61+ George McGovern Quotes On Education, Government And Democracy

George McGovern was an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative and a U.S. Senator from South Dakota. He was the Democratic Party's presidential nominee in the 1972 election, losing in a landslide to incumbent Richard Nixon. McGovern was known for his opposition to the Vietnam War and for his progressive stances on social issues. Following is our collection on famous quotes by George McGovern on education, government, leadership.

Top 10 George McGovern Quotes

1. I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.
2. No man should advocate a course in private that he's ashamed to admit in public.
3. The whole campaign was a tragic case of mistaken identity.
4. The Establishment center... has led us into the stupidest and cruelest war in all history. That war is a moral and political disaster - a terrible cancer eating away at the soul of our nation.
5. Im sick and tired of old men sitting around in air conditioned rooms here in Washington, dreaming up wars for young men to die in.
6. Above all, being a Democrat means having compassion for others. ... It means standing up for people who have been kept down.
7. Pay attention to the hungry, both in this country and around the world. Pay attention to the poor. Pay attention to our responsibilities for world peace. We are our brother's keeper.
8. It's possible to dazzle a crowd if you really work at it. But that is no qualification for leadership. Hitler was a master of crowds.
9. So, I think that's the centerpiece of morality: Don't lie. But to do that, you have to go a step further and find out what the truth is.
10. You know, sometimes, when they say you're ahead of your time, it's just a polite way of saying you have a real bad sense of timing.

George McGovern Image Quotes

The whole campaign was a tragic case of mistaken identity. — George McGovern

George McGovern Short Quotes

• I am 1,000 percent for Tom Eagleton and I have no intention of dropping him from the ticket.
• The longer the title, the less important the job.
• My father was a clergyman and always said: 'Hate the sin but love the sinner.'
• I met my wife in South Dakota.
• When I was small, my most serious handicap was a painful bashfulness in the presence of strangers.
• I'm what a normal, healthy, ideal American should be like.
• I didn't know a damned thing about mental illness and neither did anyone around me.
• A conscientious man would be cautious how he dealt in blood.
• I always thought of myself as a good old South Dakota boy who grew up here on the prairie.
• Never say anything that, down inside, you think is wrong.

George McGovern Quotes About Political

The Establishment center ... has led us into the stupidest and cruelest war in all history. That war is a moral and political disaster -- a terrible cancer eating away at the soul of our nation. — George McGovern

Reaganism is not only at odds with the Judeo-Christian heritage, it will not work. — George McGovern

People didn't have the political guts to stand up against an American war. — George McGovern

If Reagan wins, I'd sell the farm and buy a bomb shelter. — George McGovern

Politics is an act of faith; you have to show some kind of confidence in the intellectual and moral capacity of the public. — George McGovern

Ever since I was a young man, I wanted to run for the presidency in the worst possible way - and I did. — George McGovern

Truth is a habit of integrity, not a strategy of politics. — George McGovern

George McGovern Famous Quotes And Sayings

The whole campaign was a tragic case of mistaken identity. — George McGovern

And this is the time. It is the time for this land to become again a witness to the world for what is noble and just in human affairs. It is the time to live more with faith and less with fear- with an abiding confidence that can sweep away the strongest barriers between us and teach us that we truly are brothers and sisters. — George McGovern

Come home to the affirmation that we have a dream. Come home to the conviction that we can move our country forward. Come home to the belief that we can seek a newer world. And let us be joyful in the homecoming. — George McGovern

If we are willing to concede the President dictatorial authority where we happen to agree with him, as liberals have tended to do over the years, we will have little chance of tying his hands when we do not....You will see why many of us in the Congress understand how Dr. Frankenstein must have felt when his creation ran amok. — George McGovern

It is a modern tragedy that one of the Soviet Union's most intelligent and realistic leaders has served and died during the administration of the most ill-informed and dangerous man ever to occupy the White House. — George McGovern

I suppose politicians have always wanted to get re-elected, but there's a kind of a feeling now that if you just discredit your opposition, it makes it easier for you to win. I don't think that's necessarily true. — George McGovern

I would support a Presidential candidate who pledged to take the following steps: ... At the end of the war in the Persian Gulf, press for a comprehensive Middle East settlement and for a 'new world order' based not on Pax Americana but on peace through law with a stronger U.N. and World Court. — George McGovern

When people ask if the United States can afford to place on trial the president, if the system can stand impeachment, my answer is, "Can we stand anything else? — George McGovern

Every program that ever helped working people, from rural electrification to Medicare, was enacted by liberals over the opposition of conservatives. When people tell me they don't like liberals, I ask, "Do you like Social Security? If so, then shut up!" — George McGovern

I firmly believed throughout 1971 that the major hurdle to winning the presidency was winning the Democratic nomination. I believed that any reasonable Democrat would defeat President Nixon. I now think that no one could have defeated him in 1972. — George McGovern

