Jeb Bush Quotes

I envision presenting parents with a marketplace of school choices - public, private, parochial, charter, virtual, blended, and home education. They then can choose the model that best equips their children for success.

- Jeb Bush

We had rising student achievement across the board because high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice across the board, challenging the teachers union and beating them is the way to go.

- Jeb Bush

There's a direct link between percentage of young people that are educated and how we live our lives.

- Jeb Bush

We should have a path to legal status for the 12 million people that are here illegally. It means, come out from the shadows, pay a fine, earn legal status by working, by paying taxes, learning English. Not committing crimes and earn legal status where you're not cutting in front of the line for people that are patiently waiting outside.

- Jeb Bush

My wife is not a public person. She is uncomfortable with the limelight, which is why I love her. I don't want a political wife - I want someone who, when I get home, I can have a normal life with.

- Jeb Bush

Florida is a place of unparalleled diversity of backgrounds, experiences and vision. It makes our culture unique, but it can also make it difficult to define a common identity and create a sense of community that reaches beyond our neighborhoods to all corners of our state.

- Jeb Bush

I released 34 years of tax returns and 300,000 e-mails in my government record. To get the information from Hillary Clinton, you need to get a subpoena from the FBI.

- Jeb Bush

If you had to pick the values that would be held dear to a broad number of Hispanic voters, access to opportunity would be a higher value than guarantee of security, particularly amongst the newly arrived, meaning the last 20 years.

- Jeb Bush

Leaders lead. They don't divide; they don't create a climate that is poisonous.

- Jeb Bush

I get tired of hearing people, well-meaning people, talking about African-American kids or Hispanic kids as if they're all the same. Which isn't true. There is a very diverse group of people in both groups in terms of income, objectives in life, aspirations, cultural wants, habits, all the things that make us unique Americans.

- Jeb Bush

It's important to build trust if you're trying to deal with big things. Big issues require everybody to get outside their comfort zone, and people are more willing to do so if they believe that their partner is sincere in their efforts. And the only way you can do that is to engage them on a personal level.

- Jeb Bush

I reject the notion that a high turnout helps Senator Kerry. I think in Florida at least, it's going to help President Bush because we have gotten more registered voters than the Democrats, and our base is just fired up - thanks to your help and a lot of others.

- Jeb Bush

The dual effect of high growth creating higher income that's taxed by government at all levels, combined with lessening demands placed on government that occurs during economic prosperity, is a worthy objective.

- Jeb Bush

Treating people fairly and with civility is not a bad thing... It would be good for our country if political leaders actually took that to heart.

- Jeb Bush

Second-generation Hispanics marry non-Hispanics at a higher rate than second-generation Irish or Italians. Second-generation Hispanics' English language capability rates are higher than previous immigrant groups'.

- Jeb Bush

We need to end the government monopoly in education by transferring power from bureaucracies and unions to families. The era of defining public education as allegiance to centralized school districts must end.

- Jeb Bush

There's a fine line between stubbornness and the positive side of that, which is dogged determination.

- Jeb Bush

There are people who believe in expanding the welfare state across the spectrum of races and ethnicities and creeds.

- Jeb Bush

I think President Obama has used the bully pulpit as a way to attack capitalism.

- Jeb Bush

Life teaches you that you need to make decisions in the right time - not too early, not too late.

- Jeb Bush

We need to focus our energies there, not these broad, blanket, kind of statements that will make it harder for us to deal with ISIS. We need to deal with ISIS in the caliphate. We need a strategy to destroy ISIS there. You can't do that without the cooperation of the Muslim world because they're as threatened as we are.

- Jeb Bush

Great countries need to secure their border for national security purposes, for economic purposes and for rule of law purposes.

- Jeb Bush

Immigrants create an engine of economic prosperity.

- Jeb Bush

As governor, I saw the link between economic prosperity and the ability to acquire knowledge.

- Jeb Bush

Public education must be viewed from the lens of providing each child with the learning environment that best meets his or her needs. If we can send a low-income child to a parochial school, knowing that his odds of attending college will increase as a result, then that should be our mission.

