George W. Bush Quotes

Public office must not be a means to profit or become rich.

Politics is a profession as certainly as base ball.... The only difference is that base ball is on the square; no base ball hero claims he is working in the interest of the crowd in the bleachers.

I am the only public servant and the only Mexican President ever who has made his finances public from before, during, and after public service.

Politics and self-interest have been so uniformly connected, that the world, from being so often deceived, has a right to be suspicious of public characters.

To this hour, the great science and duty of politics is lowered by the petty leaven of small and personal advantage.

Small men, seeking great wealth or power, have too often and too long turned even the highest levels of public service into mere personal opportunity.

As Members of Congress, we should not be using public office for private gain.

No man should have a political office because he wants a job.

There are, believe it or not, good politicians.

A lot of people like a lot of money. They shouldn't go into politics.

A minister’s family will expect him to do things that are impossible on a minister’s salary; they make spurious demands such as expecting them to buy a new car or take them on trips. Where does the money come from? When an honest aspirant for public office comes along, his village and his family will say, ‘No, not that one because he won’t eat and he won’t let us eat.’

For the sake of advantage which is to be gained from the public revenues and from office, men want to be always in office.

Anybody who deliberately tries to get himself elected to a public office is permanently disqualified from holding one.

Mothers may still want their sons to grow up to become President, but they don't want them to become politicians in the process.

An honest man in politics shines more there than he would elsewhere.

PUBLIC SERVANT: Persons chosen by the people to distribute the graft.

No one you'd really like to see in public office has the bad taste to run.

George W. Bush has shown himself to be a decent guy, not exploiting his former office to make top dollars giving speeches.

Ed Rogers is a career insider who has personally enriched himself off of what he decries.

Politics is noble; it is one of the highest forms of charity, as Paul VI used to say. We sully it when we mix it with business. The relationship between the Church and political power can also be corrupted if common good is not the only converging point.

I don't believe Spiro Agnew is a crook. If he was a crook, he'd still be in office.

I refuse to stand by while our democracy is trampled by politicians more concerned about amassing power than helping the people who sent them to Washington in the first place.

There may be in every government a few choice spirits, who may act from more worthy motives. One great error is that we suppose mankind more honest than they are. Our prevailing passions are ambition and interest.

Corruption of politics has nothing to do with the morals, or the laxity of morals, of various political personalities. Its cause is altogether a material one.

A politician's goal is always to manipulate public debate. I think there are some politicians with higher goals. But all of them get corrupted by power.