In this post, we’ll explore Jimmy Carter quotes, the 39th President of the United States, known for his humanitarian efforts and dedication to peace and diplomacy.
Jimmy Carter was born in Plains, Georgia, where he grew up in a rural farming community. After graduating from the Naval Academy, he served in the Navy before returning to Georgia to manage his family’s peanut farm. His political journey began at the state level, eventually leading to his election as President in 1976.
During his presidency, Carter focused on energy policy, environmental conservation, and international diplomacy. After leaving office, he became a global advocate for human rights and public health through his work with The Carter Center.
Let’s read some of the best Jimmy Carter quotes on leadership, peace, humanity and more.
Inspirational Jimmy Carter Quotes
1. “Human identity is no longer defined by what one does but rather by what one owns.”
2. “We cannot change the history of the past.”
3. “Go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is.”
4. “It’s not necessary to fear the prospect of failure but to be determined not to fail.”
5. “We cannot know the mystery of the future.”
6. “We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.”
7. “When people are intimidated about having their own opinions, oppression is at hand.”
8. “I love you the goodest.”
9. “Testing oneself is best when done alone.”
10. “You can do what you have to do, and sometimes you can do it even better than you think you can.”
11. “Failure is a reality; we all fail at times, and it’s painful when we do. But it’s better to fail while striving for something wonderful, challenging, adventurous, and uncertain than to say, ” I don’t want to try because I may not succeed completely.”
12. “Too many of us now tend to worship self indulgence and consumption.”
Jimmy Carter Quotes on Life
1. “You only have to have two loves in your life: for God, and for the person in front of you at any particular time.”
2. “What are the things that you can’t see that are important? I would say justice, truth, humility, service, compassion, love. They’re the guiding lights of a life.”
3. “I’ve had a wonderful life, I’ve had thousands of friends, and I’ve had an exciting and adventurous and gratifying existence.”
4. “Earlier in my life I thought the things that mattered were the things that you could see, like your car, your house, your wealth, your property, your office. But as I’ve grown older I’ve become convinced that the things that matter most are the things that you can’t see — the love you share with others, your inner purpose, your comfort with who you are.”
5. “God is not my personal valet. God does not build a protective fence around my life, keep me from trouble, fulfill my personal desires, or guarantee my success. However, through prayer God offers me comfort, reassurance, satisfaction, courage, hope, and peace.”
6. “The awareness that health is dependent upon habits that we control makes us the first generation in history that to a large extent determines its own destiny.”
Jimmy Carter Quotes on Peace
1. “We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.”
2. “We cannot be both the world’s leading champion of peace and the world’s leading supplier of the weapons of war.”
3. “It seems somewhat illogical to say, “You have violated God’s commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill,’ so therefore I will kill you.”
4. “My constant prayer, my number one foreign goal, is to bring peace to Israel. And in the process to Israel’s neighbours.”
5. “I’ve used the prestige and influence of having been a president of the United States as effectively as possible. And secondly, I’ve still been able to carry out my commitments to peace and human rights and environmental quality and freedom and democracy and so forth.”
6. “Democrats are more inclined towards working families and those who are struggling for a better life.”
7. “Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries.”
Jimmy Carter Quotes on Faith
1. “You just have to have a simple faith.”
2. “I have one life and one chance to make it count for something. I’m free to choose that something. That something—the something that I’ve chosen—is my faith. ”
3. “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.”
4. “I found that I was absolutely and completely at ease with death. It didn’t really matter to me whether I died or lived. … I have since that time been absolutely confident that my Christian faith includes complete confidence in life after death.”
5. “We should live our lives as though Christ were coming this afternoon.”
6. “God always answers prayers. Sometimes it’s “yes.” Sometimes the answer is “no.” Sometimes it’s “you gotta be kidding.”
Jimmy Carter Quotes on Leadership
1. “Aggression unopposed becomes a contagious disease.”
2. “Ever since Israel has been a nation the United States has provided the leadership.
3. “I’ll never tell a lie. I’ll never make a misleading statement. I’ll never betray the confidence that any of you had in me. And I’ll never avoid a controversial issue.
4. “Unless both sides win, no agreement can be permanent.”
5. “There should be an honest attempt at the reconciliation of differences before resorting to combat.”
6. “If you fear making anyone mad, then you ultimately probe for the lowest common denominator of human achievement.”
7. “To deal with individual human needs at the everyday level can be noble sometimes.”
8. “War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. ”
Jimmy Carter Quotes on Education
1. “We cannot ignore the fact that the most important resource in our nation is our children and their education.”
2. “Education is a human right. It is the foundation for a better future, and we must ensure it is accessible to everyone, regardless of their background.”
3. “We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles. One of those principles is the right to quality education for all.”
4. “No poor, rural, weak, or black person should ever again have to bear the additional burden of being deprived of the opportunity for an education, a job, or simple justice.”
5. “I believe that every child has the right to a good education that enables them to reach their full potential.”
6. “I’m not in favor of mandatory prayer in school or of using public funds to finance religious education.”
Jimmy Carter Quotes on Human Rights
1. “America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense human rights invented America.”
