During the processing of Bob Michel's papers, staff discovered several copies of a compilation of quotes from Mr. Michel, bound in a red cover. The quotations are arranged, as they are in the booklet, alphabetically by subject.

Budget
If you lose this moment, pick apart this agreement with a thousand points of spite, will we truly be able to govern? …. After years of passing out the goodies, we're in debt and we have to ante up."
Remarks made on House Floor, October 4, 1990

… this proposal will raise taxes, lose jobs, and slow the economy - what might be called a triple play of economic irresponsibility.
Remarks made of the House Floor, February 25, 1992

Campaigning
Now the lines are more clearly drawn and my good opponent and I find ourselves squared off against one another, not in personal animosity toward one another, but as advocates of our contrasting views and philosophy of our respective political parties.
Speech before the Junior League, Peoria, IL, October 9, 1956

Civility
… it has always puzzled me that in Washington we have no public vocabulary to describe civility, which I believe is among the highest public virtues … raising the level of your voice doesn't raise the level of discussion … listening with care is better than talking in sound bites and thinking in slogans … peaks of uncommon progress can be reached by paths of common courtesy.
Acceptance speech before the Bryce Harlow Award Dinner, September 26, 1991

Political debate in a democracy is often robust and harsh. It is no place for overly-sensitive souls. The clash of ideas can produce an unpleasant sound. And yet in a democracy there is a fundamental need for mutual respect. There is a need for a formal, public recognition of the ultimate dignity of those with whom we disagree - in a word, a need for civility … the public embodiment of the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." … The corrosive effects of the politics of anger is [sic] slowly destroying what I would call our civic environment…"
Commencement Address, MacMurray College, May 19, 1993

Conservatism
The thing that burns me more than anything are the people who set themselves up as valid (conservative) spokesmen who, frankly, couldn't get themselves elected dog catcher.
Roll Call, March 27, 1987

Constitution
It [the constitution] is a document so tough it has lasted through the political storms of two centuries - and so delicate that it can dissolve before our eyes if are careless of it.
Speech delivered to the American Bar Association, March 19, 1987

Community
The real strength of our country does not begin in the Capitol building or the White House. It begins in homes like Lincoln's all over America. We sometimes tend to lose sight of that simple, profound fact.
Journal Star, April 16, 1989

… we are a nation of communities … Yes, we are one nation and we are proud to stand together as Americans. But, at the same time, we are members of various communities: local, regional, ethnic, religious, racial, and professional, each bringing something unique and special to the life of our nation. Our national diversity is not an impediment to progress, but the very cornerstone of progress. It is only when humanitarian help comes from the community, from neighbors, from organizations inspired by great religious truths, that it takes on the extra dimension government cannot provide…
Speech before The Salvation Army, Peoria, Illinois, June 1, 1993

Compromise
There should never be compromise of principle. But in a democracy there must be compromise for principle.
Speech delivered to the American Bar Association, March 19, 1987

I feel like I've walked the extra mile and the Democratic Leadership are still in their bedroom slippers.
Remarks made on the House Floor, July 29, 1994

Chicago Cubs Baseball
… being a Chicago Cubs fan builds strong character, rids one of harmful illusions, and instills the lifelong virtues of humility, patience, and hope.
Commencement Address, MacMurray College, May 19, 1993

Defense
We cannot afford to go through that old American three-step dance of national defense. It goes like this: In time of danger, unity. In time of victory, euphoria. And in time of peace, amnesia! We just forgot what the world is like and we think that peace is just given to you. It's not just given. It has to be won, by sacrifice, by vigilance, by courage. Each generation has to be prepared to do the job …
Speech on Memorial Day 1992 in Washington, Illinois, March 25, 1992

Democracy
I'd rather legislate through the inefficiencies of a democracy than accept orders from a dictatorship.
Speech delivered to the American Bar Association, March 19, 1987

Dictatorship
We are told (Fidel) Castro has made improvements in such areas as education. We were told Mussolini made the trains run on time. We are told Castro is popular. We were told Hitler was popular. We are told Castro wants "better relations" with the United States - and now we know why: Communism has destroyed the economy of Cuba and the spirit of its most productive workers … (Cuban) men and women are rotting in underground cells for no other reason than that they believe the Cuban people would be better off without dictatorships of any kind, either right or left …
Remarks made on the House floor, April 27, 1977

… just as Americans awoke one morning and discovered that an unfamiliar place called Pearl Harbor was important to them, and just as we all began to learn strange names like "Saigon" and "Hanoi" as if they were part of our neighborhood, so, I think, will we soon be learning about Afghanistan … Afghanistan could possibly become a Soviet version of Vietnam if we give support to the rebels…
Remarks made on the House Floor, November 13, 1979

Drugs
Drug abuse is ultimately a question of character formed in living rooms, not courtrooms. The government, for all its power, is but one small part of this fight.
Remarks made on the House Floor, September 7, 1986

