James Earl Carter Jr. is an American former politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975 and as a Georgia state senator from 1963 to 1967. Here are some Jimmy Carter Quotes.
“America has always been a country of innovation and dynamism, entrepreneurship. And I think that one of the things that has made our country great too is its heterogeneous population where people come here from all over the world.”
“America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense human rights invented America.”
“There is no other even moderately equal abuse than the murder of little baby girls – nothing else compares with that, in horror.”
“I have one life and one chance to make it count for something… My faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.”
“My mother’s influence to take on new challenges and do what I though was right even though sometimes the consequences politically speaking were not good. My mother was vivacious, she was full of life, she got up every morning looking forward to the day, trying to figure out what she could do that was innovative and unprecedented and maybe controversial.”
“Everyone who has run knows that its most important value is in removing tension and allowing a release from whatever other cares the day may bring.”
“I’m concerned about the negative aspect of political campaigning in american nation, which is a new phenomenon. When I ran for president against Gerald Ford and later against Ronald Reagan we never referred to each other except as ‘my distinguished opponent’. And had we criticized personally our opponent it would have been political suicide, we would have been castigated and condemned for it.”
“We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.”
“I have a very real political awareness that at least on a transient basis the more drastic action taken by the president, the more popular it is.”
“The bottom line is this: Peace will come to Israel and the Middle East only when the Israeli government is willing to comply with international law, with the Roadmap for Peace, with official American policy, with the wishes of a majority of its own citizens – and honor its own previous commitments – by accepting its legal borders. All Arab neighbors must pledge to honor Israel’s right to live in peace under these conditions.”
“There’s always enough to fill up the headlines in a newspaper, the evening news broadcasts. I’m always grateful when I get the weekly news magazines on Monday morning and don’t see my picture on the front.”
“Because (grandparents) are usually free to love and guide and befriend the young without having to take daily responsibility for them, they can often reach out past pride and fear of failure and close the space between generations.”
“It’s abominable, and it’s a disgrace to a great democracy to see what’s happened in our country. The main reason for that has been the enormous infusion of high quantities of money to campaigns – governors, Congress, president and the U.S. Senate.”
“America has no functioning democracy at this moment.”
“I’m going to stay active as long as I can politically, and with the Carter Center primarily, and if I’m able mentally and physically, will continue to be quite active.”
“War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.”
“Always I’m working on some of book. That’s the way I make a living.”
“We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.”
“One of the most serious problems that our country has inherited an unwillingness to talk to anyone who disagrees with us or who won’t accept, before a discussion, all the premises that we demand.”
“Every advance in this half-century-Social Security, civil rights, Medicare, aid to education, one after another-came with the support and leadership of American Labor.”
“We have been involved in more wars, on a bilateral basis, since the United Nations was formed than any other country by far.”
“We simply must have faith in each other, faith in our ability to govern ourselves, and faith in the future of this Nation. Restoring that faith and that confidence to America is now the most important task we face.”
“The respect for human rights is one of the most significant advantages of a free and democratic nation in the peaceful struggle for influence, and we should use this good weapon as effectively as possible.”
“It is difficult for the common good to prevail against the intense concentration of those who have a special interest, especially if the decisions are made behind locked doors.”
“If you don’t want your tax dollars to help the poor, then stop saying that you want a country based on Christian values. Because you don’t!”
“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.”
“We’ve become increasingly addicted to consumption of goods that we don’t produce ourselves, and a lot of the manufacturing has gone overseas.”
“We cannot be both the world’s leading champion of peace and the world’s leading supplier of the weapons of war.”
“We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.”
“America has had the best university system in the world for a long time. And so we have been innovators, not only in the discoveries as proven by Nobel Prizes in chemistry and physics and that sort of thing, but we’ve been able to put that into practical application with new gadgets that people admire.”
“It’s not necessary to fear the prospect of failure but to be determined not to fail.”
“Quite often, the people who do leave their own nation and come to an unknown destination, like the United States, are inherently adventurous, so we’ve had that adventurous spirit that has embedded itself collectively in the American consciousness.”
“Spirit is like the wind, in that we can’t see it but can see its effects, which are profound.”
