George McGovern quotes

George McGovern was an American historian and politician, recognized for his work on food policy and U.S. history. His scholarship and public service greatly influenced discussions on poverty and international hunger relief. He advocated for humanitarian causes throughout his career. Here are 72 of his quotes:

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.

George McGovern

When I was in the war, I was lucky that I was in a plane and never saw the carnage close-up.

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.

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.

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.

George McGovern

I think the Vietnamese are better off in Vietnam.

George McGovern

I opened the doors of the Democratic Party and 20 million people walked out. -ibid.

George McGovern

I am fed up with a system which busts the pot smoker and lets the big dope racketeer go free.

George McGovern

It is not patriotic to commit young Americans to war unless our national security clearly requires it.

George McGovern

I seek to call America home to those principles that gave us birth.

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.

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.

George McGovern

One of the sharp parallels is that neither Vietnam nor Iraq was the slightest threat to America's national security.

George McGovern

Empathy is born out of the old biblical injunction 'Love the neighbor as thyself.'

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.

George McGovern

Everyone is exposed to economic risks of some kind.

George McGovern

The longer the title, the less important the job.

George McGovern

You don't run for the presidency out of nostalgia.

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.

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.

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.

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.

George McGovern