Ben Carson Quotes & Sayings

The government is supposed to conform to our will. By taking the most important thing you have, your health and your health care, and turning that over to the government, you fundamentally shift the power, a huge chunk of it, from the people to the government. This is not the direction that we want the government to go in this nation. — Ben Carson

In an ideal world, both parties would desire to uphold the Constitution, — Ben Carson

It is unlikely that it was the intention of the founders to give any public official the ability to thwart the will of the people. Although they may have been concerned about mob rule and wanted a judicial system that would prevent that, they also recognized that in many other countries it was assumed that the ruling class always knew better than the people, and they wanted no part of such a system. — Ben Carson

I'm not a politician. I don't want to be a politician, because politicians do what is politically expedient. I want to do what's right. — Ben Carson

Compromise is most likely when both parties respect each other no matter how much they disagree. In stressful situations where you need a consensus, respect sometimes means saying nothing and refraining from name-calling even when irritated. — Ben Carson

In general I was a good kid. It usually took a lot to make me mad. But once I reached the boiling point, I lost all rational control. Totally without thinking, when my anger was aroused, I grabbed the nearest brick, rock, or stick to bash someone. It was as if I had no conscious will in the matter. — Ben Carson

Over the years my mother's steadfast faith in God has inspired me, particularly when I had to perform extremely difficult surgical procedures or when I found myself faced with my own medical scare. — Ben Carson

When the vision of the U.S. government included guarding the rights of people but staying out of their way, America was an economic engine more powerful than anything the world had ever witnessed. — Ben Carson

You have the ability to choose which way you want to go. You have to believe great things are going to happen in your life. Do everything you can - prepare, pray and achieve - to make it happen. — Ben Carson

Successful people don't have fewer problems. They have determined that nothing will stop them from going forward. — Ben Carson

go on hating myself forever for all the terrible things I'd done. I sank down on the toilet, sharp mental pictures of other temper fits filling my mind. I saw my anger, clenched my fists against my rage. I wouldn't be any good for anything if I couldn't change. My poor mother, I thought. She believes in me. Not even she knows how bad I am. Misery engulfed me in darkness. "If you don't do this for me, God, I've got no place else to go." At one point I'd slipped out of the bathroom long enough to grab a Bible. Now I opened it and began — Ben Carson

We need to understand that we are not each others' enemies in this country. And it is only the political class that derives its power by creating friction. It is only the media that derives its importance by creating friction ... that uses every little thing to create this chasm between people. This is not who we are. — Ben Carson

First, we cannot overload the human brain. This divinely created brain has fourteen billion cells. If used to the maximum, this human computer inside our heads could contain all the knowledge of humanity from the beginning of the world to the present and still have room left over. Second, not only can we not overload our brain - we also know that our brain retains everything. I often use saying that "The brain acquires everything that we encounter." The difficulty does not come with the input of information, but getting it out. Sometimes we "file" information randomly of little importance, and it confuses us. — Ben Carson

We get out of life what we put into it. The way we treat others is the way we ourselves get treated. — Ben Carson

This is a country for, of, and by the people not for, of, and by the government. If we turn it over to them we cannot complain about what they're doing because this is a natural course of men and we have to hold their feet to the fire. — Ben Carson

If we can take young people who excel at the highest levels, put them on the same kind of pedestal as the all-state basketball player and the all-state football player, and begin to get the same kind of recognition, it will have a profound effect, and we are finding that it does. — Ben Carson

You know, I'm a physician. I like to diagnose things. And, you know, I've diagnosed some pretty, pretty significant issues that I think a lot of people resonate with. — Ben Carson

When someone is being particularly mean and nasty, I simply think to myself, he or she used to be a cute little baby, I wonder what happened? — Ben Carson

If we develop in-depth knowledge it will enable us to give our best to others and help to make a better world. — Ben Carson

An important verity about knowledge is that the brain works most effectively with consciously retained information. We more easily remember what we want to recall later. When we feed our fourteen billion brain cells with information that will enrich us and help others, we are really learning to Think Big. — Ben Carson

Class warfare is an artificial division created for political advantage, and it should be rejected outright — Ben Carson

When I look at the human brain I'm still in awe of it. — Ben Carson

Through education, I was completely changed to become a productive citizen of the world. And what is true in the life of one is true in the life of whole communities and entire nations: education has the power to transform. — Ben Carson

Try to inspire them to consider the power and implications of such potential. I tell them that no computer network on earth can come close to the capacity of the average human brain. This resource that each one of us has is a tremendous gift from God - the most complex organ system in the entire universe. — Ben Carson

Marriage is a very sacred institution and should not be degraded by allowing every other type of relationship to be made equivalent to it. — Ben Carson

