Tom Vilsack Quotes

There are some amazing stories from all over this country, where people's work and contribution has been acknowledged. To be part of that is an absolutely fantastic feeling.

Look folks, we know who built this country and we know who is going to rebuild it. It's you. Instead of vilifying you, we should be thanking you. We owe you.

As long as mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their benefactors, the thirst of military glory will ever be the vice of the most exalted characters.

Our troops are owed a policy worthy of their sacrifice.

I try to do as much as I can for the military.

It sounds sweet when, after a long time, people talk good about you, especially when you have done a lot for the country and played with distinction. It's good; it's a good feeling.

Military veterans and the sacrifices they have made for our country carry a status we all should appreciate and honor.

At the end of the day, most people just want to be valued. They want to feel they have put their time to something that will seem to have been of value when they die.

We respect and honor very deeply those people who decide to serve their country in the military. But we certainly don't denigrate people who choose a different course, particularly when we have an all-volunteer army.

Militarism is the most energy-intensive, entropic activity of humans, since it converts stored energy and materials directly into waste and destruction without any useful intervening fulfillment of basic human needs. Ironically, the net effect of military, as opposed to civilian, expenditures is to increase unemployment and inflation.

I noticed people would read these short articles I was assigned to write for our church bulletin and they would say, Boy, thats good stuff. I got letters from people around the country saying, Thats really good. And I thought, Is it really?

I'd just like to thank everybody who was involved in the film, especially Brendan Gleeson and Ruaidhrí Conroy. And Ruaidhrí, I'm sorry that you couldn't be here tonight but I hope next time, if they let you into the country.

We don't stop and realize that we are dealing with people - the far-left doesn't think we need a military to start with, they really don't. You've heard me say this before, they really believe if all countries would just stand in a circle and unilaterally disarm and hold hands then all threats would go away, they believe that. They would never say that but they do believe that.

None of you appreciate me. Why is it so hard to believe that I could make a real contribution in these dark rimes?

Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right also for this country. That our leaders, our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God. That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan.

To a people warlike and indigent, an incursion into a rich country is never hurtful.

One of the most important factors, not only in military matters but in life as a whole, is ... the ability to direct one's whole energies towards the fulfillment of a particular task.

After that demonstration everybody was thinking, what's going to happen to these wonderful men who have been so useful to us? We have to give people something to do with life.

Guys want to be respected and acknowledged. They want to feel what they contributed matters.

You know, maybe that's all anybody wants, is to be useful. And have somebody else notice it.

When you begin to give value to the world, somehow the people you affect will find a way to tell you. Even if it takes a couple of years.

She had been proud of his decision to serve his country, her heart bursting with love and admiration the first time she saw him outfitted in his dress blues.

A cap and trade bill will likely increase the costs of electricity. . . . These costs will be passed on to the consumers. But the issue is, how does it actually...how do we interact in terms with the rest of the world? If other countries don't impose a cost on carbon, then we would be at a disadvantage. . . . We should look at considering duties that would offset that cost.

None of what we [as country] have done is credited. None of the good works. Our foreign affairs budget, foreign aid budget, none of it is ever thanked.

Too much praise cannot be bestowed on those who managed my artillery.