- Jeb Bush

I've never heard anybody in my family say anything but good things about Rick Perry.

- Jeb Bush

I'm happy to be helping people that are passionate about empowering parents for student learning.

- Jeb Bush

Teachers make a difference, and we would serve our students better by focusing on attracting and retaining the quality teachers by raising teacher pay.

- Jeb Bush

I don't believe you outsource your convictions and principles to people.

- Jeb Bush

If more people were actively engaged in advocating their positions I think we'd have a better society.

- Jeb Bush

The Common Core State Standards are more rigorous standards than the great majority of states had in place previously.

- Jeb Bush

I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family. But we need to control our border.

- Jeb Bush

I acted on my core beliefs on social issues as governor.

- Jeb Bush

I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively. And the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created. We left the state better off because I applied conservative principles in a purple state the right way, and people rose up.

- Jeb Bush

Our economy grew at double the rate of the nation. We created 1.3 million jobs. We led the nation seven out of those eight years. We were only one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. I cut taxes, $19 billion. If you do that and apply conservative principles the right way, you create an environment where everybody rises up.

- Jeb Bush

If you could bring to me a majority of people to say that we're going to have $10 of spending cuts for $1 of revenue enhancement, put me in, coach.

- Jeb Bush

Candidates are making lasting impressions on voters, not just primary voters, in how they campaign.

- Jeb Bush

I think Republicans really need to be disciplined, to stay focused on sustained economic growth.

- Jeb Bush

There are cultural reasons, economic competitiveness reasons. There are a lot of reasons why people are in poverty. The difference today is that increasingly they are in perpetual poverty.

- Jeb Bush

You have to maintain your principles but have a broader appeal.

- Jeb Bush

Way too many people believe Republicans are anti-immigrant, anti-woman, anti-science, anti-gay, anti-worker.

- Jeb Bush

When businesses go through hard times, through down markets, what do they do is they challenge every basic assumption of how they operate. They innovate. They create disruption for a while that leads them to even greater heights when the economy turns around.

- Jeb Bush

It's really important to recognize that family life in America has changed pretty dramatically.

- Jeb Bush

We've created rules and taxes on top of every aspiration of people, and the net result is we're not growing fast, income is not growing.

- Jeb Bush

I really think that elected officials should be focused on how you create sustained economic growth, how do you create jobs and all of these issues that made people - segments of our society believe are really important are diversions politically.

- Jeb Bush

If we don't empower families to be able to have a quality education, then their children - for the first time in American history, truly the first time - will not have the same economic opportunities.

- Jeb Bush

Any time an elected official in the world we're in today that appears so dysfunctional challenges a core constituency not of their opponent but of their own political base, I think we should pause and give them credit.

- Jeb Bush

I loved being governor. It was a blast. Eight years was enough. But it was certainly one of the greatest thrills in my life to be able to serve the people of Florida. I miss that from time to time.

- Jeb Bush

You tell me which society is going to be the winner in this 21st Century: One that worries about how we feel or the one that worries about making sure that the next generation has the capacity to eat everybody's lunch.

- Jeb Bush

If we are going to compete in this world we're in today, there is no possible way we can do it with lowering expectations and dumbing down everything. Children are going to suffer, and families' hearts are going to be broken that their kids won't be able to get a job in the 21st Century.

- Jeb Bush

I had the chance to be governor for eight years and I took a year to transition out and a year to transition in, so that's a decade of my life where I pursued my own ambitions and I thought it was time to rearrange my life to focus on other things.

- Jeb Bush

I don't wake up each morning saying, 'Oh, wow, it's me. I think I'm the cat's meow. I'm the best.'

- Jeb Bush

I think it was hard at first for my dad to transition to being immobile.

- Jeb Bush

And we should be a welcoming nation. Our identity is not based on race or ethnicity, it's based on a set of shared values. That's American citizenship.

- Jeb Bush

If I can help create an environment where the principles that I believe in can be implemented - to me, that's fulfilling.

