Mitt romney quotes

Mr. Chairman, delegates. I accept your nomination for President of the United States of America. I do so with humility, deeply moved by the trust you have placed in me. It is a great honor. It is an even greater responsibility.

My doctrine is as I've described, which is confidence in our cause, clarity in our purpose, and resolve in our might.

You know, out-of-touch liberals like Barack Obama say they want a strong economy, but in everything they do, they show they don't like business very much. But the economy, of course, is simply the product of all the businesses of the nation added together. So it's a bit like saying you like an omelet, but you don't like eggs.

Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.

If people are looking for someone who has never changed their mind and is unwilling to admit they make mistakes, that's not me.

I believe that as people will look at me, they'll see a person who has dealt with a number of very difficult and challenging circumstances and that I have been able to successfully navigate through those and create greater strength and greater opportunity. I believe that people recognize that I'm someone who has confidence in America's cause.

I believe very firmly in the principle of free agency - people making their own decisions and doing what they think is right.

Christianity is not the faith of the complacent, the comfortable or of the timid. It demands and creates heroic souls like Wesley, Wilberforce, Bonhoeffer, John Paul the Second, and Billy Graham. Each showed, in their own way, the relentless and powerful influence of the message of Jesus Christ.

What you believe, what you value, how you live - matters.

I'm not familiar precisely with what I said, but I'll stand by what I said, whatever it was.

The principles that made this nation a great and powerful leader of the world, have not lost their meaning. They never will. We know we can bring this country back. I'm Mitt Romney. I believe in America. And I'm running for president of the United States.

As a matter of fact, Latin America's economy is almost as big as the economy of China. We're all focused on China. Latin America is a huge opportunity for America - time zone, language opportunities.

I didn't talk to anybody and say, "I'm going to do a speech, do you go some ideas?" This is something I did on my own because I care very deeply about the country.

When it comes to pinning blame, pin the tail on the donkeys.

If you want to serve the country, you recognize it's rough and tumble. And it's nothing like serving your country in the military.

It's opportunity. It's opportunity, not a check from government - it's opportunity that has always driven America and defined us as Americans.

I would explain to my children very simply that the defense of liberty is a cause that exacts a very high price in the history of humankind.

We have a potentially volatile situation but we sort of live with it, and we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve it.

I very firmly believe that we have to make sure that we enforce our borders, that we have an employment verification system, and that those people who have come here illegally do not get an advantage to become permanent residents, they do not get a special pathway.

Corporations are people, my friend.

Internationally, President Obama has adopted an appeasement strategy. He believes America's role as leader in the world is a thing of the past. I believe a strong America must - and will - lead the future.

If I'm the godfather of [Obamacare], then it gives me the right to kill it.

I believe the tax on capital gains should be zero.

People of different faiths, like yours and mine, sometimes wonder where we can meet in common purpose, when there are so many differences in creed and theology. Surely the answer is that we can meet in service.

All the laws and legislation in the world will never heal this world like the loving hearts and arms of mothers and fathers. If every child could drift to sleep feeling wrapped in the love of their family - and God's love - this world would be a far more gentle and better place.

Democrats want to use the slowdown as an excuse to do what their special interests are always begging for: higher taxes, bigger government and less trade with other nations.

As we watch the world today, sometimes it seems that we`re at the mercy of events instead of shaping events. And a strong America`s essential to shape events, and a strong America, by the way, depends on a strong military.

We can believe as we want, but we should not force our beliefs on others.

If I am elected President of these United States, I will work with all my energy and soul to restore that America, to lift our eyes to a better future. That future is our destiny. That future is out there. It is waiting for us. Our children deserve it, our nation depends upon it, the peace and freedom of the world require it.

In the richest country in the history of the world, this Obama economy has crushed the middle class. Family income has fallen by $4,000, but health insurance premiums are higher, food prices are higher, utility bills are higher, and gasoline prices have doubled. Today more Americans wake up in poverty than ever before.

I like those fancy raincoats you bought. Really sprung for the big bucks.

