"I've got a reason for running. I talk about a larger goal, which is to call upon the best of America. It's part of the renewal. It's reform and renewal. Part of the renewal is a set of high standards and to remind people that the greatness of America really does depend on neighbors helping neighbors and children finding mentors. I worry. I'm very worried about, you know, the kid who just wonders whether America is meant for him. I really worry about that. And uh, so, I'm running for a reason. I'm answering this question here and the answer is, you cannot lead America to a positive tomorrow with revenge on one's mind. Revenge is so incredibly negative. And so to answer your question, I'm going to win because people sense my heart, know my sense of optimism and know where I want to lead the country. And I tease people by saying, 'A leader, you can't say, follow me the world is going to be worse.' I'm an optimistic person. I'm an inherently content person. I've got a great sense of where I want to lead and I'm comfortable with why I'm running. And, you know, the call on that speech was, beware. This is going to be a tough campaign." — Interview with the Washington Post, March 23, 2000

"I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family." — Greater Nashua, N.H., Chamber of Commerce, Jan. 27, 2000

"We ought to make the pie higher." — South Carolina Republican Debate, Feb. 15, 2000

"I understand small business growth. I was one." — New York Daily News, Feb. 19, 2000

"It is not Reaganesque to support a tax plan that is Clinton in nature." — Los Angeles, Feb. 23, 2000

"I don't have to accept their tenants. I was trying to convince those college students to accept my tenants. And I reject any labeling me because I happened to go to the university." — Today, Feb. 23, 2000

"The senator has got to understand if he's going to have he can't have it both ways. He can't take the high horse and then claim the low road." — To reporters in Florence, S.C., Feb. 17, 2000

"I don't want to win? If that were the case why the heck am I on the bus 16 hours a day, shaking thousands of hands, giving hundreds of speeches, getting pillared in the press and cartoons and still staying on message to win?" — Newsweek, Feb. 28, 2000

"I thought how proud I am to be standing up beside my dad. Never did it occur to me that he would become the gist for cartoonists." (sic). "If you're sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come and join this campaign." — Hilton Head, S.C., Feb. 16, 2000

"How do you know if you don't measure if you have a system that simply suckles kids through?" — Explaining the need for educational accountability in Beaufort, S.C., Feb. 16, 2000

"Gov. Bush will not stand for the subsidation of failure." (sic). "There needs to be debates, like we're going through. There needs to be town-hall meetings. There needs to be travel. This is a huge country." — Larry King Live, Dec. 16, 1999

"Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?" —Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000

"Then you wake up at the high school level and find out that the illiteracy level of our children are appalling."

—President George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004