George H. W. Bush Quotes

Any definition of a successful life must include service to others.

If the American people knew what we have done, they would string us up from the lamp posts.

The American Dream means giving it your all, trying your hardest, accomplishing something. And then I'd add to that, giving something back. No definition of a successful life can do anything but include serving others.

Courage is a terribly important value. It means you don’t run away when things are tough. It means you don’t turn away from a friend when he or she is in trouble. It means standing up against the majority opinion... There’s a lot of people who won’t wear it on their sleeve, or display it through some heroic act. But courage is having the strength to do what’s honorable and decent.

Now we can see a new world coming into view, a world where there is a very real prospect of a New World Order.

Be bold in your caring, and be bold in your dreaming.

Think about every problem, every challenge, we face. The solution to each starts with education.

The anchor in our world today is freedom, holding us steady in times of change, a symbol of hope to all the world.

No generation can escape history.

If the people were to ever find out what we have done, we would be chased down the streets and lynched.

We cannot hope only to leave our children a bigger car, a bigger bank account. We must hope to give them a sense of what it means to be a loyal friend, a loving parent, a citizen who leaves his home, his neighborhood and town better than he found it.

I'm President of the United States, and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli!

The world can therefore seize the opportunity (the Persian Gulf crisis) to fulfill the long held promise of a New World Order where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind.

We need an independent media to hold people like me to account.

Nearly all Americans have ancestors who braved the oceans-liberty-loving risk takers in search of an ideal-the largest voluntary migrations in recorded history. Across the Pacific, across the Atlantic, they came from every point on the compass-many passing beneath the Statue of Liberty-with fear and vision, with sorrow and adventure, fleeing tyranny or terror, seeking haven, and all seeking hope...Immigration is not just a link to America's past; it's also a bridge to America's future.

Education is not complete unless we teach our children not only how to read and write but the difference between right and wrong.

We can find meaning and reward by serving some higher purpose than ourselves, a shining purpose, the illumination of a Thousand Points of Light...We all have something to give.

There is a God and He is good, and his love, while free, has a self imposed cost: We must be good to one another.

I want a kinder, gentler nation.

We don't want an America that is closed to the world. What we want is a world that is open to America.

Don't confuse being 'soft' with seeing the other guy's point of view.

Service is never a simple act; it's about sacrifice for others and about accomplishment for ourselves, about reaching out, one person to another, about all our choices gathered together as a country to reach across all our divides.

The notion of political correctness has ignited controversy across the land. And although the movement arises from the laudable desire to sweep away the debris of racism and sexism and hatred it replaces old prejudices with new one. It declares certain topics off-limits, certain expressions off-limits, even certain gestures off-limits. What began as a crusade for civility has soured into a cause of conflict and even censorship.

If I were to give advice to young people, high-achieving young people for example, I’d have to say, don’t neglect your family. Politics is important, sitting at the head table is glamorous. Traveling around the world, trying to do something for world peace was wonderful. But family and friends and faith are what really matter in life. And I know that. I see it so clearly now.

Our stewardship of the Earth is brief. We owe it to those who follow to keep that in perspective, to be responsible passengers along the way.