Dick Cheney Quotes & Sayings

Reagan proved deficits don't matter. — Dick Cheney

If you're going to go increase taxes on small businesses, you're going to slow down the extent to which we're able to reduce unemployment. So I think it's a serious mistake; the wrong time to raise taxes. — Dick Cheney

How could any responsible leader have ignored the Iraqi threat? If we had not acted, Saddam Hussein and his sons would still be in power. — Dick Cheney

The Columbia is lost, but the dreams that inspired its crew remain with us. — Dick Cheney

I think there's no question but what the tail end of the Bush administration, Bush-Cheney administration, that we took steps specifically geared to try and free up the financial sector. — Dick Cheney

The biggest threat we face is the possibility of terrorist groups like al Qaeda equipped with weapons of mass destruction, with nukes, bugs or gas. That was the threat after 9/11 and when we took down Saddam Hussein we eliminated Iraq as a potential source of that. — Dick Cheney

My own belief is that the way we grow the economy, create jobs, create wealth is in the private sector. The government doesn't do that. — Dick Cheney

You know, in this business, you don't have any control over what the press says and how they portray things. And that's their prerogative. But I think anybody who looks at it objectively has trouble making the case that somehow this is a bad economy. — Dick Cheney

I believe very deeply in the proposition that what we did in Iraq was the right thing to do. It was hard to do. It took a long time. There were significant costs involved. — Dick Cheney

As a former secretary of defense, I think Donald Rumsfeld is the best secretary of defense the United States has ever had. — Dick Cheney

I feel very strongly that the significance of 9/11 cannot be underestimated. It forces us to think in new ways about strategy, about national security, about how we structure our forces and about how we use U.S. military power. — Dick Cheney

I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. But I also believe that gay and lesbians and gay and lesbian couples, those who have been in long-term relationships, deserve to be treated respectfully, they deserve to have benefits. — Dick Cheney

I think the record speaks for itself. These are two individuals who have been for the war when the headlines were good and against it when their poll ratings were bad. — Dick Cheney

I think we need a very, very serious effort, primarily through tax policy to provide incentives and encouragement for people to save and invest and expand their businesses and to create more jobs. The kind of thing we did in the early Reagan years, 30 years ago. I think that's essential. — Dick Cheney

We were trying to get all of the planes down out of the sky. And we watched as the towers of the World Trade Center collapsed - something no one expected and anticipated. And you could sit there and see and be aware that thousands of people were at that moment being killed as a result of the terrorist attacks that struck the United States. — Dick Cheney

[In response to the question "Do you think that you underestimated the insurgency's strength?"] I think so. I guess if I look back on it now, I don't think anybody anticipated the level of violence that we've encountered. — Dick Cheney

I've worked for four presidents and watched two others up close, and I know that there's no such thing as a routine day in the Oval Office. — Dick Cheney

Whoever controls the flow of Persian Gulf oil has a stranglehold not only on our economy but also on the other countries of the world as well. — Dick Cheney

It's not just Bin Laden or just those that are involved in the counterterrorism effort. We've gotta cast the net broader than that. But I think it's a - very special tribute that we all owe to the bravery and courage of the men and women in the intelligence and military business who performed so well to finally get it done. — Dick Cheney

"Oil remains fundamentally a government business. While many regions of the world offer great oil opportunities, the Middle East with two-thirds of the world's oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies, even though companies are anxious for greater access there, progress continues to be slow." — Dick Cheney

You wake up every morning with a smile on your face because you've got a new day you never expected to have. And there's a sense of wonderment. Nothing short of magical. — Dick Cheney

In his years in Washington, Senator Kerry has been one vote of a hundred in the United States Senate - and fortunately on matters of national security he was very often in the minority. — Dick Cheney

My own personal view is that people ought to have the right to enter into any kind of relationship they want to enter into. With respect to how that's affected or regulated by the State, those are State decisions. Different States are likely to make different decisions based upon their own wishes and desire of the people of the State, and that's perfectly acceptable. — Dick Cheney

