Jimmy Carter

“Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries.”

“We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.”

“If you fear making anyone mad, then you ultimately probe for the lowest common denominator of human achievement.”

“A fundamentalist can't bring himself or herself to negotiate with people who disagree with them because the negotiating process itself is an indication of implied equality.”

“The experience of democracy is like the experience of life itself-always changing, infinite in its variety, sometimes turbulent and all the more valuable for having been tested by adversity.”

“It's not necessary to fear the prospect of failure but to be determined not to fail.”

“I don't think that the total creation took place in six days as we now measure time. If we can confirm, say, the Big Bang theory, that doesn't at all cause me to question my faith that God created the Big Bang.”

“I think there ought to be a strict separation or wall built between our religious faith and our practice of political authority in office.”

“You just have to have a simple faith.”

“We can't equate democracy with Christianity because the largest democracy on earth is India, which is primarily Hindu. The third largest democracy is Indonesia, which is Islamic. Democracy and freedom are not dependent on Christian beliefs.”

“The best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of emulation.”

“Republicans are men of narrow vision, who are afraid of the future.”

“I am confident that when the facts and policies have been examined, when the record of performances have been reviewed, Barack Obama and Joe Biden will once again be elected to lead our beloved country to a better future.”

“I've looked on many women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times. God knows I will do this and forgives me.”

“I can't really criticize the Tea Party people, because I came into the White House pretty much on the same basis that they have become popular. That is dissatisfaction with the way things are going in Washington and disillusionment and disencouragement about the government.”

“Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. People have the right to expect that these wants will be provided for by this wisdom.”

“It's very difficult for the American people to believe that our government, one of the richest on Earth, is also one of the stingiest on Earth.”

“In this outward and physical ceremony we attest once again to the inner and spiritual strength of our Nation. As my high school teacher, Miss Julia Coleman, used to say: 'We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.'”

“For this generation, ours, life is nuclear survival, liberty is human rights, the pursuit of happiness is a planet whose resources are devoted to the physical and spiritual nourishment of its inhabitants.”

“The awareness that health is dependent upon habits that we control makes us the first generation in history that to a large extent determines its own destiny.”

“The fact is that we would have had comprehensive health care now, had it not been for Ted Kennedy's deliberately blocking the legislation that I proposed in 1978 or '79.”

“We must make it clear that a platform of 'I hate gay men and women' is not a way to become president of the United States.”

“It is good to realize that if love and peace can prevail on earth, and if we can teach our children to honor nature's gifts, the joys and beauties of the outdoors will be here forever.”

“Unfortunately, after Sept. 11, there was an outburst in America of intense suffering and patriotism, and the Bush administration was very shrewd and effective in painting anyone who disagreed with the policies as unpatriotic or even traitorous.”