Extended excerpt [Presidential candidate nomination acceptance speech]:

“It is time for our government leaders to respect the law no less than the humblest citizen, so that we can end once and for all a double standard of justice. A simple and proper function of government is just to make it easy for us to do good and difficult for us to do wrong.” (p. 4 of Carter Library online document)

Source link: “Acceptance Speech” (15 July 1976) Jimmy Carter Presidential Library [.pdf file]: https://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/assets/documents/speeches/acceptance_speech.pdf

Misquote note: Some websites have misquoted Carter by replacing the articles ‘a’ and ‘that’ replacing ‘the’ and ‘who’ in the second sentences:

Carter’s original words: “It’s the weak nation, like the weak person, who must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity.”

Misquote: “It’s a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity.”

Extended excerpt [Speech to members of the New York Liberal Party]:

“We have suffered enough in this country because Presidents and their advisers have felt it necessary to prove their supposed ‘toughness’ by pursuing rash and ultimately tragic policies. It is time for our foreign policy to concern itself with real wisdom rather than imagined toughness.

A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others,” Carter said. “It is the weak nation, like the weak person, who must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity.” (p. 12, column 1)

Source link: “Carter Proposes Freeze on Building Atomic Weapons” (15 October 1976) online via The Los Angeles Times & Newspapers.com [subscription service]: https://www.newspapers.com/image/383416165/?terms=%22A%2Bstrong%2Bnation%2C%2Blike%2Ba%2Bstrong%2Bperson%22

Extended excerpt [Farewell address, before stepping down as President of the United States. Carter lost to Ronald Reagan in the 1980 U.S. presidential election.]:

“America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it is the other way round. Human rights invented America. Ours was the first nation in the history of the world to be founded explicitly on such an idea. Our social and political progress has been based on one fundamental principle – the value and importance of the individual. The fundamental force that unites us is not kinship or place of origin or religious preference. The love of liberty is a common blood that flows in our American veins.”

Source link [transcript – Accessed Oct. 2015]: “President Jimmy Carter’s Farewell Address” (14 Jan. 1981) The Jimmy Carter Library: https://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/assets/documents/speeches/farewell.phtml

Source link [video – Accessed Oct. 2015] “Excerpt from President Jimmy Carter’s Farewell Address to the Nation” (14 Jan. 1981) The Carter Center, via YouTube – quoted line can be heard at 1:17 minutes of 2:29 minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQXluxavMxY

Extended excerpt [Televised address]:

“Along with other countries, we will provide military equipment, food, and other assistance to help Pakistan defend its independence and its national security against the seriously increased threat it now faces from the north. The United States also stands ready to help other nations in the region in similar ways.

Neither our allies nor our potential adversaries should have the slightest doubt about our willingness, our determination, and our capacity to take the measures I have outlined tonight. I have consulted with leaders of the Congress, and I am confident they will support legislation that may be required to carry out these measures.

History teaches, perhaps, very few clear lessons. But surely one lesson learned by the world at great cost is that aggression, unopposed, becomes a contagious disease.”

Source link: “Address to the Nation on the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan” (4 Jan. 1980) The American Presidency Project: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=32911

Extended excerpt [Speech to Future Farmers of America convention attendees]:

“Even when you are successful partially – in cutting the unemployment rate 25 percent, adding 6 ½ million new jobs, increasing farm income 25 percent in the last year, trying to impose economic justice on our Nation – you still become identified with not necessarily the solution, but you’ve become identified with the remaining portion of the problem.

It’s always a mistake to try for universal approbation, universal approval, because if you fear making anyone mad, then you ultimately probe for the lowest common denominator of human achievement.” (p. 1996)

Source link: Speech in Public Papers of the President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, 1978, (9 November 1978) Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=i6IPy0Yi0ycC&pg=PA1996&lpg=PA1996&dq=If+you+fear+making+anyone+mad,+then+you+ultimately+probe+for+the+lowest+common+denominator+of+human+achievement

Extended excerpt [Televised speech]:

“As a people we know our past and we are proud of it. Our progress has been part of the living history of America, even the world. We always believed that we were part of a great movement of humanity itself called democracy, involved in the search for freedom, and that belief has always strengthened us in our purpose. But just as we are losing our confidence in the future, we are also beginning to close the door on our past.

