Quotes By George McGovern

I make one pledge above all others - to seek and speak the truth with all the resources of mind and spirit I command.

I've come to realize that protecting freedom of choice in our everyday lives is essential to maintaining a healthy civil society.

I always thought of myself as a good old South Dakota boy who grew up here on the prairie.

No man should advocate a course in private that he's ashamed to admit in public.

For 50 years, the Republicans have been accusing the Democrats of being soft on national security.

Every once in a while, I run into somebody who tells me that she met her husband in my campaign or a husband who says, I met my wife. I have to tell you, I caused a few divorces too.

I did frequently refer to my war record in World War II, but not in any flamboyant way.

Under the guise of protecting us from ourselves, the right and the left are becoming ever more aggressive in regulating behavior.

There is a strong tendency in the United States to rally round the flag and their troops, no matter how mistaken the war.

I move ahead, I live.

At least I have precluded the possibility of peaking too early.

The highest patriotism is not a blind acceptance of official policy, but a love of one's country deep enough to call her to a higher plain.

My heart does sometimes bleed for those who are hurting in my own country and abroad.

I think the country's getting disgusted with Washington partly because of the decline of civility in government.

It's nice not to have to worry about constituents.

You don't run for the presidency out of nostalgia.

As an American, I want our forces to prevail.

You know, sometimes, when they say you're ahead of your time, it's just a polite way of saying you have a real bad sense of timing.

I would not plan to base my campaign primarily on opposition to the war in the Persian Gulf.

Well, we ought to be stirred, even to tears, by society's ills.

I think it was my study of history that convinced me that the Democratic Party was more on the side of the average American.

Empathy is born out of the old biblical injunction 'Love the neighbor as thyself.'

Now, I simply do what I want.

I was tired. I hadn't slept eight hours in two, three years. I lived on four, five hours of sleep. You can do it during a campaign because thousands are screaming for you. You're getting adrenaline shots each day. Then the campaign ends, and there are no more shots.

I never even had the time to read novels.

I met my wife in South Dakota.

People didn't have the political guts to stand up against an American war.

I hope I live long enough to see every hungry school child in the world being fed under the so-called McGovern-Dole program.

I thought the Vietnam war was an utter, unmitigated disaster, so it was very hard for me to say anything good about it.

I'm a movie buff.