Quotes by Mitch Daniels

The failure of national economic policy is costing us more than jobs; it has begun to weaken that uniquely American spirit of risk-taking, large ambition, and optimism about the future. We must rally them now to bold departures that rebuild our national morale as well as our material prosperity.

— Mitch Daniels

Hope

But if our nation goes over a financial Niagara, we won't have much strength and, eventually, we won't have peace. We are currently borrowing the entire defense budget from foreign investors. Within a few years, we will be spending more on interest payments than on national security. That is not, as our military friends say, a 'robust strategy.'

— Mitch Daniels

Courage

No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others.

— Mitch Daniels

Success

Our educational results lag behind other states, and other nations, but worse still, behind the potential of the kids and the devoted teachers in our classrooms.

— Mitch Daniels

Education

The public is increasingly disgusted with a steady diet of defamation, and prepared to reward those who refrain from it.

— Mitch Daniels

Wisdom

The true enemies of Social Security and Medicare are those who defend an imploding status quo.

— Mitch Daniels

Wisdom

Left to ourselves, we might pick the wrong health insurance, the wrong mortgage, the wrong school for our kids; why, unless they stop us, we might pick the wrong light bulb.

— Mitch Daniels

Wisdom

We Hoosiers hold to some quaint notions. Some might say we 'cling' to them, though not out of fear or ignorance. We believe in paying our bills. We have kept our state in the black throughout the recent unpleasantness, while cutting rather than raising taxes, by practicing an old tribal ritual - we spend less money than we take in.

— Mitch Daniels

Courage

And before our current legislature adjourns, we intend to become the first state of full and true choice by saying to every low and middle-income Hoosier family, if you think a non-government school is the right one for your child, you're as entitled to that option as any wealthy family; here's a voucher, go sign up.

— Mitch Daniels

Wisdom

If our nation goes over a financial Niagara, we won't have much strength and, eventually, we won't have peace. We are currently borrowing the entire defense budget from foreign investors. Within a few years, we will be spending more on interest payments than on national security. That is not, as our military friends say, a 'robust strategy.'

— Mitch Daniels

Courage

Every successful enterprise has a very clear strategic purpose.

— Mitch Daniels

Success

All great enterprises have a pearl of faith at their core, and this must be ours: that Americans are still a people born to liberty. That they retain the capacity for self-government. That, addressed as free-born, autonomous men and women of God-given dignity, they will rise yet again to drive back a mortal enemy.

— Mitch Daniels

Freedom

Every citizen who stops smoking, or loses a few pounds, or starts managing his chronic disease with real diligence, is caulking a crack for the benefit of us all.

— Mitch Daniels

Wisdom

Our morbidly obese federal government needs not just behavior modification but bariatric surgery.

— Mitch Daniels

Wisdom

Among the weeds choking out growth and good government are the hundreds of boards, commissions, and advisory committees that have sprouted over the years. They devour time, money, and energy far beyond any real contribution they make.

— Mitch Daniels

Wisdom

Our first thought is always for those on life's first rung, and how we might increase their chances of climbing.

— Mitch Daniels

Life

Our main task is not to see that people of great wealth add to it, but that those without much money have a greater chance to earn some.

— Mitch Daniels

Wisdom

We believe it wrong ever to take a dollar from a free citizen without a very necessary public purpose, because each such taking diminishes the freedom to spend that dollar as its owner would prefer.

— Mitch Daniels

Freedom

We believe that government works for the benefit of private life, and not the other way around.

— Mitch Daniels

Success

We do not accept that ours will ever be a nation of haves and have-nots. We must always be a nation of haves and soon-to-haves.

— Mitch Daniels

Wisdom

The mortal enemies of Social Security and Medicare are those who, in contempt of the plain arithmetic, continue to mislead Americans that we should change nothing.

— Mitch Daniels

Wisdom

Finally, treat domestic energy production as the economic necessity it is and the job creator it can be. Drill, and frack, and lease, and license, unleash in every way the jobs potential in the enormous energy resources we have been denying ourselves.

— Mitch Daniels

Wisdom

The president's grand experiment in trickle-down government has held back rather than sped economic recovery. He seems to sincerely believe we can build a middle class out of government jobs paid for with borrowed dollars.

— Mitch Daniels

Wisdom

We are taking challenges and turning them into opportunities by developing homegrown, local energy production to become independent from foreign sources.

— Mitch Daniels

Wisdom