Top 140 Rick Perry Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “The liberals think government exists to fix what’s wrong with America. They find fault with our Constitution, our economic model and our core values. We disagree with the premise of their argument. We believe there’s nothing wrong with America that an extra dose of freedom won’t cure.”

— Rick Perry

52. “In the myopic world of the liberals, guns are responsible for evil instead of the perpetrator of evil. But criminals are not bound by our laws. That’s what makes them criminals.”

— Rick Perry

53. “We cannot afford four more years of this misguided socialist policies from President Obama and his administration.”

— Rick Perry

54. “The citizens of America and the citizens of Texas expect to be able to live in safety in their communities. That’s what the rule of law is truly all about.”

— Rick Perry

55. “We should also give students more flexibility in the courses they take in high school to prepare them for whatever their goals may be, without sacrificing our rigorous academic standards.”

— Rick Perry

56. “Abstinence works, I know it from my own personal life, abstinence works.”

— Rick Perry

57. “Obama is a president, who I think is anti-jobs.”

— Rick Perry

58. “I come by my conservatism authentically, not by convenience. And I offer the American people a new direction.”

— Rick Perry

59. “You have a problem with allowing someone to finish speaking.”

— Rick Perry

60. “I’m worried about that man or woman sitting around – the coffee table tonight or in their kitchen talking about how are we going to get to work. How are we going to have the dignity to take care of our family.”

— Rick Perry

61. “Let’s stand up. Let’s speak with pride about our morals and our values and redouble our effort to elect more conservative Republicans.”

— Rick Perry

62. “My quarrel is not with the legitimate role of government but with the unlimited role of government.”

— Rick Perry

63. “As Americans, we don’t see the role of government as guaranteeing outcomes, but allowing free men and women to flourish based on their own vision, their hard work and their personal responsibility.”

— Rick Perry

64. “Spreading the wealth punishes success while setting America on course for a greater dependency on government.”

— Rick Perry

65. “I don’t want to be the president of the United States. I do want to work with the governors across the country to make the states more pivotal, more powerful, as they should be.”

— Rick Perry

66. “Just because you have a group of scientists who stood up and said here is the fact. Galileo got outvoted for a spell.”

— Rick Perry

67. “Those jobs flee other states because of factors like excessive taxation, punitive regulation and frivolous lawsuits.”

— Rick Perry

68. “Tell the trial lawyers to get out of your state and to quit costing businessmen and women.”

— Rick Perry

69. “Texas created more jobs in 2008 than the rest of the states – combined.”

— Rick Perry

70. “I think every program needs to stand the sunshine of righteous scrutiny. Whether it’s Social Security, whether it’s Medicaid, whether it’s Medicare.”

— Rick Perry

71. “My hope is that that person will come forward that can win the presidency that we can all get behind.”

— Rick Perry

72. “Juarez is reported to be the most dangerous city in America.”

— Rick Perry

73. “Debates are set up for nothing more than to tear down the candidates. It’s pretty hard to be able to sit and lay out your ideas and your concepts with a one-minute response.”

— Rick Perry

74. “I’m all about job creation. That’s what I’ve done for ten years as the governor of Texas, and that’s what I’m focused on.”

— Rick Perry

75. “We believe in government involvement that leads to independence: good schools, quality roads and the best health care.”

— Rick Perry

76. “In Michigan, a liberal democrat raised taxes and kept their government programs at the same level. And guess what? Their economy continued into the toilet, it continued down.”

— Rick Perry

77. “It’s time to believe again in the potential of private enterprise set free from the shackles of over-bearing federal government.”

— Rick Perry

78. “It is time to change our policy of appeasement toward the Palestinians, to strengthen our ties with the nation of Israel.”

— Rick Perry

79. “And I have a message for the liberals and the defenders of the status quo: we’re just getting started.”

— Rick Perry

80. “Who can be against progress, after all? But it’s a fraudulent use of the word – because for the Progressive, progress is marked not be how free you are, but how much government can ‘do’ for you.”

— Rick Perry

81. “The fact is there is forgiveness for those who seek God. And I believe in the power of redemption.”

— Rick Perry

82. “If you rent a U-Haul to move your company, it costs twice as much to go from San Francisco to Austin than the other way around, because you can’t find enough trucks to leave the Golden State.”

— Rick Perry

83. “We will reverse course on the heavy hand of regulation, discarding Dodd-Frank and any other regulations that advance a political agenda at the expense of jobs and investment on Main Street.”

— Rick Perry

84. “ISIS represents the worst threat to freedom since Communism!”

— Rick Perry

85. “There is no one who’s gonna be sitting on that stage who has the record of job creation I have. There’s one in particular who’s created jobs all around the world. While he was the governor of Massachusetts he didn’t create many jobs.”

— Rick Perry

86. “Our work is before us. It cannot be passed to future legislatures and must not be passed to future generations. May we boldly seize the moment with singular unity. And may we build a Texas of unlimited possibility.”

— Rick Perry

87. “Our view is that individuals and families can govern their lives better than bureaucrats.”

— Rick Perry

88. “Here is what we know after more than a decade of Republican rule: Texas works. Even ‘The New York Times’ let it slip into its pages that, ‘Texas is the future.’”

— Rick Perry

89. “America does not need to be worried with bailing out a European country that has made irresponsible expenditures, and then all of a sudden, throws their hands up and say, Oh, please come save us. That is not our responsibility in the United States of America.”

— Rick Perry

90. “We want taxpayers, not tax wasters.”

— Rick Perry

91. “You see, as Americans we’re not defined by class, and we will never be told our place. What makes our nation exceptional is that anyone, from any background, can climb the highest of heights.”

— Rick Perry

92. “In America, the people are not subjects of government, the government is subject to the people.”

— Rick Perry

93. “The economy is very different in the world that we’re living in. And I think Americans are looking for executive leadership that actually has some experience of creating jobs.”

— Rick Perry

94. “As long as it’s not me, I’ll be cool.”

— Rick Perry

95. “I happily cling to my guns and my God, even if President Obama thinks that that is a simpleminded thing in his elitist heart.”

— Rick Perry

96. “You got to have a courageous president to stand up and says, listen, if – if you send a bill to me that spends more money than what we’ve coming in, I’ll veto it. I mean, I’m going to try to work with you the best I can, but I’m going to veto it.”

— Rick Perry

97. “We understand that you have to create an environment where that those men and women who are entrepreneurs can risk their capital and have an opportunity to get a return on their investment. That’s how jobs are created. And that’s what Americans are looking for, is that type of vision.”

— Rick Perry

98. “Yeah, that’s a cool name, but it’s a monstrous intrusion into our affairs.”

— Rick Perry

99. “My policy will be to detain and deport every illegal alien who is apprehended in this country. And we’ll do it with an expedited hearing process so that millions of illegal aliens are not released into the general population with some hearing date down the road.”

— Rick Perry

100. “It is through states that the American people get the job done every day, often in spite of a deeply flawed bureaucratic federal government.”

— Rick Perry