Quayle-isms

Back To Categories

It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities 
in our air and water that are doing it. 
	 -- Vice President Dan Quayle 

I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and 
democracy -- but that could change. 
  -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 5/22/89 (reported in Esquire, 8/92) 

The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history. I mean 
in this century's history. But we all lived in this century. I didn't 
live in this century. 
  -- Senator Dan Quayle, 9/15/88 
  (reported in Esquire, 8/92, The New Yorker, 10/10/88, p.102) 

This election is about who's going to be the next President of the 
United States! 
  -- Senator Dan Quayle, 9/2/88 (reported in Esquire, 8/92) 

One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, 
and that one word is `to be prepared'. 
  -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 12/6/89 (reported in Esquire, 8/92) 

If we do not succeed, then we run the risk of failure. 
  -- Vice President Dan Quayle, to the Phoenix Republican Forum, 3/23/90
  (reported in Esquire, 8/92) Also reported by Reuters, 5/2/90 

Let me just tell you how thrilling it really is, and how, what a 
challenge it is, because in 1988 the question is whether we're going 
forward to tomorrow or whether we're going to go past to the -- 
to the back! 
  -- Senator Dan Quayle, 8/17/88 (reported in Esquire, 8/92) 

What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being 
very wasteful. How true that is. 
  -- Vice President Dan Quayle winning friends while speaking to the 
  United Negro College Fund, 5/9/89 (reported in Esquire, 8/92) 

Take a breath, Al... Inhale. 
  -- Vice President Dan Quayle politely cutting off Senator Al Gore 
  during the VP Debate in Atlanta, 10/13/92. 

Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother 
and child. 
  -- Senator Dan Quayle, US News and World Report (10/10/88) 

Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is in 
the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that 
is right here. 
  -- Vice President Dan Quayle, Hawaii, 4/25/89 (reported in Esquire, 8/92) 

Welcome to President Bush, Mrs. Bush, and my fellow astronauts. 
  -- Vice President Dan Quayle addressing the 20th anniversary 
  celebration of the moon landing, 7/20/89 (reported in Esquire, 8/92) 

Mars is essentially in the same orbit... Mars is somewhat the same 
distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures 
where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that 
means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe. 
  -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 8/11/89 (reported in Esquire, 8/92) 

The loss of life will be irreplaceable. 
  -- Vice President Dan Quayle after the San Francisco earthquake, 
  10/19/89 (reported in Esquire, 8/92) 

Bobby Knight told me this: ``There is nothing that a good defense cannot 
beat a better offense.'' In other words a good offense wins. 
  -- Senator Dan Quayle, in a speech to the City Club of Chicago, 
  comparing the offensive capabilities of the Warsaw Pact with the 
  defensive system of NATO, 9/8/88 (reported in Esquire, 8/92) 

Back To Categories