From our perspective, trying to deal with this continuing campaign of terror, if you will, the war on terror that we're engaged in, this is a continuing enterprise. The people that were involved in some of those activities before 9/11 are still out there. — Dick Cheney

I think President Obama is going to be a one-term president. — Dick Cheney

I am a deficit hawk. — Dick Cheney

That intelligence capability is enormously important to the United States, to our conduct of foreign policy, to defense matters, to economic matters. And I am a strong supporter of it. — Dick Cheney

I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency. — Dick Cheney

I've been extraordinarily fortunate that I've been able to go live a very active, stressful life. And I don't believe that my heart disease changed me for the worst. — Dick Cheney

That's the nature of the intelligence business. You have to work with what you can get your hands on, but it is.. and in fact it's more an art form than it is a science, and you have to continually work the problem, continually try.. — Dick Cheney

I'm often asked why I left politics and went to Halliburton and I explain that I reached the point where I was mean-spirited, short-tempered and intolerant of those who disagreed with me and they said 'Hell, you'd make a great CEO', so I went to Texas and joined the private sector. — Dick Cheney

I reached a point towards the end on the old heart where I had trouble getting out of a chair. All I wanted to do was get out of bed in the morning and walk to my office and sit back down in the chair. Now I throw 50 pound bags of horse feed in the back of my pickup truck and I don't even think about it. I'm back doing those things. — Dick Cheney

Well, we've got a major effort under way to try to educate everybody, to let them know we have a zero tolerance policy where sexual assault is involved. — Dick Cheney

I think the key that happened on 9/11 is we went from considering terrorist attacks as a law enforcement problem to considering terrorist attacks, especially on the scale we have on 9/11, as being an act of war. — Dick Cheney

I believe that we were not as effective in the second term dealing with this issue of nuclear none proliferation as we had been during the first term when we stripped Libya and Iraq and A.Q. Khan and their capacity to proliferate nuclear technology. — Dick Cheney

We urge all democratic nations and the United Nations to answer the Iraqi Governing Council's call for support for the people of Iraq in making the transition to democracy. — Dick Cheney

I mean, it's not just one day you get up, bang, and you got Osama bin Laden. It's the kind of thing where an awful lot of people over a long period of time - thousands have worked this case and these issues and followed on the leads and captured bad guys and interrogated them and so-forth. — Dick Cheney

I want to avoid personal attacks, ... I promise not to make fun of your singing. — Dick Cheney

No matter what kind of problem I've run into, there's always been a solution for it. Now, obviously, there will be a point where there aren't any more solutions, and I'll have used up my time. We all do. — Dick Cheney

I think you can not be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls. — Dick Cheney

It's clearly established in terms of training, provision of bomb-making experts, training of people with respect to chemical and biological warfare capabilities, that al-Qaeda sent personnel to Iraq for training and so forth. — Dick Cheney

I think that freedom means freedom for everyone. As many of you know, one of my daughters is gay, and it is something we have lived with for a long time in our family. I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish. Any kind of arrangement they wish. — Dick Cheney

When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry, — Dick Cheney

I don't think that [the war in Iraq] damaged our reputation around the world. — Dick Cheney

Obviously, it's a big problem how do we provide quality care to the maximum number of people. And it's not an easy problem to solve. — Dick Cheney

The greatest threat now is a 9/11 occurring with a group of terrorists armed not with airline tickets and box cutters, but with a nuclear weapon in the middle of one of our own cities ... there's a high probability of such an attempt. — Dick Cheney

One of the reasons the deficit got as big as it did, frankly, was because of the economic slowdown, the fall-off in deficits, the terrorist attacks. A significant chunk was taken out of the economy by what happened after the attacks of 9/11. — Dick Cheney

What we did in Iraq was exactly the right thing to do. If I had it to recommend all over again, I would recommend exactly the same course of action. — Dick Cheney

The good Lord didn't see fit to put oil and gas only where there are democratically elected regimes friendly to the United States. Occasionally we have to operate in places where, all considered, one would not normally choose to go. But we go where the business is. — Dick Cheney

