STOLEN

From Slashdot (original commenter hackstraw)

“History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.”

— Winston Churchill

Currently, we have:

“To those of you who received honours, awards and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say you, too, can be president of the United States.”

— George W. Bush, speaking at Yale University’s 300th commencement ceremony

Sorry, I don’t know of any quotes that reveal much character from a US president in the last 40 years.

Here are some others though from before then:

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”

— Theodore Roosevelt

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

–Abraham Lincoln

Check out this progression:

“Government is not reason. Government is not eloquence. It is force. And, like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”

— George Washington

to:

“The Founding Fathers knew a government can’t control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. So we have come to a time for choosing.”

— Ronald Reagan, October 27, 1964