life back in the '60s. That's why the Rolling Stones are such a hit even in their 60s, why Dennis Hopper is so compelling, even when he's making pitches for something unhip as long-term financial planning. — Chris Matthews

The pope has been called many things, historic figure, spiritual leader, moral force. But a growing chorus of voices has begun to refer to him as John Paul II the Great, in other words, as a saint. — Chris Matthews

The Kennedys formed a Kennedy party. — Chris Matthews

It was fascinating what a total interest he [John F. Kennedy] had in his tradecraft of being a politician. I didn't realize before that he was working on his memoirs all along, how he ran for Congress, that sort of thing. — Chris Matthews

My audience is much more center right, or centrist. — Chris Matthews

Medicare, getting through that in the '60s, after Kennedy's assassination, where there was such an emotional desire to do something to carry on his agenda. — Chris Matthews

I think, any politician, you have to hold them to their word. And conservatives run on fiscal conservatism. . — Chris Matthews

B.B. King will be remembered for his impressive skills on the guitar, that King defined the blue genre. — Chris Matthews

I`m surprised people are that hopeful about what government can do, because if you believe in socialism, society can run a pretty decent government, it can provide services, it can regulate the economy effectively. — Chris Matthews

Public opinion aside, it will be up to the future pope to continue John Paul II's journey to sainthood. Many of the late pope's followers believe he is already there. — Chris Matthews

We are trying to pick the next president, not review the birth of the current president. — Chris Matthews

To become a saint in the Catholic Church, the normal procedure is, beatification, requiring one miracle in your name, then canonization, roughly in five years or longer, to become a saint, a second miracle. — Chris Matthews

[Barack] Obama believes you can hold enemy combatants, unlawful enemy combatants at Gitmo without a criminal trial because this is law of war detention. — Chris Matthews

It's a fact of life that positive reasons don't always get people to vote. You need some negative reasons. — Chris Matthews

Pope John Paul II himself was kind of a rather independent, creative man. I remember being told by somebody who worked very close with him in preparation for his first visit to the United States in 1979, he studied our normative documents, Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, the Constitution. And he was amazed. He called his priests first thing in the morning and he said, he said, I thought America was a pagan country. — Chris Matthews

I am no longer going to go along with this idea that we're going to keep spending and borrowing and taking over and raising taxes, that I'm going to do everything I can to change things. — Chris Matthews

When lightning strikes you want to be there, right there in the room. You, not everybody`s going to say yes to you. Just don`t ever say no to yourself, ever. — Chris Matthews

I do think that Hillary Clinton risks looking like she's imitating Elizabeth Warren when she starts doing it. She'll look like Elizabeth the second. And nobody is electing anybody a second of anything. — Chris Matthews

Over the last 2,000 years, 10,000 saints have been named, among them, 78 popes. At the time of his death, Pope John Paul II had the distinction of naming 482 saints, more than all of his predecessors combined. — Chris Matthews

In the world of late-night comics, Letterman made us feel any hometown boy from Indianapolis could poke fun at celebrities and politicians and do it right to their faces. — Chris Matthews

The real difference between relationship politics and transactional politics is loyalty. [Barack] Obama doesn't seem to expect it. — Chris Matthews

How is this any different than the big boat argument of people when it came to African-Americans after the Civil War, decided, 'Put them on a boat and send them back where they came from?' You know, he says it in polite language, but that's what Romney's been saying, 'Get home where you came from, start all over again.' — Chris Matthews

Bernie Sanders even reminded me of the way I felt at parties over the years. You go to a party, you don't know anybody, you sort of wander around. You hold a drink in your hand, you don't know what to do. This poor guy Bernie, he was at a loss with this group of people he didn't know. — Chris Matthews

There ought to be an onus on the people that want a law, rather than people that don`t need a new law. — Chris Matthews

How much he was shaped by being in the hospital so much as a kid. Because he was sick, he was a reader, and because he was a reader, Kennedy had heroes. Because he had heroes, he went into politics. [Kennedy liked Sir Walter Scott, King Arthur's knights, and biographies of political leaders.] If he hadn't been sick, he might have been like everybody else in the family, a jock. — Chris Matthews

Be tough, hold a tough line, but don`t be running off into another war, especially since even if you support our troops and you want to have a robust foreign policy, you recognize that we have - we have been overdeploying our men and women, and we have been spilling our blood and treasure, and we need to be more careful. — Chris Matthews

Why are some people like Chuck Schumer, who`s probably going to be leader of the Senate, why is he switching from a big city financial center pro-trader to being an anti-trader? Is that because of upstate New York? What`s going on? I can`t figure this out. — Chris Matthews

Bill Clinton was for NAFTA. I heard him over in Tokyo he came out all said it was a great bill. Secretary Clinton was for it. She called it the gold standard when she was secretary of state. — Chris Matthews

Rush Limbaugh is beginning to look more and more like Mr. Big, and at some point somebody's going to jam a CO2 pellet into his head and he's going to explode like a giant blimp. That day may come. — Chris Matthews

Keep you enemies in front of you. — Chris Matthews

I truly believe that America`s greatness and billions and billions of dollars of our wealth flows away because China doesn`t treat us fairly. — Chris Matthews

I see some parallels [with Barack Obama] but I don't see the leadership that this guy [John F.Kennedy] had of other men and women. It's more than being the smartest guy in room. — Chris Matthews

People in a state like Pennsylvania, especially in the middle of the state, as you say, want the focus on repairing the state. Pennsylvania is a mess in terms of infrastructure. They don`t want to blow up bridges over there. They want to build them here. — Chris Matthews

Life Lessons by Chris Matthews

1. Chris Matthews teaches us the importance of staying informed and being engaged with the current events of the day.
2. He also emphasizes the need for open dialogue and the power of storytelling to make a point.
3. Lastly, Chris Matthews encourages us to think critically and to strive for a more just and equitable society.