ObamaCare (modeled almost precisely on RomneyCare) is wrong; it was bad medicine; it's bad for the economy, and I will repeal it.

Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to people.

Barack Obama has done something I find very hard to understand. Ever since FDR, we`ve had the capacity to be engaged in two conflicts at once, and he`s saying, No, we`re going to cut that back to only one conflict.

We have a long-standing tradition in this country to follow the advice of Senator Vandenberg, which is that politics ends at the water's edge.

Only FREEDOM has ever been the answer to poverty.

I want to help small businesses grow and thrive. I know how to make that happen. I spent my life in the private sector. I know why jobs come and why they go.

I don't want to transform America. I want to restore to America the economic values of freedom and opportunity and limited government that has made us the powerhouse of the world.

We're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers.

Planned Parenthood, we're going to get rid of that.

Instead of leading the world by how much we borrow, it's time that we make sure we lead the world in how much we build and create and invest.

My leadership will end the Obama era and begin a new era of American prosperity.

We reserve our deepest respect and admiration for those who volunteer for service and give their lives to help keep our nation secure.

Christianity is not the faith of the complacent, the comfortable or of the timid. It demands and creates heroic souls.

China has an interest that's very much like ours in one respect, and that is they want a stable world. They don't want war. They don't want to see protectionism. They don't want to see the world break out into various forms of chaos.

If anyone accuses me of lying, I'll simply say I'm not lying, which is just an extension of the overall lying strategy.

I know what it takes to balance budgets. I have done it my entire life.

The American culture promotes personal responsibility, the dignity of work, the value of education, the merit of service, devotion to a purpose greater than self, and at the foundation, the pre-eminence of family.

Isn't it fitting that so many of those who have contempt for the private sector will soon find themselves back in it?

Religious liberty is the first freedom in our Constitution. And whether the cause is justice for the persecuted, compassion for the needy and the sick, or mercy for the child waiting to be born, there is no greater force for good in the nation than Christian conscience in action.

I think people recognize that I'm not a partisan Republican that I'm someone who is moderate, and that my views are progressive.

Government does not create jobs. Government does not create jobs.

I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America that's the America millions of Americans believe in. That's the America I love.

I saw the young man over there with eggs Benedict, with hollandaise sauce. And I was going to suggest to you that you serve your eggs with hollandaise sauce in hubcaps. Because there's no plates like chrome for the hollandaise.

The strength and power and goodness of America has always been based on the strength and power and goodness of our communities, our families, our faiths. That is the bedrock of what makes America, America. In our best days, we can feel the vibrancy of America's communities, large and small.

I've seen a lot of government try to solve problems, and it didn't work. And my view is that the right course for America is to have someone who understands how the economy works who will passionately get America back on track.

The answer for healthcare is market incentives, not healthcare by a Godzilla-sized government bureaucracy.

I wish President Obama had succeeded because I want America to succeed.

I respect the right of Israel to defend itself, and - and we stand with - with Israel. We're a - a nation - two nations that come together in - in peace and that want to see Iran being dissuaded from its nuclear folly.

I think an amnesty program... which is what the president (George W. Bush) has proposed... those are reasonable proposals.

Conservatives believe in providing Constitutional rights to our citizens, not to enemy combatants like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

I'm a family guy. Most important thing in my life by far is my relationship with my wife and my sons, daughters-in-law, and 18 grandchildren. And for me, this is all about them.

I spent my whole life in the private sector, 25 years in the private sector. I understand that when government takes more money out of the hands of people, it makes it more difficult for them to buy things. If they can't buy things, the economy doesn't grow. If the economy doesn't grow, we don't put Americans to work.

The right way to deal with healthcare reform is not to have a one-size-fits-all plan that's imposed on all the states, but recognizing the differences between different states' populations, states should be able to craft their own plans to get all their citizens insured, and to make sure that preexisting conditions are covered.

The invisible hand of the market always moves faster and better than the heavy hand of government.

I happen to believe that if we want to replace a lifetime politician like Barack Obama, who had no experience leading anything... We've got to nominate a leader if we're going to replace someone who is not a leader.

President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet. My promise... is to help you and your family.

