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Richard M. Nixon

Richard M. Nixon Quotes

37th U.S. President

Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A Republican, he previously served as a U.S. representative and senator from California and as the 36th vice president under Dwight D. Eisenhower. Nixon is best known for his Cold War foreign policy, including the historic 1972 visit to China, détente with the Soviet Union, and the gradual withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam. However, his presidency was overshadowed by the Watergate scandal, leading to his resignation—the only such case in U.S. history. His legacy remains complex, marked by significant diplomatic achievements and profound ethical failures.

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Famous Richard M. Nixon Quotes

“Let us build a structure of peace in the world in which the weak are as safe as the strong in which each respects the right of the other to live by a different system in which those who would influence others will do so by the strength of their ideas, and not by the force of their arms. Let us accept that high responsibility not as a burden, but gladly gladly because the chance to build such a peace is the noblest endeavor in which a nation can engage.”

World Ideas Different Strong Force Nations Peace Chance Responsibility Accepting Influence Arms Safe Weak Structure Burden Live By Endeavor

Author:Richard M. Nixon

“Any nation that decides the only way to achieve peace is through peaceful means is a nation that will soon be a piece of another nation.”

Way Mean Nations Peace Pieces Achieve Peaceful

Author:Richard M. Nixon

“We seek friendly relations with all nations. Any nation can be our friend without being any other nation's enemy.”

Nations Enemy Relation Friendly

Book:Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard M. Nixon, 1971

Source: Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard M. Nixon, 1971

“If some of my judgments were wrong - and some were wrong - they were made in what I believed at the time to be the best interest of the nation.”

Ifs Made Nations Interest Judgment Being The Best

Author:Richard M. Nixon

“The only time in the history of the world that we have had any extended periods of peace is when there has been a balance of power. It is when one nation becomes infinitely more powerful in relation to its potential competitors that the danger of war arises.”

World Has Beens War Nations Powerful Danger Balance Periods Relation Arise Competitors Only Time World History Balance Of Power

Author:Richard M. Nixon

“The Soviet Union began by banishing God. The United States began as a community of people who wanted to worship God as they chose. . . Man does not live by bread alone. Those in the United States whose desire to create a strictly secular society is as strong as Lenin's was should study this Cold War lesson closely. Communism was defeated by an alliance spearheaded by 'one nation under God.'”

“We, this nation of ours, could be the richest nation in the world. We could be the freest nation in the world - but only if the arts are alive and flourishing can we experience the true meaning of our freedom, and know the full glory of the human spirit.”

Ifs Knows World Humans Art Spirit Nations Alive Glory Human Spirit Flourishing True Meaning

Book:Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard M. Nixon, 1971

Source: Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard M. Nixon, 1971

“[The public lands represent] in a sense, the breathing space of the nation.”

Nations Space Land Breathing Breathing Space Public Lands

Author:Richard M. Nixon

“Any culture which can put a man on the Moon is capable of gathering all the nations of the earth in peace, justice and concord.”

Men Earth Culture Nations Justice Moon Capable Gathering Peace Justice

Author:Richard M. Nixon

“When the strongest nation in the world can be tied up for years in a war with no end in sight, when the richest nation in the world can't manage its own economy, when the nation with the greatest tradition of the rule of law is plagued by unprecedented lawlessness, and when the President of the United States cannot travel abroad or to any major city at home without fear of a hostile demonstration - then it's time for new leadership for the United States of America.”

“Let us remember that the main purpose of American aid is not to help other nations, but to help ourselves.”

Helping Remember Purpose Nations Aids Helping Others

Author:Richard M. Nixon

“Lyndon Johnson rose above the doubt and fear to hold this Nation on course until we rediscovered our faith in ourselves.”

Courses Nations Doubt Rose Johnson Doubt And Fear

Book:Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard M. Nixon, 1973

Source: Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard M. Nixon, 1973

“I knew if I continued to look around it would be difficult for me to contain my own emotions. So I turned away from the red eyes of the crowd and looked only at the red eye of the camera, talking to all the nation.”

Ifs Looks Would Be Eye Nations Difficult My Own Emotion Talking Red Cameras Crowds Red Eye

Author: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.”

People Government Today America Remember Nations Patriotism Patriotic 4th Of July Great Nations

Author:Richard M. Nixon

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

Nations President Justice Influence Profound Chiefs Lasting Lasting Love Chief Justice

Book:Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard M. Nixon, 1969

Source: Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard M. Nixon, 1969

“Black Americans, no more than white Americans, they do not want more government programs which perpetuate dependency. They don't want to be a colony in a nation.”

Want Government Nations Black White Program Colony Dependency Government Programs

Author:Richard M. Nixon

“Once genius is submerged by bureaucracy, a nation is doomed to mediocrity.”

