John Ashcroft Quotes

We have to think outside the box, inside the Constitution, find ways to do things that will elevate our security, reduce the risk of the incidence of terrorist attack

I feel the best way to ensure Americans' freedom is to tighten restrictions on that freedom in any way possible. Only through wiretaps, illegal searches and seizures, unfettered government intrusion, a controlled media and a complete crackdown on free speech can we ensure the liberties of all people.

To those who scare peace loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: your tactics aid terrorists for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve. They give ammunition to America's enemies and pause to America's friends.

The worst mistake a boss can make is not to say 'well done'.

Christianity is a faith in which God sent his Son to die for you.

To me, failure is not fatal unless you quit; getting knocked down is not embarrassing unless you allow it to keep you down.

Doing what is right in the face of adversity is not always easy or popular. Critics may assail you, but the critics don't always realize what they don't know or don't understand, because they don't have access to all the information.

Nothing remains great without a capacity to change and to accommodate the conditions of a changing world.

Unique among the nations, America recognized the source of our character as being godly and eternal, not being civic and temporal. And because we have understood that our source is eternal, America has been different. We have no king but Jesus.

By tearing down the wall between law enforcement and the intelligence community, we have been able to share information in a way that was virtually impossible before the Patriot Act.

We must embrace the power of faith, but we must never confuse politics and piety. For me, may I say that it is against my religion to impose my religion.

There is no priority higher than the prevention of terrorism

Just as the First and Fourth Amendment secure individual rights of speech and security respectively, the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. This view of the text comports with the all but unanimous understanding of the Founding Fathers.

Our priorities should be: recognizing the voice of God and responding to the voice of God.

Prior to September 11, we thought the world beyond our shores was one world of risk and the world in our continent was another world of risk

Only God, no other kings!

We are a nation called to defend freedom - a tradition that is not a grant of any government or document, but is an endowment from God.

There's nothing more rewarding or important than to be involved in God's work of redemption.

A trustee has a responsibility to guard the assets of others with a higher degree of care than he does his own.

Do not allow your sorrow or your rage to become hostility toward people on the basis of their ethnicity or their religious views. That is unacceptable; it is out of bounds, and if you break the law, we will prosecute you for it.

What we learned on September 11 is that the unthinkable is now thinkable in the world

An FBI agent ought to be able to surf the net and look for sites that instruct people how to make bombs.

The state's interest in effective crime-fighting should never vitiate the citizens' Bill of Rights.

The FBI. is a massive culture. It's been a culture that served America well, and it's been focused on prosecution. But what we need in terms of terrorism is prevention.

[Ashcroft vowed to] spare no effort to preserve the rights of all our citizens to pledge allegiance to the American flag.