There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it.

I served as a missionary for my church. I served as a pastor in my congregation for about 10 years. I’ve sat across the table from people who were - were out of work and worked with them to try and find new work or to help them through tough times.

America has not dictated to other nations. We have freed other nations from dictators.

Free enterprise has done more to lift people out of poverty, to help build a strong middle class, to help educate our kids, and to make our lives better than all the programs of government combined.

I disagree with the Supreme Court's decision and I agree with the dissent. What the court did not do on its last day in session, I will do on my first day if elected president of the United States, and that is I will act to repeal ObamaCare.

I was a severely conservative Republican governor.

It is time to acknowledge the extraordinary sacrifice of all of our veterans. While many Massachusetts soldiers served our nation in a period technically dubbed 'peacetime,' they restored American pride in the wake of Vietnam and helped bring a successful end to the Cold War. The service of these men and women was not without cost. There are countless stories of soldiers who served with great distinction only to be denied veteran status after returning home. Every man and woman who volunteered to serve this country should be treated with the same degree of respect, gratitude and dignity.

Well you'd see a very dramatic change in the perspective of small businesses, entrepreneurs, middle-size businesses, and perhaps even some large multinationals. They'd say, you know what, America looks like a good place to invest again, a good place to take risk, a good place to hire again.

It kills me not to be there, not to be in the White House doing what needs to be done.

The teachers unions are the clearest example of a group that has lost its way. Whenever anyone dares to offer a new idea, the unions protest the loudest. Their attitude was memorably expressed by a longtime president of the American Federation of Teachers: He said, quote, 'When school children start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of children.'

I was too important to go to Vietnam.

When you raise taxes on small business, from 35% to 40%, you will kill jobs.

Our party [Republicans] has been focused on big business too long. I came through small business. I understand how hard it is to start a small business. That's why everything I'll do is designed to help small businesses grow and add jobs. I want to keep their taxes down on small business. I want regulators to see their job as encouraging small enterprise, not crushing it.

The promise of America has always been that if you worked hard, had the right values, took some risks, that there was an opportunity to build a better life for your family and for your next generation.

Donald Trump creates scapegoats in Muslims and Mexican immigrants. He calls for the use of torture. He calls for killing the innocent children and family members of terrorists. He cheers assaults on protesters. He applauds the prospect of twisting the Constitution to limit First Amendment freedom of the press. This is the very brand of anger that has led other nations into the abyss.

America cannot continue to lead the family of nations around the world if we suffer the collapse of the family here at home.

Conservatism has had from its inception vigorously positive, intellectually rigorous agenda and thinking. That agenda should have in my three pillars: strengthen the economy, strengthen our security, and strengthen our families.

I actually like jokes as well as things that are sort of fun.

Our plans protect freedom and opportunity, and our blueprint is the Constitution of the United States.

It's not worth moving heaven and earth, spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person.

I'm outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi. It's disgraceful that the Obama Administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.

We have to understand that America can't just surrender and lose jobs year in and year out. We have to say to our friend in China, look, you guys are playing aggressively. We understand it. But this can't keep on going. You can't keep on holding down the value of your currency, stealing our intellectual property, counterfeiting our products, selling them around the world, even to the United States.

China has to understand America wants to trade with them. We want a world that's stable. We like free enterprise, but you got to play by the rules.

I see an America where poverty is defeated by opportunity, not enabled by a government check.

That the policies - from energy to labor policies, trade policies, government policies relating to debt and deficits are all aligning in such a way that America, far from being one of the places people are running from, is a place people are going to come to and add jobs.

President Obama attacks success and therefore under President Obama we have less success and I will change that.

But I am pro-life and will intend, if I’m president of the United States, to encourage pro-life policies. [...] And I hope to appoint justices to the Supreme Court that will follow the law and the constitution. And it would be my preference that they reverse Roe v. Wade and therefore they return to the people and their elected representatives the decisions with regards to this important issue.

What we have, what we wish we had - ambitions fulfilled, ambitions disappointed, investments won, investments lost, elections won, elections lost - these things may occupy our attention, but they do not define us.