Politics Nations Genius Mediocrity Doomed Bureaucracy Submerged

Author:Richard M. Nixon

“This Memorial Day should remind us of the greatness that past generations of Americans achieved from Valley Forge to Vietnam, and it should inspire us with the determination to keep America great and free by keeping America safe and strong in our own time, a time of unique destiny and opportunity for our Nation.”

Source: Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard M. Nixon, 1974

“The only way to achieve a practical, livable peace in a world of competing nations is to take the profit out of war.”

World Way War Nations Democracy Achieve Profit Practicals Competing

Author:Richard M. Nixon

“No words can describe the depths of my regret and pain at the anguish my mistakes over Watergate have caused the nation and the presidency - a nation I so deeply love and an institution I so greatly respect.”

War Pain Nations Mistake Regret Cold Institutions Depth Cold War Presidency Anguish My Mistakes Watergate

Author:Richard M. Nixon

“Nothing matters more to the future of this Nation than insuring that our young men and women learn to believe in themselves and believe in their dreams, and that they develop this capacitythat you develop this capacity, so that you keep it all of your lives. I believe one of Americas most priceless assets is the idealism which motivates the young people of America. My generation has invested all that it has, not only its love but its hope and faith, in yours.”

“Let historians not record that when America was the most powerful nation in the world we passed on the other side of the road and allowed the last hopes for peace and freedom of millions of people to be suffocated by the forces of totalitarianism. And so tonightto you, the great silent majority of my fellow AmericansI ask for your support.”

People World Lasts America Asks Force Nations Peace Sides Powerful Millions Support Records Fellows Majority Silent Most Powerful Historian Totalitarianism Silent Majority

Author:Richard M. Nixon

“But above all, what this Congress can be remembered for is opening the way to a new American revolutiona peaceful revolution in which power was turned back to the peoplein which government at all levels was refreshed and renewed and made truly responsive. This can be a revolution as profound, as far-reaching, as exciting as that first revolution almost 200 years agoand it can mean that just 5 years from now America will enter its third century as a young nation new in spirit, with all the vigor and the freshness with which it began its first century.”

“I would rather be a one-term President and do what I believe is right than to be a two-term President at the cost of seeing America become a second-race power and to see this Nation accept the first defeat in its proud 190-year history.”

Years Firsts Believe Two America I Believe Nations President Term Race Accepting Power Seeing Proud Cost Defeat

Author:Richard M. Nixon

“If, when the chips are down, the worlds most powerful nation, the United States of America, acts like a pitiful, helpless giant, the forces of totalitarianism and anarchy will threaten free nations and free institutions throughout the world.”

“What kind of nation we will be, what kind of world we will live in, whether we shape the future in the image of our hopes, is ours to determine by our actions and our choices.”

World Kind Action Choices Nations Shapes Determine Presidential Our Actions Our Choices

Book:Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard M. Nixon, 1969

Source: Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard M. Nixon, 1969

“We have been through, over these years, some difficult times. During the period that I have served as President of the United States, we have been through some difficult times together, and I can only say that the friendship that we have for this nation, the respect and the admiration we have for the people of this nation, their courage, their tenacity, their firmness in the face of very great odds, is one that makes us proud to stand with Israel, as we have in the past in times of trouble, and now to work with Israel in a better time, a time that we trust will be a time of peace.”

“For among nations - as within nations - the soundest unity is that which respects diversity, and the strongest cohesion is that which rejects coercion.”

Nations Diversity Unity Presidential Rejects Strongest Coercion Cohesion

Book:Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard M. Nixon, 1972

Source: Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard M. Nixon, 1972

“When I spoke at the St. Lawrence Seaway ceremonies in 1969, I borrowed some words from the monument there which I had joined Queen Elizabeth in dedicating just 10 years before. That monument, as its inscription puts it, 'bears witness to the common purpose of two nations whose frontiers are the frontiers of friendship, whose ways are the ways of freedom, whose works are the works of peace'.”

Way Years Two Purpose Nations Common Bears Witness Presidential Queens Spokes Ceremony Frontiers Monument Borrowed Inscriptions Common Purpose Queen Elizabeth Two Nations

Author:Richard M. Nixon

“The ultimate test of a nation's character is not how it responds to adversity in war but how it meets the challenge of peace.”

War Character Nations Challenges Tests Ultimate Adversity

Author:Richard M. Nixon

“Before we become too arrogant with the most deadly of the seven deadly sins, the sin of pride, let us remember that the two great wars of this century, wars which cost twenty million dead, were fought between Christian nations praying to the same God.”

Source: Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard M. Nixon, 1972