God cares about every area of our lives, and God wants us to ask for help. — Ben Carson

The human brain has billions of neurons and hundreds of billions of interconnections. It can process more than two million bits of information per second and can remember everything you have ever seen or heard. — Ben Carson

Our - our friends can't trust us anymore. You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won't even give them offensive weapons. — Ben Carson

One way to develop courage is to consider what will happen if we fail to act. — Ben Carson

Then, as they began to decline, they all experienced some peculiar similarities: an inordinate emphasis on sports and entertainment, a fixation with lifestyles of the rich and famous, political corruption, and the loss of a moral compass. — Ben Carson

We live in a country that used to have a can-do attitude, and now we have a 'what-can-you-do-for-me?' attitude, and what I try to do is find ways that we can develop common ground. — Ben Carson

I detest politics, to be honest with you. It's a cesspool. And I don't think I would fare well in that cesspool because I don't believe in political correctness and I certainly don't believe in dishonesty. — Ben Carson

I hope we can continue to find ways to encourage integrity in all aspects of government operations — Ben Carson

The only reason I can imagine that it would be a good idea for government to foster dependency in large groups of citizens is to cultivate a dependable voting bloc that will guarantee continued power as long as the entitlements are provided. The problem of course is that such a government will eventually "run out of other people's money," as Margaret Thatcher once famously said. — Ben Carson

When politicians prioritize local rule instead of trying to force the whole country to agree with them, I think the pursuit of happiness will be within the reach of a far greater portion of our populace. — Ben Carson

Those of us who believe in God and derive our sense of right and wrong and ethics from God's Word really have no difficulty whatsoever defining where our ethics come from. People who believe in survival of the fittest might have more difficulty deriving where their ethics come from. A lot of evolutionists are very ethical people. — Ben Carson

Then let's use this incredible tool God has given us to assess the risks that we face every day. We have the means to analyze risks and decide which are worth taking and which should be avoided. Do you have a brain? Then use it. That's the secret. That's my simple but powerful prescription for life, love, and success in a dangerous world. — Ben Carson

Disagreement is part of being a person who has choices. One of those choices is to respect others and engage in intelligent conversation about differences of opinion without becoming enemies, eventually allowing us to move forward to compromise. — Ben Carson

We're not planning for the future. If we continue to spend ourselves into oblivion, we are going to destroy this nation. — Ben Carson

We have much more in common with other people than we have apart. — Ben Carson

We are more than just flesh and bones. There's a certain spiritual nature and something of the mind that we can't measure. We can't find it. With all our sophisticated equipment, we cannot monitor or define it, and yet it's there. — Ben Carson

go to schools with no — Ben Carson

If you want to be relevant only in your household, then you only need to know the things that are important in your house, and if you want to be relevant in your neighborhood, you need to know what's important in your neighborhood. The same thing applies to your city, state, and country. And if you want to be relevant to the entire world, program that computer known as your brain with all kinds of information from everywhere in order to prepare yourself. — Ben Carson

Tell the truth. If you tell the truth all the time you don't have to worry three months down the line about what you said three months earlier. Truth is always the truth. You won't have to complicate your life by trying to cover up. — Ben Carson

To do only if you don't have a good argument. This is also a good way to keep people at one another's throats constantly so they can't form a united front and deal logically with the many real issues facing the nation. Individually, Americans need to choose to be the bigger person, overlook offense, and be willing to have candid discussions about volatile issues. There have been many stories recently about the bullying epidemic that seems to be occurring in our public school system. We should not be terribly surprised by this because children emulate what they see adults doing. One does not have to look at television for very long or listen to the radio for an extended period before one sees supposedly — Ben Carson

What I agree with is that we need a significantly changed taxation system. And the one that I've advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy. And he said, you know, if you give me a tithe, it doesn't matter how much you make. — Ben Carson

Sure. I know I hated it when a resident disregarded a — Ben Carson

Reading activates and exercises the mind.
Reading forces the mind to discriminate. From the beginning, readers have to recognize letters printed on the page, make them into words, the words into sentences, and the sentences into concepts.
Reading pushes us to use our imagination and makes us more creatively inclined. — Ben Carson

When a government turns from following the will of its people to willing its people to follow - acting according to its own prerogatives - it ceases to be a representative government and instead has transformed into something else. One — Ben Carson

I serve God, and my purpose is to please Him, and if God be for you, who can be against you? — Ben Carson

What do lawyers learn in law school? They learn to win ... What we've got to start thinking about is how do we solve problems. — Ben Carson

