With all the power that a president has, the most important thing to bear in mind is this: You must not give power to a man unless, above everything else, he has character. Character is the most important qualification the president of the United States can have.
Interpretation
Character is the essential quality for a leader, especially for a president.
This quote emphasizes that, despite the immense power held by a president, the most critical attribute required to wield that power responsibly is character. Nixon highlights the idea that a leader's integrity and moral compass are paramount, suggesting that power alone is insufficient without a foundation of strong ethical principles.
In practice
During a political rally, a speaker might use this quote to emphasize the importance of character in candidates.
The destiny of our land, the air we breathe, the water we drink is not in the mystical hands of an uncontrollable agent, it is in our hands. A future which brings the balancing of our resources-preserving quality with quantity - is a future limited only by the boundaries of our will to get the job done.
The recent upsurge of public concern over environmental questions reflects a belated recognition that man has been too cavalier in his relations with nature. Unless we arrest the depredations that have been inflicted so carelessly on our natural systems-which exist in an intricate set of balances-we face the prospect of ecological disaster.
The ability to be cool, confident, and decisive in crisis is not an inherited characteristic but is the direct result of how well the individual has prepared himself for the battle.
If you take no risks, you will suffer no defeats. But if you take no risks, you win no victories.
If the President does it, it can't be illegal.
We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another - until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.
I chose to present myself as one who comes from among the people, and I can be touched by their pain because I have my own.
You know, a football coach is nothing more than a teacher. You teach them the same subject, and you have a group of new guys every year.
What I've really learned over time is that optimism is a very, very important part of leadership.
The work of a team should always embrace a great player, but the great player must always work.
I consider not what Parmenio should receive, but what Alexander should give.
In the heart of every lawyer, worthy of the name, there burns a deep ambition so to bear himself that the profession may be stronger by reason of his passage through its ranks, and that he may leave the law itself a better instrument of human justice than he found it.
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