“No matter where you go in the world in any country in Africa or Latin America and other place, you will find that China is very deeply involved in the affairs of that country.”
“Iam not in favor of the government mandating a prayer in school because our country was founded on the fact that no particular religious faith would have ascendance over or preferential treatment over any other.”
“I think a good husband has to depend on having a good wife.”
“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 United States…has a warm and a unique relationship of friendship with Israel that is morally right. It is compatible with our deepest religious convictions, and it is right in terms of America’s own strategic interests. We are committed to Israel’s security, prosperity, and future as a land that has so much to offer the world.”
“People in the United States, including me, are naturally inclined to support Israel. I’m an evangelical Christian who teaches the Bible every Sunday at my church. I teach half the Old Testament and half the New Testament. We Americans identify the Hebrews, the Israelites, with ourselves.”
“There should be an honest attempt at the reconciliation of differences before resorting to combat.”
“It would be almost politically suicidal for members of Congress to espouse a balanced position between Israel and Palestine, to suggest that Israel comply with international law or to speak in defense of justice or human rights for Palestinians. If they did so, they couldn’t be reelected.”
“I hate to see complacency prevail in our lives when it’s so directly contrary to the teaching of Christ.”
“I think the only way that political system can be corrected is for the American people to see very vividly that it needs repair. If things are going to worse in the future, the American people, in every congressional district in the land, might demand that reforms take place in the political system.”
“Too many of us now tend to worship self indulgence and consumption.”
“In the United States, you might say every county has got its own separate system. There’s not even one kind of ballot that you use all over the United States. We require that in a foreign country.”
“We are of course a nation of differences. Those differences don’t make us weak. They’re the source of our strength.”
“”Solid wastes” are the discarded leftovers of our advanced consumer society. This growing mountain of garbage and trash represents not only an attitude of indifference toward valuable natural resources, but also a serious economic and public health problem.”
“With this new stupid Supreme Court ruling, secret money can come in on an unlimited level from corporations. Nobody knows where it comes from. That distorts the political situation in our country tremendously. Most of that money is spent on negative advertising that is tearing down the character and reputation of your opponent, and it works, although most American people say, “We don’t like negative advertising,” it works.”
“You just have to have a simple faith.”
“I think I governed effectively. I don’t have any doubts about that. I had the benefit, when I was in office, of having an excellent relationship with the Republican Party. We had superb bipartisan support and we had the highest batting average of any president since the Second World War, except Lyndon Johnson. He had a little better average than I did.”
“The test of a government is not how popular it is with the powerful and privileged few but how honestly and fairly it deals with the many who must depend on it.”
“I let God be the judge and I believe that we worship a just and fair God who won’t punish innocent people unnecessarily.”
“Everyone has a right to peaceful coexistence, the basic personal freedoms, the alleviation of suffering, and the opportunity to lead a productive life…”
“I’ve been an evangelistic Baptist all my life and still am to some degree.”
“If you have a task to perform and are vitally interested in it, excited and challenged by it, and then you will exert maximum energy. But in the excitement, the pain of fatigue dissipates, and the exuberance of what you hope to achieve overcomes the weariness.”
“Failure is a reality; we all fail at times, and it’s painful when we do. But it’s better to fail while striving for something wonderful, challenging, adventurous, and uncertain than to say, ” I don’t want to try because I may not succeed completely.”
“I believe strongly that in the eyes of God women and men should be the same and they should be given the same authority in the church, women should as men.”
“In a nuclear age, each of us is threatened when peace is not secured everywhere.”
“Go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is.”
“When people first vote for democracy, they have extremely high hopes, excessive expectations, and they’re not realized. They don’t instantly get richer and the schools don’t instantly get better and the garbage isn’t instantly picked up quicker. So they get disillusioned.”
“I believe that anyone can be successful in life, regardless of natural talent or the environment within which we live. This is not based on measuring success by human competitiveness for wealth, possessions, influence, and fame, but adhering to God’s standards of truth, justice, humility, service, compassion, forgiveness, and love.”
“Every act of energy conservation… is more than just common sense: I tell you it is an act of patriotism.”
