Richard M. Nixon Quotes

Never forget, the press is the enemy.

The establishment is the enemy. The professors are the enemy. Professors are the enemy. Write that on a blackboard 100 times and never forget it.

When the President does it, that means that it's not illegal.

Only if you have been in the deepest valley, can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.

People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook.

Well, I'm not a crook. I earned everything I've got.

We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another - until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.

I don't think a woman should be in any government job whatever.

I mean, I really don't. The reason why I do is mainly because they are erratic and emotional.

You've got to learn to survive a defeat. That's when you develop character.

Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines.

Defeat doesn't finish a man, quit does. A man is not finished when he's defeated. He's finished when he quits.

The Bohemian Grove, which I attend from time to time - it is the most faggy goddamned thing you could ever imagine.

I gave 'em a sword. And they stuck it in, and they twisted it with relish. And I guess if I had been in their position, I'd have done the same thing.

When I retire I'm going to spend my evenings by the fireplace going through those boxes. There are things in there that ought to be burned.

If we take the route of the permanent handout, the American character will itself be impoverished.

You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference.

No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War.

It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now.

Nothing would please the Kremlin more than to have the people of this country choose a second rate president.

We will establish a new system that makes high-quality health care available to every American in a dignified manner and at a price he can afford.

Sure there are dishonest men in local government.

But there are dishonest men in national government too.

Listen, I don't know anything about polygraphs and I don't know how accurate they are, but I know they'll scare the hell out of people.

Remember, always give your best. Never get discouraged. Never be petty. Always remember, others may hate you. But those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.

Capitalism works better than it sounds, while socialism sounds better than it works.

If an individual wants to be a leader and isn't controversial, that means he never stood for anything.

The mark of a true politician is that he is never at a loss for words because he is always half-expecting to be asked to make a speech.

I didn't do anything wrong and I promise to never do it again.

My strong point is not rhetoric , it isn't showmanship, it isn't big promises - those things that create the glamour and the excitement that people call charisma and warmth.

The memory of that scene for me is like a frame of film forever frozen at that moment: the red carpet, the green lawn, the white house, the leaden sky. The new president and his first lady.

Our chief justices have probably had more profound and lasting influence on their times and on the direction of the nation than most presidents.

Watergate had become the center of the media's universe, and during the remaining year of my presidency the media tried to force everything else to revolve around it.

President Johnson and I have a lot in common.

We were both born in small towns and we're both fortunate in the fact that we think we married above ourselves.

The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.

If I were to make public these tapes, containing blunt and candid remarks on many different subjects, the confidentiality of the office of the president would always be suspect.

The important thing is that we maintain plausible deniability.

I would not like to be a political leader in Russia. They never know when they're being taped.

The greatness comes not when things go always good for you.

But the greatness comes when you're really tested, when you take some knocks, some disappointments, when sadness comes. Because only if you've been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.

To me, the most unhappy people in the world are the people .

.. in Palm Beach- Going to parties every night. Playing golf every afternoon, then bridge. [They have] no purpose.

Politics would be a helluva good business if it weren't for the goddamned people.

If you want to make beautiful music, you must play the black and the white notes together.

What was Watergate? A little bugging!

I'm not at liberty to discuss the governments knowledge of extraterrestrial UFO's at this time. I am still personally being briefed on the subject!

You have to face the fact that the whole problem is really the blacks.

The key is to devise a system that recognizes this all while not appearing to.

Idealism without realism is impotent. Realism without idealism is immoral.

My concern today is not with the length of a person's hair but with his conduct.

You must never be satisfied with losing.

You must get angry, terribly angry, about losing. But the mark of the good loser is that he takes his anger out on himself and not his victorious opponents or on his teammates.

I think Congress has spent enough time on ethics. I think it's time they moved on to something else.

The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word "crisis.

" One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity.

You must pursue this investigation of Watergate even if it leads to the president. I'm innocent. You've got to believe I'm innocent. If you don't, take my job.

People react to fear, not love; they don't teach that in Sunday School, but it's true.

We can no longer afford to consider air and water common property, free to be abused by anyone without regard to the consequences. Instead, we should begin now to treat them as scarce resources, which we are no more free to contaminate than we are free to throw garbage into our neighbor's yard.

Any lady who is first lady likes being first lady. I don't care what they say, they like it.