I worship the ground Paul Ryan walks on. — Dick Cheney

I was in end stage heart failure, liver and kidneys shutting down, and on an emergency basis they went in and planted a pump in my chest. It was battery operated. That kept me alive for 20 months and that got me to the transplant. And I wake up every morning now with a smile on my face, thankful for the gift of another day I never expected to see. — Dick Cheney

We've never made the case, or argued the case, that somehow Osama Bin Laden was directly involved in 9/11. That evidence has never been forthcoming. — Dick Cheney

In Iraq, a ruthless dictator cultivated weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them. He gave support to terrorists, had an established relationship with al Qaeda, and his regime is no more. — Dick Cheney

Because if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again, that we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States, and that we'll fall back into the pre-9/11 mind set if you will, that in fact these terrorist attacks are just criminal acts, and that we're not really at war. I think that would be a terrible mistake for us. — Dick Cheney

Saddam Hussein had a lengthy history of reckless and sudden aggression. He cultivated ties to terror
hosting the Abu Nidal organization, supporting terrorists, and making payments to the families of suicide bombers. He also had an established relationship with Al Qaida
providing training to Al Qaida members in areas of poisons, gases and conventional bombs. He built, possessed, and used weapons of mass destruction. — Dick Cheney

Another argument holds that opposing Saddam Hussein would cause even greater troubles in that part of the world, and interfere with the larger war against terror. I believe the opposite is true. — Dick Cheney

President Bush gave me a tremendous opportunity to serve as the vice president. I enjoyed very much having the opportunity to be a part of his team. He told me at the outset, he wanted me to sign on to be a part of his team - and he was true to his word, kept it. He was tough. He was decisive. He was also a pretty good politician. — Dick Cheney

I learned early on that if you don't want your memos to get you in trouble someday, just don't write any. — Dick Cheney

Unfortunately, we don't have the option of marriage in our country. We could go to Britain or Spain or Argentina and do something symbolic, but that's not what I want. I want to have the rights of anybody else in my home country. I don't want to be a second-class citizen — Dick Cheney

The Iraqi forces are conducting the Mother of all Retreats. — Dick Cheney

There's every reason to believe there will be further attacks attempted against the United States. For us to spend so much time patting ourselves on the back because we got bin Laden that we miss the next attack would be a terrible tragedy. — Dick Cheney

In terms of asking questions, I plead guilty. I ask a hell of a lot of questions. That's my job. — Dick Cheney

I think Barack Obama is a one-term President. — Dick Cheney

Under our plan you can build wealth, even if you don't have a dollar to spare. — Dick Cheney

I - obviously, I'm not a big fan of President Obama. I think he's been one of our weakest presidents. I just fundamentally disagree with him philosophically. — Dick Cheney

The relevance for 9/11 is that what 9/11 marked was the beginning of a struggle in which the terrorists come at us and strike us here on our home territory. And it's a global operation. It doesn't know national boundaries or national borders. — Dick Cheney

I have not suggested there's a connection between Iraq and 9/11, but there's clearly an established Iraqi track record with terror. — Dick Cheney

The days of looking the other way while despotic regimes trample human rights, rob their nations' wealth, and then excuse their failings by feeding their people a steady diet of anti-Western hatred are over. — Dick Cheney

I think, in fact, the situation with respect to Al Qaida to say that, you know, that was a big attack we had on 9/11, but it's not likely again, I just think that's dead wrong. I think the biggest strategic threat the United States faces today is the possibility of another 9/11 with a nuclear weapon or a biological agent of some kind, and I think Al Qaida is out there even as we meet trying to figure out how to do that. — Dick Cheney

The United States needs to be not so much loved as it needs to be respected. Sometimes, that requires us to take actions that generate controversy. I'm not at all sure that that's what the Obama administration believes. — Dick Cheney

There comes a time when deceit and defiance must be seen for what they are. At that point, a gathering danger must be directly confronted. At that point, we must show that beyond our resolutions is actual resolve. — Dick Cheney

Let us rid ourselves of the fiction that low oil prices are somehow good for the United States. — Dick Cheney

