George McGovern quotes

I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in. (George McGovern)
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. View quote
George McGovern
When I was in the war, I was lucky that I was in a plane and never saw the carnage close-up. View quote
George McGovern
I thought the Vietnam war was an utter, unmitigated disaster, so it was very hard for me to say anything good about it. View quote
George McGovern
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. View quote
George McGovern
Chairman (Larry) O'Brien, Chairwoman (Yvonne) Burke, Senator (Ted) Kennedy, Senator (Thomas) Eagleton and my fellow citizens, I'm happy to join us (sic) for this benediction of our Friday sunrise service. I assume that everyone here is impressed with my control of this Convention in that my choice for Vice President was challenged by only 39 other nominees. And I can tell you that Eleanor (McGovern) is very grateful that the Oregon delegation at least kept her in the race with (wife of Attorney General John N Mitchell) Martha Mitchell. -McGovern's acceptance speech at the 1972 Democratic National Convention, America's Political Parties: Power and Privelige Part 1: The Democrats hosted by Ben Wattenberg. View quote
George McGovern
I think the Vietnamese are better off in Vietnam. View quote
George McGovern
I opened the doors of the Democratic Party and 20 million people walked out. -ibid. View quote
George McGovern
I am fed up with a system which busts the pot smoker and lets the big dope racketeer go free. View quote
George McGovern
It is not patriotic to commit young Americans to war unless our national security clearly requires it. View quote
George McGovern
I am a liberal and always have been - just not the wild-eyed character the Republicans made me out to be. (George McGovern)
I seek to call America home to those principles that gave us birth. View quote
George McGovern
The Establishment center... has led us into the stupidest and cruelest war in all history. That war is a moral and political disaster - a terrible cancer eating away at the soul of our nation. View quote
George McGovern
When I was a youngster growing up in South Dakota, we never referred to the national debt, it was always referred to as the war debt because it stemmed from World War I. View quote
George McGovern
One of the sharp parallels is that neither Vietnam nor Iraq was the slightest threat to America's national security. View quote
George McGovern
Empathy is born out of the old biblical injunction 'Love the neighbor as thyself.' View quote
George McGovern
I suppose politicians have always wanted to get re-elected, but there's a kind of a feeling now that if you just discredit your opposition, it makes it easier for you to win. I don't think that's necessarily true. View quote
George McGovern
Everyone is exposed to economic risks of some kind. View quote
George McGovern
The longer the title, the less important the job. View quote
George McGovern
You don't run for the presidency out of nostalgia. View quote
George McGovern
Well, we ought to be stirred, even to tears, by society's ills. (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. View quote
George McGovern
Politics is an act of faith; you have to show some kind of confidence in the intellectual and moral capacity of the public. View quote
George McGovern
From secrecy and deception in high places, come home, America. From military spending so wasteful that it weakens our nation, come home, America. View quote
George McGovern
I firmly believed throughout 1971 that the major hurdle to winning the presidency was winning the Democratic nomination. I believed that any reasonable Democrat would defeat President Nixon. I now think that no one could have defeated him in 1972. View quote
George McGovern