Finishing second in the Olympics gets you silver. Finishing second in politics gets you oblivion. – Richard M. Nixon
I’m glad I’m not Brezhnev. Being the Russian leader in the Kremlin. You never know if someone’s tape recording what you say. – Richard M. Nixon
Government can provide opportunity. But opportunity means nothing unless people are prepared to seize it. – Richard M. Nixon
If we take the route of the permanent handout, the American character will itself be impoverished. – Richard M. Nixon
The American people are entitled to see the president and to hear his views directly, and not to see him only through the press. – Richard M. Nixon
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. – Richard M. Nixon
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. – Richard M. Nixon
I see the face of a child. He lives in a great city. He is black. Or he is white. He is Mexican, Italian, Polish. None of that matters. What matters, he’s an American child. – Richard M. Nixon
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. – Richard M. Nixon
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. – Richard M. Nixon
If you take no risks, you will suffer no defeats. But if you take no risks, you win no victories. – Richard M. Nixon
The time has come for us to draw the line. The time has come for the responsible leaders of both political parties to take a stand against overgrown Government and for the American taxpayer. – Richard M. Nixon
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. – Richard M. Nixon
People react to fear, not love; they don’t teach that in Sunday School, but it’s true. – Richard M. Nixon
We must always remember that America is a great nation today not because of what government did for people but because of what people did for themselves and for one another. – Richard M. Nixon