Fish Story
Mr. Speaker. I want to protest an editorial appearing in today's Wall Street Journal. The editorial, "Czardine O'Neill" suggests that although the Speaker was once called the Czar of the House, his performance on the energy bill reduced him in stature - figuratively speaking, needless to say - and he is now a "Czardine" which the Journal says is what one wisecracker holds is diminutive of Czar. Czardine? There is something fishy in this. Did the Journal use this word on porpoise? If so, this is a whale of a story. Yet, there is salmon wrong in all this. Unless the Journal retracts what it said, its editors will soon be singing a different tuna. Trout history such journalism has been deplored. It is bass. As for the Speaker, eel have to defend himself. This strikes at the very sole of the House. For too long there have been charges that we flounder. So I say to the Speaker: Where there's a gill, there's a way!
Remarks made on the House Floor, October 28, 1977

Freedom
Don't take this freedom you have for granted. It has to be fought for and worked for on a daily basis.
Speech before Illinois students, October 22, 1986

I know in some quarters it is considered a sign of sophistication to sneer at the victory because Grenada is a small island with a small population. But I ask these critics: how small do you have to be before you are not entitled to enjoy freedom?
Speech delivered to the Chemical Manufacturers Association, March 17, 1987

Government
The challenge we face is to have a federal government effective enough to meets its legitimate ends, but not too dominant to control.
Speech before Lincoln Day Dinner, April 4, 1987

Asking the President to accept one big money bill is like going Christmas shopping and buying the entire store because you can't decide which item to purchase.
Remarks made on the House Floor, December 3, 1987

We Republicans believe in the wisdom of workers and businesses to craft appropriate benefits according to individual circumstances … asking clumsy big government to handle this issue is like asking a gorilla to play the violin.
New York Times, October 1, 1992

… the Founders were conservative, and the Constitution they gave us created a government that is rooted in conservative beliefs about human nature and the absolute necessity to have government that is at once limited and strong … Conservatives and Republicans of all stripes must understand government is not the enemy - wasteful government, intrusive government, irresponsible government, corrupt government is the enemy. The people of the United States are not happy with government when it does not work well. But make no mistake about it: Americans from the beginning have realized that the government system left to us by the Founders is the best in the world…
The Washington Times, October 19, 1993

The House of Representatives
I guess we had some reservations about televising the House proceedings when it began. I think some of us worried that with all the hams in Congress there would be a lot of showboaters. But I have to confess that we have no more showboaters than we did in the beginning - about 435 members.
Speech before Congressional Correspondents Dinner, September 15, 1982

We have dillied and dallied, and dawdled and doodled long enough.
Remarks made on the House Floor, July 29, 1987

Two hundred years ago, when the first Congress met, Fisher Ames, a Member from Massachusetts, wrote a friend that "The House is composed of sober, solid folks. There are few geniuses. There are many who have experienced the virtues of the heart and the habits of business." I believe much the same can be said for our House membership today. Perhaps we are not the shining geniuses some others in this town think they are, but our Members in the main continue to be solid and hard-working, and we still bring to this House, from our hometowns, the virtues of the heart…
Remarks made on the House Floor, January 3, 1989

Ideas
The Soviet Union has had to depend on our technology, our credits, and our wheat for over 60 years because the Soviet values do not inspire individuals to risk and be innovative. Our ideas and our ideals, not just our material abundance, are proof of our system's superiority.
Remarks made on the House Floor, June 20, 1979

Integrity
In over 30 years as a member of this institution, I have kept my word. I expect others to do the same.
New York Times, March 16, 1988

Justice
Lawyers know that out of the heat of legal debate comes justice - not justice in some ideal, abstract state, but justice as ordinary human beings can reach it, with all its flaws, with all its inadequacies.
Speech delivered to the West Virginia Bar Association, May 1, 1987

Leadership
When you are the Leader, you have to be able to take the heat. There are too many nervous Nellies around.
Chicago Tribune, August 16, 1982

I've come to learn that it [leadership] doesn't mean two hoots in hell to most of the folks back home, if it tends to distract you in any way from your primary concern for them.
Journal Star, January 11, 1987

… You make a decision one day and then you forget about it. The next day the sun comes up, it's a bright day, and you go on.
Journal Star, March 23, 1989

If you go too far out ahead of your troops without looking back, they'll eventually pull you back.
Journal Star, March 23, 1989

Michel on Michel
… Roll Call, in an article about "the Hippest Members of Congress" … said: "Bob Michel is so square, he's almost hip." Shucks, to tell the truth, I'm so square I don't even know what "hip" means!
Speech before the Bryce Harlow Award Dinner, September 26, 1991

Minority Status
It's one thing to be an ideological purist but that never gets any real significant adherents to the cause. That relegates you, in my judgment, to permanent minority status.
Roll Call, March 23, 1987