Do your best and let God do the rest. — Ben Carson

I can tolerate amazing amounts of stress and ridicule. By God's grace, it still doesn't require any effort to shake off unpleasant, irritating things. God has helped me to conquer my terrible temper, once and forever. During those hours in the bathroom I also came to realize that if people could make me angry they could control me. Why should I give someone else such power over my life? Over the years I've chuckled at people who deliberately did things they thought would make me angry. I'm no better than anyone else, but I laugh inside at how foolish people can be, trying to make me angry. — Ben Carson

The best way to respond to distracting personal attacks is to practice bringing the conversation back to the issue at hand. Never fall into the trap of engaging in personal attacks while letting the topic of conversation slip into the background. Doing so allows your opponent to escape the need to explain her position. — Ben Carson

I think one of the keys to leadership is recognizing that everybody has gifts and talents. A good leader will learn how to harness those gifts toward the same goal. — Ben Carson

The Roman Empire was very, very much like us. They lost their moral core, their sense of values in terms of who they were. And after all of those things converged together, they just went right down the tubes very quickly. — Ben Carson

There's no question that as science, knowledge and technology advance, that we will attempt to do more significant things. And there's no question that we will always have to temper those things with ethics. — Ben Carson

You're going to be much less likely to point the finger at somebody and create a huge brouhaha when it wasn't necessary if you had stopped and asked yourself, 'Could I have done things to prevent this situation?' — Ben Carson

I sank down on the toilet, sharp mental pictures of other temper fits filling my mind. I saw my anger, clenched my fists against my rage. I wouldn't be any good for anything if I couldn't change. My poor mother, I thought. She believes in me. Not even she knows how bad I am. Misery engulfed me in darkness. "If you don't do this for me, God, I've got no place else to go." At one point I'd slipped out of the bathroom long enough to grab a Bible. Now I opened it and — Ben Carson

I could easily have decided that life was cruel, that being black meant everything was stacked against me. — Ben Carson

Beware the abuse of Power. Both by those we disagree with, as well as those we may agree with — Ben Carson

I started reading about people of great accomplishment ... and it dawned on me suddenly that the person who has the most to do with what happens in your life is you. — Ben Carson

There have been many stories recently about the bullying epidemic that seems to be occurring in our public school system. We should not be terribly surprised by this because children emulate what they see adults doing. One does not have to look at television for very long or listen to the radio for an extended period before one sees supposedly rational and mature adults vehemently attacking one another, calling each other names and acting like third graders. — Ben Carson

Some historical revisionists have also attempted to diminish the role of God and religion in our nation's past. A careful examination of the records, however, makes it quite clear that religion was a very important factor in the development of our nation. In 1831 when Alexis de Tocqueville came to America to try to unravel the secrets to the success of a fledgling nation that was already competing with the powers of Europe on virtually every level, he discovered that we had a fantastic public educational system that rendered anyone who had finished the second grade completely literate. He was more astonished to discover that the Bible was an important tool used to teach moral principles in our public schools. No particular religious denomination was revered, but rather commonly accepted biblical truths became the backbone of our social structure. — Ben Carson

It's not what you do but that kind of job you do that makes the difference. — Ben Carson

We've reached a point where people are actually afraid to talk about what they want to say, because somebody might be offended. We've got to get over this sensitivity and it keeps people from saying what they really believe. — Ben Carson

I have this feeling that as time goes on, we're not getting any more civilized, and we should be. We're still running around like the days of Genghis Khan. There are so many important, better things to do and we need to encourage people to reach into the brighter side of humanity and not encourage people to continue to glorify the darker side. — Ben Carson

There are loyal hearts, there are spirits brave, There are souls that are pure and true; Then give the world the best you have, And the best will come back to you. Madeline Bridges — Ben Carson

This is what we're going to do. I asked God for wisdom, and this is the answer I got. — Ben Carson

unity is possible among the people of our nation with the right kind of leadership. But we the people must for ourselves determine that we will be indivisible regardless of the leadership, and we must exercise our ability to identify the divisive forces and vote them out of office. — Ben Carson

I am convinced that knowledge is power - to overcome the past, to change our own situations, to fight new obstacles, to make better decisions. — Ben Carson

You know, many people have said that I'm on the edge and I'm maverick for some of the big operations that I've done. I'm not at all. I pray; I ask God to give me wisdom, 'Should I do it?', guidance in terms of how to do it, who to consult with. All those kind of things are incredibly important. — Ben Carson

People spending more of their own money on routine health care would make the system more competitive and transparent and restore the confidence between the patients and the doctors without government rationing. — Ben Carson

I'm very hopeful that I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free, and we must fight for it every day. Every one of us must fight for it, because we're fighting for our children and the next generation. — Ben Carson

