Ann Richards quotes

The public does not like you to mislead or represent yourself to be something you're not. And the other thing that the public really does like is the self-examination to say, you know, I'm not perfect. I'm just like you. They don't ask their public officials to be perfect. They just ask them to be smart, truthful, honest, and show a modicum of good sense. (Ann Richards)
I believe in recovery, and as a role model I have the responsibility to let young people know that you can make a mistake and come back from it. View quote
Ann Richards
The here and now is all we have, and if we play it right it's all we'll need. View quote
Ann Richards
I have a real soft spot in my heart for librarians and people who care about books. View quote
Ann Richards
I have very strong feelings about how you lead your life. You always look ahead, you never look back. View quote
Ann Richards
Oh, I would probably have raised more hell. View quote
Ann Richards
But I'll tell you something sort of interesting. There's something, you know, there's something a little scary about funny women. Well, they're threatening. And there was a survey done one time where they asked women what they were most afraid of from men. And the -- their response was they were most afraid of being hit or beaten or hurt from men. And they asked men what they were most afraid of from women, and they said being laughed at. View quote
Ann Richards
... we're going to tell how the cow ate the cabbage. View quote
Ann Richards
We're not going to have the America that we want until we elect leaders who are going to tell the truth - not most days, but every day. View quote
Ann Richards
After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels. View quote
Ann Richards
I did not want my tombstone to read, 'She kept a really clean house.' I think I'd like them to remember me by saying, 'She opened government to everyone.' (Ann Richards)
Teaching was the hardest work I had ever done, and it remains the hardest work I have done to date. View quote
Ann Richards
I've always said that in politics, your enemies can't hurt you, but your friends will kill you. View quote
Ann Richards
I had such high expectations of myself. I was going to be the best mother, the best housewife, the best entertainer, the best nurse, you know - what it was, I was going to be the best. And I could never live up to my expectations. View quote
Ann Richards
The regular Democratic Party and its organization was run by men who looked on women as little more than machine parts. View quote
Ann Richards
I am delighted to be here with you this evening, because after listening to George Bush all these years, I figured you needed to know what a real Texas accent sounds like. View quote
Ann Richards
I have seen the very bottom of life: I was so afraid I wouldn't be funny anymore. I just knew that I would lose my zaniness and my sense of humor. But I didn't. Recovery turned out to be a wonderful thing. View quote
Ann Richards
Oh, absolutely. No question about it. And the state of Texas, when I was governor, we built an awful lot of prisons. And to be frank with you, I made a deal, and the deal was that I would help pass the legislation and be for building a lot more prisons in Texas if I could get rehab programs for people who were alcoholics and drug abusers because I knew that over 80 percent of the crime committed in Texas was committed by people under the influence of alcohol or drugs. View quote
Ann Richards
We're living in a whole new social and economic order with a whole new set of problems and challenges. Old assumptions and old programs don't work in this new society and the more we try to stretch them to make them fit, the more we will be seen as running away from what is reality. View quote
Ann Richards
I'm really glad that our young people missed the Depression and missed the great big war. But I do regret that they missed the leaders that I knew, leaders who told us when things were tough and that we'd have to sacrifice, and that these difficulties might last awhile. They didn't tell us things were hard for us because we were different, or isolated, or special interests. They brought us together and they gave us a sense of national purpose. View quote
Ann Richards
I get a lot of cracks about my hair, mostly from men who don't have any. (Ann Richards)
They blame the low income women for ruining the country because they are staying home with their children and not going out to work. They blame the middle income women for ruining the country because they go out to work and do not stay home to take care of their children. View quote
Ann Richards
Now we Democrats believe that America is still the country of fair play, that we can come out of a small town or a poor neighborhood and have the same chance as anyone else, and it doesn't matter whether we are black or Hispanic, or disabled or women. View quote
Ann Richards
If you think taking care of yourself is selfish, change your mind. If you don't, you're simply ducking your responsibilities. View quote
Ann Richards
I think you have to deal with grief in the sense that you have to recognize that you have it, and say that it's OK to have all the sadness. View quote
Ann Richards