The greatest threat that the world faces, the greatest national security threat is a nuclear Iran.

Live for a purpose greater than yourself.

I have never once regretted missing a business opportunity so that I could be with my children and grandchildren.

I'm not running, I'm not planning on running, and I've got nothing new on that story.

When the world needs someone to do the really big stuff, you need an American.

Mom and Dad were married 64 years. And if you wondered what their secret was, you could have asked the local florist - because every day Dad gave Mom a rose, which he put on her bedside table. That's how she found out what happened on the day my father died - she went looking for him because that morning, there was no rose.

I understand how difficult it can be for an African-American in today’s society. In fact, I can relate to black people very well indeed. My ancestors once owned slaves, and it is in my lineage to work closely with the black community. However, just because they were freed over a century ago doesn’t mean they can now be freeloaders. They need to be told to work hard, and the incentives just aren’t there for them anymore. When I’m president I plan to work closely with the black community to bring a sense of pride and work ethic back into view for them.

It's time for the party of big ideas, not the party of Big Brother!

Education is the investment our generation makes in the future.

America can compete with anyone in the world as long as the playing field is level. China's been cheating over the years. One by holding down the value of their currency. Number two, by stealing our intellectual property; our designs, our patents, our technology. We will have to have people play on a fair basis.

Opportunity expands when there is excellence and choice in education, when taxes are lowered, when every citizen has affordable, portable health insurance and when constitutional freedoms are preserved.

We still believe in the America that is a land of opportunity and a beacon of freedom. We believe in the America that challenges each of us to be better and bigger than ourselves.

You don't have to be larger than life to be a hero, just larger than yourself.

My passion probably flows from the fact that I believe in God, and I believe we’re all children of the same God. I believe we have a responsibility to care for one another.

Business and growing jobs is about taking risk, sometimes failing, sometimes succeeding, but always striving. It is about dreams. Usually, it doesn't work out exactly as you might have imagined. Steve Jobs was fired at Apple. He came back and changed the world.

For me, politics is not a career. For me, my career was being in business and starting a business and making it successful. My - my life's passion has been my family, my faith, and my country.

If I have a bad hair day, I just think, Well, it will be an OK hair day tomorrow. Just put your head down and go. Life is a bit like being on a roller coaster, which is, You get on and there's no stopping along the way. There are some days when you feel like this is pretty tough, and there are the days that are exhilarating, but you just keep on going.

And the American people are the greatest people in the world. What makes America the greatest nation in the world is the heart of the American people: hardworking, innovative, risk-taking, God- loving, family-oriented American people.

People who are government servants, public servants, should not be paid more than the taxpayers who are paying for it.

That said, your values will not always be the object of public admiration. In fact, the more you live by your beliefs, the more you will endure the censure of the world.

So, for instance, let me make this clear: You know I signed a statement. I will not raise taxes on anybody. I don't want to raise taxes on the American people.

I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs a repair, I'll fix it.

I wish President Obama had succeeded because I want America to succeed. But his promises gave way to disappointment and division. This isn't something we have to accept. Now is the moment when we can do something. With your help we will do something.

We're all a nation that believes we're children of the same god.

Right now we have an economy in trouble, and someone who spent their career in the economy is more suited to help fix the economy than someone who spent his life in politics and as a community organizer.

There is no day more joyful in my life than when I see all my family around me. That's the best it gets.

Obama says we need more firemen, more policemen, more teachers. Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did. It's time for us to cut back on government and help the American people.

I just think the American people had expected that the president of the United States would be able to describe what he's going to do in the next four years. But he can't. He can't even explain what he's done in the last four years.

I'll also make sure that America has trade relations with China that work for us. I've watched year in and year out as companies have shut down and people have lost their jobs because China has not played by the same rules, in part by holding down artificially the value of their currency. It holds down the prices of their goods. It means our goods aren't as competitive and we lose jobs. That's got to end.

I understand what it takes to - to make a bright and prosperous future for America again. I - I spent my life in the private sector, not in government. I’m a guy who wants to help, with the experience I have, the American people.