2. “Human rights is the soul of our foreign policy, because human rights is the very soul of our sense of nationhood.”
3. “For this generation, ours, life is nuclear survival, liberty is human rights, the pursuit of happiness is a planet whose resources are devoted to the physical and spiritual nourishment of its inhabitants.”
4. “At the Carter Center we work with victims of oppression, and we give support to human rights heroes.”
5. “When you single out any particular group of people for secondary citizenship status, that’s a violation of basic human rights.”
6. “Because we are free we can never be indifferent to the fate of freedom elsewhere. Our moral sense dictates a clear-cut preference for these societies which share with us an abiding respect for individual human rights. We do not seek to intimidate, but it is clear that a world which others can dominate with impunity would be inhospitable to decency and a threat to the well-being of all people.”
7. “I’d like to be remembered as a champion of peace and human rights. Those are the two things I’ve found as a kind of guide for my life. ”
8. “The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices.”
9. “In order for us human beings to commit ourselves personally to the inhumanity of war, we find it necessary first to dehumanize our opponents, which is in itself a violation of the beliefs of all religions. Once we characterize our adversaries as beyond the scope of God’s mercy and grace, their lives lose all value.”
Jimmy Carter Quotes on Women & Gay Rights
1. “I believe there is complete equality between men and women. ”
2. “I’ve looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times. God knows I will do this and forgives me.”
3. “Jesus never said a word about homosexuality. In all of his teachings about multiple things – he never said that gay people should be condemned. I personally think it is very fine for gay people to be married in civil ceremonies.”
4. “When our mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters are considered both different and inferior in the eyes of the God we worship, this belief tends to permeate society and everyone suffers.”
5. “We must make it clear that a platform of ‘I hate gay men and women’ is not a way to become president of the United States.”
6. “My decision to register women confirms what is already obvious throughout our society-that women are now providing all types of skills in every profession. The military should be no exception.”
7. “I personally have always been in favor of people who are gay being permitted to marry legally – and I still feel that way.”
Jimmy Carter Quotes on Voting
1. “Voting is the most powerful tool of nonviolence we have. It is the expression of a citizen’s voice, and it must be protected.”
2. “The measure of a democracy is its respect for the rule of law and the rights of its people, especially the right to vote.”
3. “A strong democracy depends on ensuring that every eligible voter has the opportunity to cast their ballot without interference or intimidation.”
4. “Elections are not just about who gets the most votes; they are about the integrity of the process and the confidence of the people in their democracy.”
5. “Without free and fair elections, democracy is hollow, and the people’s voice is silenced.”
Jimmy Carter Quotes on Democracy
1. “Democracy and freedom are not dependent on Christian beliefs.”
2. “The best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of emulation.”
3. “It is time for the people to run the government, not the other way around.”
4. “We’ve become, now, an oligarchy instead of a democracy. I think that’s been the worst damage to the basic moral and ethical standards to the American political system that I’ve ever seen in my life.”
5. “The experience of democracy is like the experience of life itself-always changing, infinite in its variety, sometimes turbulent and all the more valuable for having been tested by adversity.”
6. “I realize that violence is not more prevalent today than in previous periods of human history, but there is a difference. We have seen visionary standards adopted by the global community that espouse peace and human rights, and the globalization of information ensures that the violation of these principles of nonviolence by a powerful and admired democracy tends to resonate throughout the world community. We should have advanced much further in the realization of women’s rights, given these international commitments to peace and the rule of law.”
Jimmy Carter Quotes on Service
1. “You can’t divorce religious belief and public service. I’ve never detected any conflict between God’s will and my political duty. If you violate one, you violate the other.”
2. “There’s no doubt that usually a president’s public image is enhanced by going to war. That never did appeal to me.”
3. “Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. People have the right to expect that these wants will be provided for by this wisdom.”
4. “I remember the last three days that I was president, I never went to bed at all. I never went to bed until we had negotiated the final release of the hostages.”
5. “I wish I had known when I was in the White House what I know now about the Third World.”
6. “I could have been re-elected if I had taken military action against Iran. It would have shown that I was strong and resolute and manly. … I could have wiped Iran off the map with the weapons that we had. But in the process a lot of innocent people would have been killed, probably including the hostages. And so I stood up against all that advice, and then eventually all my prayers were answered and all the hostages came home safe and free.” ”
Jimmy Carter Quotes on America
1. “I think all Americans believe in human rights. And health is an often overlooked aspect of basic human rights.”
2. “Our American values are not luxuries but necessities — not the salt in our bread but the bread itself. Our common vision of a free and just society is our greatest source of cohesion at home and strength abroad — greater even than the bounty of our material blessings.”
3. “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. It is a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity.”
4. “It’s very difficult for the American people to believe that our government, one of the richest on Earth, is also one of the stingiest on Earth.”
5. “We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.”
6. “I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over.”
These Jimmy Carter quotes reflect his humility, dedication to service, and commitment to addressing global challenges such as poverty, disease, and conflict resolution.
Which of these Jimmy Carter quotes left an impact on you?
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