57 Quotes & Sayings By Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter, a former president of the United States, is a distinguished humanitarian and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. His presidency was marked by human rights and the strengthening of democracy around the world. He was a staunch advocate for human rights and education, and he worked to bring attention to issues such as hunger and poverty. In his later years, he focused on humanitarian aid, as well as peacemaking Read more

In 1994, Jimmy Carter established the Carter Center, an organization that advances human rights and alleviates suffering worldwide. He has been awarded countless honors throughout his life, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Nobel Peace Prize.

We should live our lives as though Christ was coming...
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We should live our lives as though Christ was coming this afternoon. Jimmy Carter
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I have one life and one chance to make it count for something . I'm free to choose what that something is, and the something I've chosen is my faith. Now, my faith goes beyond theology and religion and requires considerable work and effort. My faith demands -- this is not optional -- 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. Jimmy Carter
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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. Jimmy Carter
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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. Jimmy Carter
War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter...
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War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other's children. Jimmy Carter
We cannot be both the world's leading champion of peace...
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We cannot be both the world's leading champion of peace and the world's leading supplier of the weapons of war. Jimmy Carter
Republicans are men of narrow vision, who are afraid of...
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Republicans are men of narrow vision, who are afraid of the future. Jimmy Carter
We cannot change the history of the past.
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We cannot change the history of the past. Jimmy Carter
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For the first time, we recognized a medium that takes our ordinary, everyday objects like bowls, baskets, and quilts and elevates them to art forms that rival painting and sculpture in their impact.( From the forward to "Crafts in America: Celebrating Two Centuries of Artists and Objects. Jimmy Carter
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Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries. Jimmy Carter
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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. The United States is squandering international prestige and goodwill and intensifying global anti- American terrorism by unofficially condoning or abetting the Israeli confiscation and colonization of Palestinian territories. Jimmy Carter
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I realize that violence is not more prevalent today than in previous periods of human history, but there is a difference. We have seen visionary standards adopted by the global community that espouse peace and human rights, and the globalization of information ensures that the violation of these principles of nonviolence by a powerful and admired democracy tends to resonate throughout the world community. We should have advanced much further in the realization of women's rights, given these international commitments to peace and the rule of law. Jimmy Carter
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This Voyager spacecraft was constructed by the United States of America. We are a community of 240 million human beings among the more than 4 billion who inhabit the planet Earth. We human beings are still divided into nation states, but these states are rapidly becoming a single global civilization. We cast this message into the cosmos. It is likely to survive a billion years into our future, when our civilization is profoundly altered and the surface of the Earth may be vastly changed. Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, some--perhaps many--may have inhabited planets and spacefaring civilizations. If one such civilization intercepts Voyager and can understand these recorded contents, here is our message: This is a present from a small distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts, and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours. We hope someday, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of galactic civilizations. This record represents our hope and our determination, and our good will in a vast and awesome universe. Jimmy Carter
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We cannot know the mystery of the future. Jimmy Carter
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We cannot ignore our gift of the future. Jimmy Carter
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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. Jimmy Carter
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Spirit is like the wind, in that we can't see it but can see its effects, which are profound. Jimmy Carter
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Ours was the first nation to be founded on the idea that all are created equal and all deserve equal treatment under the law. Despite our missteps and shortcomings, these ideals still inspire hope among the oppressed and give us pride in being Americans. Jimmy Carter
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Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself; and where they are, they should be changed. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against possession of marijuana in private for personal use.. Therefore, I support legislation amending Federal law to eliminate all Federal criminal penalties for the possession of up to one ounce [28g] of marijuana. Jimmy Carter
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It is interesting to note that an overwhelming majority of citizens in the world's three largest democracies have different religions: India (81 percent Hindu), the United States (76 percent Christian), and Indonesia (87 percent Muslim). Two of them have elected women as leaders of their government. Jimmy Carter
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Put on a sweater. Jimmy Carter
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This is a present from a small, distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours. Jimmy Carter
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When our mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters are considered both different and inferior in the eyes of the God we worship, this belief tends to permeate society and everyone suffers. Jimmy Carter
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I have looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times. God recognizes I will do this and forgives me. Jimmy Carter
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I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times. This is something God recognizes I will do - and I have done it - and God forgives me for it. Jimmy Carter