“In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we’ve discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We’ve learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose.”

Source link: “President Carter’s “Crisis of Confidence” Speech” (15 July 1979) The Miller Center of Public Affairs: http://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/july-15-1979-crisis-confidence-speech

Extended excerpt [Interview remarks]:

“He takes his monthly mundane turn tending to the yard of his church or flies halfway around the world to seek a cease-fire in the Bosnian war for precisely the same reason. “I have on life and one chance to make it count for something,’ he explains, or tries to. “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 can, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.”

Source link: “The Peacemaker” (January 1995) Eugene Register-Guard; online via Newspapers.com [subscription service]: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19950129&id=PklWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MesDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4428,6866267&hl=en

Extended excerpt [Speech before U.S. Congress]:

“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. We can, and should, continue to discourage the use of marijuana, but this can be done without defining the smoker as a criminal.”

Source link: “Drug Abuse Message to Congress” (2 August 1977) American Presidency Project: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=7908

Extended excerpt [Presidential State of the Union address]:

“To establish those values, two centuries ago a bold generation of Americans risked their property, their position, and life itself. We are their heirs, and they are sending us a message across the centuries. The words they made so vivid are now growing faintly indistinct, because they are not heard often enough. They are words like “justice,” “equality,” “unity,” “truth,” “sacrifice,” “liberty,” “faith,” and “love.”

These words remind us that the duty of our generation of Americans is to renew our Nation’s faith—not focused just against foreign threats but against the threats of selfishness, cynicism, and apathy.”

Source link: “The State of the Union Address Delivered Before a Joint Session of the Congress” (23 Jan. 1979) The American Presidency Project: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=32657

Extended excerpt [Political party convention speech]:

“What a difference these few months of extremism have made. The United States has alienated its allies, dismayed its friends, and inadvertently gratified its enemies by proclaiming a confused and disturbing strategy of preemptive war. With our allies disunited, the world resenting us, and the Middle East ablaze, we need John Kerry to restore life to the global war against terrorism.”

Source link: “Former President Carter’s Remarks to the Democratic National Convention” (26 July 2004) The Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16368-2004Jul26.html

Extended excerpt [Speech to the Parliament of the World’s Religions]:

“The view that the Almighty considers women to be inferior to men is not restricted to one religion or tradition. Its influence does not stop at the walls of the church, mosque, synagogue, or temple. Women are prevented from playing a full and equal role in many faiths, creating an environment in which violations against women are justified.

The truth is that male religious leaders have had — and still have — an option to interpret holy teachings either to exalt or subjugate women. They have, for their own selfish ends, overwhelmingly chosen the latter.”

Source link: “Speech by Jimmy Carter to the Parliament of the World’s Religions” (3 Dec. 2009) The Carter Center: http://www.cartercenter.org/news/editorials_speeches/parliament-world-religions-120309.html

Extended excerpt [Presidential inaugural address]:

“Our Nation can be strong abroad only if it is strong at home. And we know that the best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of emulation.

To be true to ourselves, we must be true to others. We will not behave in foreign places so as to violate our rules and standards here at home, for we know that the trust which our Nation earns is essential to our strength.”

Source link: [transcript]: “Inaugural Address of President Jimmy Carter” (20 Jan. 1977) Jimmy Carter Presidential Library: https://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/assets/documents/speeches/inaugadd.phtml

Source link [video]: “President Jimmy Carter’s Inaugural Address” (20 Jan. 1977) Miller Center of Public Affairs, via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PBAL5LmnsU

Extended excerpt [Closing remarks, Nobel Lecture]:

“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. The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices. God gives us the capacity for choice. We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace. We can make these changes – and we must.”

Source link: “Jimmy Carter – Nobel Lecture” (10 December 2002) Nobel Media AB: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2002/carter-lecture.html

Extended excerpt [Presidential State of the Union address]:

“We cannot resort to simplistic or extreme solutions which substitute myths for common sense.

In our economy, it is a myth that we must choose endlessly between inflation and recession. Together, we build the foundation for a strong economy, with lower inflation, without contriving either a recession with its high unemployment or unworkable, mandatory government controls.