“A lot of the things that we passed in the energy policy were embedded in law, and they resulted in tremendous reductions in waste of energy in all kinds of things.”
“When people are intimidated about having their own opinions, oppression is at hand.”
“I’m a peanut farmer at heart, still grow peanuts on my farm in Georgia.”
“God always answers prayers. Sometimes it’s ‘yes.’ Sometimes the answer is ‘no.’ Sometimes it’s ‘you gotta be kidding.”
“Communicating our questions, hopes, and fears in prayer makes them-even to ourselves-more open and clear…”
“It was the darndest thing I’ve ever seen. It was big, it was very bright, it changed colors and it was about the size of the moon.. We watched it for ten minutes, but none of us could figure out what it was. One thing’s for sure, I’ll never make fun of people who say they’ve seen unidentified objects in the sky.”
“Throughout my life, I’ve seen the difference that volunteering efforts can make in people’s lives. I know the personal value of service as a local volunteer.”
Positive quotes by jimmy carter
“To me, Faith is not just a noun but also a verb”
“Habitat has opened up unprecedented opportunities for me to cross the chasm that separates those of us who are free, safe, financially secure, well fed and housed, and influential enough to shape our own destiny from our neighbors who enjoy few, if any, of these advantages of life.”
“We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace. We can make these changes – and we must.”
“In order for us human beings to commit ourselves personally to the inhumanity of war, we find it necessary first to dehumanize our opponents, which is in itself a violation of the beliefs of all religions. Once we characterize our adversaries as beyond the scope of God’s mercy and grace, their lives lose all value.”
“Because we are now running out of gas and oil, we must prepare quickly for a third change, to strict conservation and to the use of … permanent renewable energy sources, like solar power.”
“We simply must balance our demand for energy with our rapidly shrinking resources. By acting now we can control our future instead of letting the future control us.”
“Energy will be the immediate test of our ability to unite this Nation, and it can also be the standard around which we rally. On the battlefield of energy we can win for our Nation a new confidence, and we can seize control again of our common destiny.”
“Wherever life takes us, there are always moments of wonder.”
“The measure of a society is found in how they treat their weakest and most helpless citizens.”
“America does not at the moment have a functioning democracy.”
“Our values are not luxuries, but necessities. They are not the salt in our bread, but the bread itself.”
“We know that a peaceful world cannot long exist, one-third rich and two-thirds hungry.”
“What are the things that you can’t see that are important? I would say justice, truth, humility, service, compassion, love…They’re the guiding lights of a life.”
“Habitat gives us an opportunity which is very difficult to find: to reach out and work side by side with those who never have had a decent home-but work with them on a completely equal basis. It’s not a big-shot, little-shot relationship. It’s a sense of equality.”
“Many of the most highly publicized events of my presidency are not nearly as memorable or significant in my life as fishing with my daddy.”
“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.”
“If you’re totally illiterate and living on one dollar a day, the benefits of globalization never come to you.”
“Globalization, as defined by rich people like us, is a very nice thing… you are talking about the Internet, you are talking about cell phones, you are talking about computers. This doesn’t affect two-thirds of the people of the world.”
“Human rights is the soul of our foreign policy, because human rights is the very soul of our sense of nationhood.”
“I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over.”
“Unless both sides win, no agreement can be permanent.”
“Aggression unopposed becomes a contagious disease.”
“I have often wanted to drown my troubles, but I can’t get my wife to go swimming.”
“If you fear making anyone mad, then you ultimately probe for the lowest common denominator of human achievement.”
“Testing oneself is best when done alone.”
“Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries.”
“Republicans are men of narrow vision, who are afraid of the future.”
“You can do what you have to do, and sometimes you can do it even better than you think you can.”
Jimmy carter quotes about god
“We should live our lives as though Christ were coming this afternoon.”
“There’s always an element of self delusion among people who believe they ought to be President. There’s an underestimation of your opponent and an overestimation of your own abilities. This is compatible with being rich and powerful, the idea that we were blessed by God because we deserve to be blessed.”
“Sadat was a great and good man, and his most bitter and dangerous enemies were people who were obsessed with hatred for his peaceful goals.”