We will, in fact, be greeted as liberators. — Dick Cheney

The issue is that [Saddam] has chemical weapons. — Dick Cheney

I think freedom means freedom for everybody, — Dick Cheney

I got sick, hospitalized, had no insurance. And the money I had saved for our honeymoon went to pay medical bills. So I had been in the position of not having insurance when I needed health care. — Dick Cheney

We need to have a pro-growth policy put in place that offers people hope and offers the opportunity for businesses to expand and for them to have confidence in what the world is going to look like for the next two or three or four years with respect to economic policy. — Dick Cheney

Principle is OK up to a certain point, but principle doesn't do any good if you lose. — Dick Cheney

You really do think about it institutionally; this is your job, and to some extent you benefit from having a job to do at a moment like this. You have things that you have to make happen. And you don't have time for the emotional reaction that might otherwise occur if somebody was just sitting there watching these events unfold and had no responsibilities. — Dick Cheney

The Senator from Massachusetts has given us ample grounds to doubt the judgment and the attitude he brings to bear on vital issues of national security. — Dick Cheney

You got to have people at the top who respond to and are selected by presidents. — Dick Cheney

We must be prepared to face our responsibilities and be willing to use force if necessary. — Dick Cheney

I do find that the mainstream media oftentimes is what I would consider off base or has a bias. — Dick Cheney

It will be necessary for us to be a nation of men, and not laws. — Dick Cheney

Senator Kerry says he sees two Americas. It makes the whole thing mutual - America sees two John Kerrys. — Dick Cheney

We're fighting a war on terror because the enemy attacked us first, and hit us hard ... Al Qaeda's leadership has said they have the right to kill four million Americans, ... For nearly six years now, the United States has been able to defeat their attempts to attack us here at home. Nobody can guarantee that we won't be hit again ... — Dick Cheney

If the Democratic policies had been pursued over the last two or three years ... we would not have had the kind of job growth we've had. — Dick Cheney

I'm more concerned with bad guys who got out and released than I am with a few that in fact were innocent. — Dick Cheney

I think it's fair to say you can't predict a straight line to victory. You know, there'll be good days and bad days along the way. — Dick Cheney

If we're successful in Iraq ... we will have struck a major blow right at the heart of the base, if you will, the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11. — Dick Cheney

I think we need to significantly reduce the regulatory burden on the private sector. The Obama administration is doing the opposite. They're loading on more and more regulation on the private respect to how the economy functions. — Dick Cheney

If we have reason to believe someone is preparing an attack against the U.S., has developed that capability, harbours those aspirations, then I think the U.S. is justified in dealing with that, if necessary, by military force. — Dick Cheney

It's awfully hard to convey a sense of credibility to allies when you [the Congress] voted for the war and then you declared: Wrong war, wrong place, wrong time. — Dick Cheney

[Saddam Hussein is aggressively seeking nuclear and biological weapons and ] the United States may well become the target. — Dick Cheney

We live in a free society, and freedom means freedom for everybody. We shouldn't be able to choose and say, 'You get to live free and you don't.' That means people should be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to enter into. Like Joe (Lieberman), I'm also wrestling with the extent to which there ought to be legal sanction of those relationships. I think we ought to do everything we can to tolerate and accommodate whatever kind of relationships people want to enter into. — Dick Cheney

As Vice President one of the things I spend time on is the continuity of government; that's the main reason I'm here is a back up for the President if anything happens to him. — Dick Cheney

When George Bush asked me to sign on, it obviously wasn't because he was worried about carrying Wyoming. We got 70 percent of the vote in Wyoming, although those three electoral votes turned out to be pretty important last time around. — Dick Cheney

I'm one of those people who believes that part of the greatness of the United States is our private sector. It's what we do as private citizens for ourselves and our companies. And our economy is essentially the wonder of the world because, in fact, it's produced so much for us over the years. That's not government that does that. — Dick Cheney

I support the President's plan to amend the Constitution, banning same-sex marriage. — Dick Cheney

I was convinced that eventually I would die of heart disease, that we'd run out of time and out of treatment, the technology wouldn't keep ahead of my disease. And now all of the sudden, when you get the new heart, your life opens up before you again. — Dick Cheney