We seem bent upon saving the Vietnamese from Ho Chi Minh, even if we have to kill them and demolish their country to do it....I do not intend to remain silent in the face of what I regard as a policy of madness which, sooner or later, will envelop my son and American youth by the millions for years to come. — George McGovern

For a generation and more, the government has sought to meet our needs by multiplying its bureaucracy. Washington has taken too much in taxes from Main Street, and Main Street has received too little in return. It is not necessary to centralize power in order to solve our problems. — George McGovern

It would be a good time to replace the drug war with something more constructive. The cure offered the drug war today has probably been more harmful and done more damage than the disease. — George McGovern

I always thought of myself as a good old South Dakota boy who grew up here on the prairie. My dad was a Methodist minister. I went off to war. I have been married to the same woman forever. I'm what a normal, healthy, ideal American should be like. — George McGovern

The nature of freedom of choice is that some people will misuse their responsibility and hurt themselves in the process. We should do our best to educate them, but without diminishing choice for everyone else. — George McGovern

I don't think the American people had a clear picture of either Nixon or me. I think they thought that Nixon was a strong, decisive, tough-minded guy and that I was an idealist and antiwar guy who might not attach enough significance to the security of the country. The truth is, I was the guy with the war record, and my opposition to Vietnam was because I was interested in the nation's well-being. — George McGovern

I fully endorse the millennial goals to make (hunger) history, ... Those are big goals, but it's do-able. — George McGovern

To those who charge that liberalism has been tried and found wanting, I answer that the failure is not in the idea, but in the course of recent history. The New Deal was ended by World War II. The New Frontier was closed by Berlin and Cuba almost before it was opened. And the Great Society lost its greatness in the jungles of Indochina. — George McGovern

We are at a crossroads over how the federal government in Washington and state legislatures and city councils across the land allocate their financial resources. Which fork we take will say a lot about Americans and our values. — George McGovern

Don't throw away your conscience. — George McGovern

Every Senator in this Chamber is partly responsible for sending 50,000 young Americans to an early grave. This Chamber reeks of blood. — George McGovern

And above all, above all, honest work must be rewarded by a fair and just tax system. The tax system today does not reward hard work: it penalizes it. Inherited or invested wealth frequently multiplies itself while paying no taxes at all. But wages on the assembly line or in farming the land, these hard-earned dollars are taxed to the very last penny. — George McGovern

We have the resources (to end hunger), we know what has to be done, and it's something that can be achieved at a rather modest cost — George McGovern

The earth has enough knowledge and resources to eradicate this ancient scourge. Hunger has plagued the world for thousands of years. But ending it is a greater moral imperative now than ever before, because for the first time humanity has the instruments at hand to defeat this cruel enemy at a very reasonable cost. We have the ability to provide food for all within the next three decades. — George McGovern

It can take greater courage to stand in opposition to the views of your neighbors or nation than to confront an enemy in combat. — George McGovern

I am a liberal and always have been - just not the wild-eyed character the Republicans made me out to be. — George McGovern

I didn't used to care about living a long time. Not that I wasn't enjoying life, but I never sat around asking how I'd get to be 100, you know. But now I want to live long enough to see every school child in the world getting a good, nutritious lunch every day. — George McGovern

This dogged, same track approach (by the NCI) is even more astonishing. — George McGovern

You never fully get over [losing a presidential campaign]. But I've had a good life. I've enjoyed myself 90 percent of the time. — George McGovern

I still love to go back to Mitchell [his home town] and wander up and down those streets. It just kind of reassures me again that there is a place that I know thoroughly, where the roots are deep. Everything had a place, a specific definition. — George McGovern

It doesn't require any particular bravery to stand on the floor of the Senate and urge our boys in Vietnam to fight harder, and if this war mushrooms into a major conflict and a hundred thousand young Americans are killed, it won't be U. S. Senators who die. It will be American soldiers who are too young to qualify for the senate. — George McGovern

I never even had the time to read novels. — George McGovern

Every once in a while, I run into somebody who tells me that she met her husband in my campaign or a husband who says, I met my wife. I have to tell you, I caused a few divorces too. — George McGovern

It is simply untrue that all our institutions are evil that all politicians are mere opportunists, that all aspects of university life are corrupt. Having discovered an illness, it's not terribly useful to prescribe death as a cure. — George McGovern

From secrecy and deception in high places; come home, America. From military spending so wasteful that it weakens our nation; come home, America. From the entrenchment of special privileges in tax favoritism; from the waste of idle lands to the joy of useful labor; from the prejudice based on race and sex; from the loneliness of the aging poor and the despair of the neglected sick - come home, America. — George McGovern

Life Lessons by George McGovern

1. George McGovern taught us to stand up for what we believe in, even in the face of adversity. He was a passionate advocate for peace and social justice, and he never stopped fighting for what he believed was right.
2. He also showed us the importance of having a strong moral compass and staying true to our values. He was an honest and ethical leader who always put the needs of the people first.
3. Finally, he taught us the importance of working together to build a better future. He was a champion of collaboration and compromise, and he believed that by working together we could create a more just and equitable world.