Great Throughts Treasury

"It strains belief to know that Neil Armstrong can walk on the moon, 250,000 miles away, but that he cannot swim in Lake Erie, a few miles from his Ohio home."

"What we have today in the United States is not so much a health-care system as a disease-cure system."

"A generation without a cause in its youth has no legacy in its old age."

"Based on some estimates, guns are statistically like rats. They outnumber our population. Not surprisingly, our output of ammunition for civilian firearms almost staggers the imagination. American industry outdoes all other nations in the production of bullets. Nearly 5 billion rounds of ammunition flow through the marketplace each year. that is enough, laid end to end, to stretch a bandoleer of ammunition three times around the equator. All of those bullets could not only wipe out the world’s entire human population, but they could decimate practically most of the world’s species of wildlife."

"Violence is an admission that one’s ideas and goals cannot prevail on their own merits."

"[Power] waxes in secrecy and wanes in bright light."

"There is no safety in hiding."

"I recognize my own shortcomings — the faults in the conduct of my private life. I realize that I alone am responsible for them, and I am the one who must confront them. I believe that each of us as individuals must not only struggle to make a better world, but to make ourselves better, too. "

"The commitment I seek is not to outworn views but to old values that will never wear out. Programs may sometimes become obsolete, but the ideal of fairness always endures. Circumstances may change, but the work of compassion must continue."

"We know the future will outlast all of us, but I believe that all of us will live on in the future we make."

"A campaign-like attempt to rebuild his own credibility by tearing down those who seek the truth about the clear manipulation of intelligence."

"150,000 American troops are bogged down in a quagmire in Iraq because the Bush administration misrepresented and distorted the intelligence to justify a war that America never should have fought."

"A fair prosperity and a just society are within our vision and our grasp, and we do not have every answer. There are questions not yet asked, waiting for us in the recesses of the future, but of this much we can be certain because it is the lesson of all our history: Together a president and the people can make a difference. I have found that faith still alive wherever I have traveled across this land. So let us reject the counsel of retreat and the call to reaction. Let us go forward in the knowledge that history only helps those who help themselves."

"A positive step long awaited by many of us in Congress."

"All Americans wanted fairness and they got it this evening."

"Although my doctors informed me that I suffered a cerebral concussion, as well as shock, I do not seek to escape responsibility for my actions by placing the blame either on the physical and emotional trauma brought on by the accident, or on anyone else. I regard as indefensible the fact that I did not report the accident to the police immediately."

"All of those are provisions that this administration has attempted to undermine over a long period of time. They have tonight accepted all of those provisions,"

"And may it be said of us, both in dark passages and in bright days, in the words of Tennyson that my brothers quoted and loved, and that have special meaning for me now: "I am a part of all that I have met... Tho much is taken, much abides... That which we are, we are-- One equal temper of heroic hearts... strong in will to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

"Basically the same kind of rhetoric we've heard in the past."

"Before the Senate acts on John Roberts' new nomination, we should know even more about his record, and we should know whom the president intends ... as a replacement Sandra Day O'Connor."

"And nothing ? nothing is going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight."

"As to what I think about Cardinal Law's tenure and service, this must be private between the cardinal and me,"

"And so I ask you tonight, the people of Massachusetts, to think this through with me. In facing this decision (whether to resign), I seek your advice and opinion. In making it, I seek your prayers ? for this is a decision that I will have finally to make on my own."

"And this November the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans, so with Barack Obama and for you and for me, our country will be committed to his cause. The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on."

"But not every president, not every legislator, and not every judge agrees that the federal government has the power to address and try to remedy the twin national problems of poverty and access to equal opportunity,"

"Do we operate under a system of equal justice under law? Or is there one system for the average citizen and another for the high and mighty?"

"Dad, I'm in some trouble. There's been an accident and you're going to hear all sorts of things about me from now on. Terrible things."

"But don?t you realize, that?s where I sail. [On the Cape Wind Project]"

"Do you believe that Congress has the power to pass laws aimed at eliminating discrimination in society, or do you believe that our hands are tied - that the elected representatives of the people of the us are without the power to pass laws aimed at righting wrongs, ending injustice, eliminating the inequalities that we have just witnessed so dramatically and tragically in New Orleans,"

"Families across America know better,"

"Earl Warren understood the impact of separate but equal on generations of both white and black children. That's what a chief justice does... Roberts has given nothing but bloodless answers."

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

"For all my years in public life, I have believed that America must sail toward the shores of liberty and justice for all. There is no end to that journey, only the next great voyage. We know the future will outlast all of us, but I believe that all of us will live on in the future we make."

"For me this is a season of hope -- new hope for a justice and fair prosperity for the many, and not just for the few ? new hope. And this is the cause of my life ? new hope that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American ? north, south, east, west, young, old ? will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege."

"Go down in history as the first president to try to write discrimination back into the Constitution."

"Frankly, I don't mind not being President. I just mind that someone else is."

"For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

"From the windows of my office in Boston ? I can see the Golden Stairs from Boston Harbor where all eight of my great-grandparents set foot on this great land for the first time. That immigrant spirit of limitless possibility animates America even today."

"Had hoped to hear acknowledgment from the president of our failures in Iraq, the war on terrorism and the administration's concrete plans for solving them with our allies and through the United Nations."

"Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed."

"History will now say on this impeachment, as they said on the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, that it was the radical Republicans... And that is going to be the judgment of history."

"Here's what President Bush said in his State of the Union address two months ago: 'This economy is strong and growing stronger. Productivity is high and jobs are on the rise.' Last month he said it again,"

"He was really far ahead of his time. He saw something that was out there."

"He's a brilliant actor, but what makes Republicans think he could do well in politics? Of course, it's hard to argue with Arnold when you're hanging upside down by the ankles."

"I am extremely disappointed that [the president] has proposed this relief using such a politically charged approach. This is not time for a partisan political debate on vouchers."

"I am asking you to renew our commitment to a fair and lasting prosperity that can put America back to work. This is the cause that brought me into the campaign and that sustained me for nine months across 100,000 miles in 40 different states. We had our losses, but the pain of our defeats is far, far less than the pain of the people that I have met."

"I condemn today's terrorist attack on the United Nations. It cannot deter our nation from working with the international community to secure the peace, rebuild Iraq, minimize the burden on our troops, and deliver on the promise of democracy for the Iraqi people."

"I get up very early in the morning. I enjoy the quietness, the stillness, the rawness in the winter and fall. It's a special time."

"I certainly hope the administration's long-awaited re-involvement in this fundamental debate is genuine, and not because of election year conversion."

"I don't know what to say. I'm happy and sad all at the same time. It was only a matter of time before conservatives reared their ugly head. These are banner days for Democrats. Oil and gas prices are up. The elderly are starving. It's great news and it's become clear that we're the ones in touch with real Americans. These flag waving braggarts have to go!"