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If a President of the United States ever lied to the American people, he should resign.
William J. Clinton
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Interpretation

What this quote means

A President must uphold honesty and integrity; failing to do so warrants their resignation.

This quote emphasizes the importance of honesty in leadership, particularly in the role of the President of the United States. It asserts that a leader's credibility is paramount, and if they betray the trust of the people through dishonesty, they lose the moral authority to lead and should step down to maintain the integrity of their office.

Themes

HonestyLeadershipIntegrityTrustResignation

In practice

Example use cases

During a discussion on the importance of integrity in politics.

More from William J. Clinton

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There is a huge body of business evidence now showing that energy savings give better service at lower cost with higher profit. We have to tear down barriers to successful markets and we have to create incentives to enter them.
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Demand that your government pays more attention. It's immoral that people in Africa die like flies of diseases that no one dies of in the United States. And the more disease there is, the more political unrest there will be, leading to more Darfurs, which the U.S. will have to pay to fix.
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I was not elected to produce a pile of vetoes.
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