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God answers all our prayers. Sometimes the answer is yes. Sometimes the answer is no. Sometimes the answer is you've got to be kidding! Jimmy Carter
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I separated from the Southern Baptists when they adopted the discriminatory attitude towards women, because I believe what Paul taught in Galatians that there is no distinction in God's eyes between men and women, slaves and masters, Jews and non- Jews - everybody is created equally in the eyes of God. Jimmy Carter
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In religious and in secular affairs, the more fervent beliefs attract followers. If you are a moderate in any respect - if you're a moderate on abortion, if you're a moderate on gun control, or if you're a moderate in your religious faith - it doesn't evolve into a crusade where you're either right or wrong, good or bad, with us or against us. Jimmy Carter
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We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams. Jimmy Carter
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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. Jimmy Carter
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When I was in the White House, I was confronted with the challenge of the Cold War. Both the Soviet Union and I had 30, 000 nuclear weapons that could destroy the entire earth and I had to maintain the peace. Jimmy Carter
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It's not necessary to fear the prospect of failure but to be determined not to fail. Jimmy Carter
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I was totally dominated and revered my father. I admired everything he did. He was a great sports person. He loved me. I was his only boy at that time, before my brother Billy came along. Jimmy Carter
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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. Jimmy Carter
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In this outward and physical ceremony we attest once again to the inner and spiritual strength of our Nation. As my high school teacher, Miss Julia Coleman, used to say: 'We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.' Jimmy Carter
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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. Jimmy Carter
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A fundamentalist can't bring himself or herself to negotiate with people who disagree with them because the negotiating process itself is an indication of implied equality. Jimmy Carter
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I believe there is complete equality between men and women. And I believe those passages in the New Testament, not by Jesus, but by Paul, that say women should not adorn themselves, they should always wear hats or color their hair in church - things like that - I think they are signs of the times and should not apply to modern-day life. Jimmy Carter
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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. Jimmy Carter
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I've just finished my 20th book this past year and I'm working on my 21st book about the Middle East right now that I'll finish this year. And I get up early in the morning and when I get tired of the computer and tired of doing research, I walk 20 steps out to my woodshop and I either build furniture or paint paintings. I'm an artist too. Jimmy Carter
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I've looked on many women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times. God knows I will do this and forgives me. Jimmy Carter
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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. Jimmy Carter
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The Carter Center has the only existing international taskforce on disease eradication. Which means a total elimination of a disease on the face of the Earth. In the history of the world, there's only been one disease eradicated: smallpox. The second disease, I think, is gonna be guinea worm. Jimmy Carter
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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. Jimmy Carter
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The experience of democracy is like the experience of life itself-always changing, infinite in its variety, sometimes turbulent and all the more valuable for having been tested by adversity. Jimmy Carter
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If you fear making anyone mad, then you ultimately probe for the lowest common denominator of human achievement. Jimmy Carter
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Ever since Israel has been a nation the United States has provided the leadership. Every president down to the ages has done this in a fairly balanced way, including George Bush senior, Gerald Ford, and others including myself and Bill Clinton. Jimmy Carter
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Unfortunately, after Sept. 11, there was an outburst in America of intense suffering and patriotism, and the Bush administration was very shrewd and effective in painting anyone who disagreed with the policies as unpatriotic or even traitorous. Jimmy Carter
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I think there ought to be a strict separation or wall built between our religious faith and our practice of political authority in office. I don't think the President of the United States should extoll Christianity if he happens to be a Christian at the expense of Judaism, Islam or other faiths. Jimmy Carter
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Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. People have the right to expect that these wants will be provided for by this wisdom. Jimmy Carter
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It's very difficult for the American people to believe that our government, one of the richest on Earth, is also one of the stingiest on Earth. Jimmy Carter
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We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children. Jimmy Carter
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We reached a high point in my opinion with the passage of the civil rights legislation and Martin Luther King's success and the crusade of others. I think we kind of breathed a sigh of relief as if we had achieved the end of racial discrimination or white supremacy. Jimmy Carter
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I've used the prestige and influence of having been a president of the United States as effectively as possible. And secondly, I've still been able to carry out my commitments to peace and human rights and environmental quality and freedom and democracy and so forth. Jimmy Carter
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We can't equate democracy with Christianity because the largest democracy on earth is India, which is primarily Hindu. The third largest democracy is Indonesia, which is Islamic. Democracy and freedom are not dependent on Christian beliefs. Jimmy Carter
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I am confident that when the facts and policies have been examined, when the record of performances have been reviewed, Barack Obama and Joe Biden will once again be elected to lead our beloved country to a better future. Jimmy Carter