You can understand why I'm a believer. I have seen miracles. — Ben Carson

You need an incredible amount of self-confidence to go digging around in someone's brain. — Ben Carson

Here is the treasure chest of the world - the public library, or a bookstore. — Ben Carson

One dark night the skeletons that they had carefully hidden in an obscure closet appeared, grabbed them around the throat, and strangled them. — Ben Carson

To THINK BIG and to use our talents doesn't mean we won't have difficulties along the way. We will
we all do. If we choose to see the obstacles in our path as barriers, we stop trying. "We can't win," we moan. "They won't let us win. — Ben Carson

We all have choices in the way we react to the words we hear. Our lives and the lives of all those around us will be significantly improved if we choose to react positively rather than negatively. — Ben Carson

No one ever said, "This isn't the way normal people live." Again, I think it was the sense of family unity, strengthened by the Averys, that kept me from being too concerned about the quality of our life in Boston. — Ben Carson

Saul Alinsky advised his followers to level sharp attacks against their opponents with the goal of goading them into rash counterattacks that would then discredit them. To avoid falling into this trap, those of us who are interested in civil discussion should prepare ourselves to refrain from reacting in fear or anger to those who disagree with us or even attack us. — Ben Carson

What we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. I've talked to a lot of the generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out. — Ben Carson

of Jesus Christ and my relationship to Him and remember that the One who created the universe can do anything. I also have evidence - my own experience - that God can do anything, because He changed me. From age 14, I began to focus on the future. My mother's lessons - and those of several of my teachers - were at last paying off. — Ben Carson

There's absolutely no reason at all that physicians, scientists, shouldn't be involved in things that affect all of us. — Ben Carson

There is so much potential out there in young people and they aren't getting the right information or being encouraged in the right ways. This is our duty as a society. — Ben Carson

Here's the poem in part: If things go bad for you - And make you a bit ashamed, Often you will find out that You have yourself to blame ... Swiftly we ran to mischief And then the bad luck came. Why do we fault others? We have ourselves to blame ... Whatever happens to us, Here are the words we say, "Had it not been for so-and-so Things wouldn't have gone that way." And if you are short of friends, I'll tell you what to do - Make an examination, You'll find the fault's in you ... You're the captain of your ship, So agree with the same - If you travel downward, You have yourself to blame.* — Ben Carson

if you can read, honey, you can learn just about anything you want to know. The doors of the world are open to people who can read. And — Ben Carson

Education is a fundamental principle of what made America a success. We can't afford to throw any young people away. — Ben Carson

All citizens need to arm themselves with a basic knowledge of American history and stay abreast of current events, analyzing them with respect to history. Knowledge is power and at a time when the people are becoming increasingly impotent while the government grows larger and more powerful, it is vital that we arm ourselves with knowledge. — Ben Carson

We need to find ways to elevate the expectations, particularly of those individuals who may start off on a lower socioeconomic rung, who might be seen as disadvantaged. But, you know, the reason I say be seen as disadvantaged, it's because life is so short, and there's so much that can change. — Ben Carson

In any career, whether as a surgeon, a musician, or a secretary, one needs to have a confidence that says, I can do anything, and if I can't do it, I know how to get help. — Ben Carson

No knowledge is ever wasted. — Ben Carson

What we have to stop and think about is that we have weakened ourselves militarily to such an extent that it affects all of our military policies. — Ben Carson

Knowledge is the key that unlocks all the doors. You can be green-skinned with yellow polka dots and come from Mars, but if you have knowledge that people need instead of beating you, they'll beat a path to your door. — Ben Carson

If God thinks proportionality is fair who are we to say that it is unfair? — Ben Carson

What you're saying is that 'I, the superior elite, will take care of you.' Why? Because, you see, that superior, elite group needs to feel superior and elite. And they can't be superior and elite unless you have a whole lot of people down there groveling around. So you keep them down there by feeding them. — Ben Carson

Even if you're Bill Gates, you've got problems. I'm sure he would probably easily give a few billion dollars to get rid of all the problems that he has. — Ben Carson

Once I started believing I was smart, I really didn't care that much about what anybody else thought about me, and I became consumed with a desire to increase my learning far beyond that of my classmates. The more I read biographies about those who had made significant accomplishments in life, the more I wanted to emulate them. By the time I reached the seventh grade, I reveled in the fact that the same classmates who used to taunt me were now coming to me, asking how to solve problems or spell words. Once the joy of learning filled my heart, there was no stopping me. — Ben Carson

Quite frankly, having an uninformed populace works extremely well, particularly when you have a media that doesn't understand its responsibility and feels more like it's an arm of a political party. They can really take advantage of an uninformed populace. — Ben Carson