In our government, it is a myth that we must choose between compassion and competence. Together, we build the foundation for a government that works – and works for people.” (GPO, p. 104)

Source link: “The State of the Union” (23 Jan. 1929) Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=j_5-9zWaBI0C&pg=PA104&lpg=PA104&dq=We+cannot+resort+to+simplistic+or+extreme+solutions+which+substitute+myths 

Extended excerpt: [None. Full paragraph cited. From speech to Los Angeles County Bar Association]

“We have the heaviest concentration of lawyers on Earth – 1 of every 500 Americans; three times as many as are in England, four times as many as are in West Germany, twenty-one times as many as there are in Japan. We have more litigation, but I am not sure that we have more justice. No resources of talent and training in our own society, even including the medical care, is more wastefully or unfairly distributed than legal skills.

Ninety percent of our lawyers serve 10 percent of our people. We are over-lawyered and under-represented.”

Source link: “Los Angeles, California Remarks at the 100th Anniversary Luncheon of the Los Angeles County Bar Association” (4 May 1978) American Presidency Project: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=30750

Extended excerpt: [Final national address as President of the United States]

“We live in a time of transition, an uneasy era which is likely to endure for the rest of this century. It will be a period of tensions both within nations and between nations — of competition for scarce resources, of social political and economic stresses and strains. During the period we may be tempted to abandon some of the time-honored principles and commitments which have been proven during the difficult times of past generations.

We must never yield to this temptation. Our American values are not luxuries but necessities— not the salt in our bread but the bread itself.”

Source link [transcript]: “President Jimmy Carter’s Farewell Address” (14 Jan. 1981) The Jimmy Carter Library: https://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/assets/documents/speeches/farewell.phtml

Source link [video]: “Excerpt from President Jimmy Carter’s Farewell Address to the Nation” (14 Jan. 1981) The Carter Center, via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQXluxavMxY

Extended excerpt:

Source note: We could not locate an earlier print source of the quote. Although a number of newspapers also featured the quote following the release of “I’ll Never Lie to You” Jimmy Carter in His Own Words, it should be noted that the quote appears in Turner’s book without additional context.

Source: Library – “I’ll Never Lie to You” Jimmy Carter in His Own Words (1976) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0345257022

Misattribution note: Fugelsang’s quote has been misattributed online to American president & humanitarian Jimmy Carter. While Carter has expressed somewhat similar sentiments, we could not find any record of him making this statement.

Credit to: Our findings aligned with earlier work by researcher David Mikkelson, the founder of Snopes – a research-based and independent online resource when you want to fact-check urban legends, shared social media ‘facts,’ and other Internet missives. Mikkelson’s original post, “Poor Relations” (23 March 2015) can be viewed here: http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/carterpoor.asp

Extended excerpt: [Television show commentary]

“Congressman Stephen Fincher, a Republican from Tennessee, just took the Bible so far out of context he had to apply for a visa.
Fincher is a fierce opponent of food aid for poor Americans. You know, like Jesus. He recently fought to cut $4.1 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. If you only watch Fox, that means ‘food stamps.’ And thanks to the fine work of Fincher and his colleagues, 2 million working American families, children and seniors have already been cut off from food assistance.
So during a recent House agricultural committee debate, he decided to show how Christian it is to turn your back on unemployed suffering Americans by quoting one of the favorite Bible passages of revoltingly fake right-wing Christians — 2 Thessalonians 3:10 — “anyone unwilling to work should not eat.”
Fincher and the GOP …they cut services for the poor and taxes for the rich. And it’s a free country. They’re allowed. But if you don’t want your tax dollars to help the poor, then stop saying you want a country based on Christian values. Because you don’t. And that’s why representative Fincher is our ‘revoltingly fake Christian of the week’.”

Source link: Viewpoint (29 May 2013) Video & transcript online via Internet Archive (Note: transcript is not accurate on this link. Relevant 1:05-minute video segment can be viewed at the 5:59pm mark.): https://archive.org/details/CURRENT_20130530_000000_Viewpoint

Credit to: Researcher David Mikkelson, the founder of Snopes, a research-based and independent online resource when you want to fact-check urban legends, shared social media ‘facts,’ and other Internet missives. Mikkelson’s original post, “Poor Relations” (23 March 2015) can be viewed here: http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/carterpoor.asp