When you are in the minority, you learn there are three things you have to do: You have to stick to your principles. You do have to compromise. And you have to keep fighting. The temptation to abandon any of these is great.
Speech before Eureka College students, Eureka, Illinois, May 12, 1987

Minority leadership isn't a science. It isn't an art. It's more like being a tight-rope walker in the circus - without a net. You have to keep making these little adjustments, from one side to another, but not too much, because you'll fall.
Speech before Eureka College students, Eureka, Illinois, May 12, 1987

Those who have been kings of the hill for so long may forget that majority status is not a divine right - and minority status is not a permanent condition.
Remarks made on the House Floor, June 7, 1989

Negotiations
I've done enough negotiating to know you don't shake hands with a guy with one hand and knife him with the other.
Journal Star, August 6, 1987

Nincompoops
This is not only a bad rule; it's a rotten rule that was shoved down our throats by a party of nincompoops.
New York Post, June 26, 1981

Nuclear Freeze
… the major issue confronting the world today is not the possession of nuclear arms by the United States, but the defense and preservation of freedom .. American possession of nuclear weapons, far from being the scourge of mankind, has for a generation been the only thing that has stood between us and those bent on world domination … A nuclear freeze proposal for the sake of a freeze is not acceptable. We are not engaging in some social fad or ideological fashion. We are dealing with the future of freedom. A nuclear freeze based on hysteria, cowardice, fear, pacifist dogma, misguided enthusiasm, or geopolitical ignorance is unacceptable …
Remarks made on the House Floor, March 30, 1983

Politics and Pragmatism
I can't afford to be an impractical dreamer with no possibility of success; I do what is doable.
Journal Star, January 11, 1987

Representing Your District
I didn't go to Congress as the apple polisher for any special interest group. I was quite well aware that I could never please all the people on any one individual piece of legislation. After searching inquiry on all sides of a question, I have taken the position which I believed to be right for the country and best for the district rather than the position which may be more popular at the time or politically expedient.
Opening remarks of 1958 campaign debate

Public service is serving the nation and the people you represent as best you can with honesty and integrity. We have followed that formula during our public life. It has been fulfilling for me, and I believe it has been beneficial to the people of the 18th Congressional district.
Announcement of intention to seek re-election, December 4, 1987

… my constituents sent me to Congress not to pose or posture or preach, but to pass good bills, make bad bills more palatable through amendments, or to oppose bad bills that are not amendable … I have committed the one political sin that ideologues cannot forgive: I do not hate government…
The Washington Times, October 19, 1992

Totalitarianism
Anywhere that totalitarianism flourishes, the holocaust - in various forms - is a possibility … Anyone who believes in God and in freedom cannot tolerate totalitarianism of any kind.
Speech delivered to Agudas Achim, Jewish Congregation, April 10, 1983

War
It matters not who they were, whether they were rich or poor, whether they had college degrees or were uneducated. Death is a great equalizer.
Tribute to fallen fighters, June 1, 1954

These frail mementos of affection will soon wither. But let not the memory of these martyrs fail to inspire us in a purer, holier life.
Tribute to fallen fighters, June 1, 1954

As veterans of World War II and Korea, the awful imprint of those conflicts is still fresh in our minds, and no one appreciates more than we that we are at peace today. Just as the fate of our country and the freedom-loving nations rested on our shoulders in time of war, so are we obliged to shoulder the responsibilities of establishing and preserving a lasting peace.
Speech before the State Convention, Illinois AMVETS, June 23, 1956

When patience and delay become foreign policy goals by themselves, they are no longer virtues … Patience at any price is not a policy, it's a cop-out.
Remarks made on the House Floor, January 10, 1991

… as this debate opens, the United States of America has over 370,000 troops in the Gulf area. They are face to face with troops of a ruthless dictator. Our troops will be aware of every word we say in this debate. So will the dictator. The question we have to ask ourselves is this: When this debate is finished, will the House be seen as a tower of strength or a tower of Babel? …
Remarks made on the House Floor, January 10, 1991

… This is a question of high public policy. But it can be answered only in the private reaches of the heart where the still, small voice of conscience roars like thunder … Our American troops in the Gulf have bound themselves by sacred ties of duty, honor, and willingness to sacrifice. Can't we at least be bound by a binding resolution that will give their Commander-in-Chief what he has requested?
Remarks on the House Floor, January 12, 1991

Women
When I came to Washington in 1949, you could probably have held a conference of Republican women office holders in someone's living room.
Speech delivered to the National Conference of Republican Women, May 21, 1987

I still have old-fashioned respect for the femininity of a woman and nobody's going to take that away. Equal pay for equal work is the bottom line. There should be no discrimination in housing or the workplace. But damn it, men and women are different and I love the difference.
Journal Star, October 20, 1988