- Jeb Bush

Being against other people's policies eventually puts you in a downward spiral. It's fine to be principled and oppose views that you don't agree with, but you also have to have an alternative.

- Jeb Bush

My wife and I are living large in our beloved Miami and I'm working on the things that are important to me.

- Jeb Bush

Low standards are a tactic that takes pressure off teachers' unions by accepting mediocrity and failure for kids.

- Jeb Bush

Never again can the Republican Party simply write off entire segments of our society because we assume our principles have limited appeal. They have broad appeal. We need to be larger than that.

- Jeb Bush

I try to have my voice be heard, but not on a regular basis on TV.

- Jeb Bush

But without a caring society, without each citizen voluntarily accepting the weight of responsibility, government is destined to grow even larger, taking more of your money, burrowing deeper into your lives.

- Jeb Bush

If I'm a conservative, I'll generally watch Fox. If someone's liberal, they'll generally watch MSNBC. They'll basically learn a set of facts that are completely distinct from one another. They'll get their views validated.

- Jeb Bush

People with deep faith and big hearts are concerned, as I am about the circumstance that Ms. Schiavo is in. I want them to know I will do what I can, but there are limits to what any particular person - irrespective of the title they currently hold - can do.

- Jeb Bush

It's a complex relationship when your dad happened to be president and you are president and then you have all the amateur psychology that goes on when people try to speculate about motivations.

- Jeb Bush

I never felt comfortable with making political decisions based on whether, you know, it was the right thing to do in terms of a poll.

- Jeb Bush

Well, I think lower taxes and less regulation would actually promote growth.

- Jeb Bush

I've always believed that if you support reform or you support a particular idea that you ought to fund that idea first and not the system.

- Jeb Bush

I don't think a party can aspire to be the majority party if it's the old white guy party.

- Jeb Bush

I have a voice: I want to share my beliefs about how the conservative movement and the Republican party can regain its footing, because we've lost our way.

- Jeb Bush

The GOP should be the GSP: the Grand Solutions Party. It should be about solutions, not talking points.

- Jeb Bush

A four percent growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn't suppress wages and kill jobs.

- Jeb Bush

We have a wealth of talent in the Republican Party.

- Jeb Bush

States are free to modify the Common Core State Standards or adopt their own individual standards, because academic standards are the prerogative of the states.

- Jeb Bush

Look, I am in the establishment because my dad, the greatest man alive was president of the United States and my brother, who I adore as well as fantastic brother was president. Fine, I'll take it. I guess I'm part of the establishment Barbara Bush is my mom. I'll take that, too.

- Jeb Bush

Immigration is a gateway basically. It's a check-off point for Latino voters.

- Jeb Bush

I have a proven record, a record of accomplishment, a record of cutting taxes, of shrinking the government, of reforming education, of challenging the status quo, eliminating career civil service protections, shrinking the government workforce by 11 percent, but leading the nation in job growth.

- Jeb Bush

If you have to deal with our friends at ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, it's like a Kafka novel. Files just disappear.

- Jeb Bush

I will support the Republican nominee.

- Jeb Bush

Everything's viewed with a political lens in Washington, and that's just the nature of the beast, and it is what it is.

- Jeb Bush

I would say national security is work in progress.

- Jeb Bush

We awoke one morning in September, and the world lurched on its axis.

- Jeb Bush

Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. ISIS was created because of the void that we left, and that void now exists as a caliphate the size of Indiana.

- Jeb Bush

I'd be wary of simple solutions to complex problems.

- Jeb Bush

There is no other country that has the Cuban Adjustment Act; that's why it's called the Cuban Adjustment Act and not the Nicaraguan Adjustment Act.

- Jeb Bush

Immigrants are more fertile.

- Jeb Bush

There should be a path to earned legal status for those that are here. Not - not amnesty - earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time.

- Jeb Bush

We are stronger because we recognize that government isn't the sole answer to the most important questions, and we welcome community and faith based organizations as partners to serve the needs of Florida families.

- Jeb Bush

We must return conservatives to the majority in the U.S. Senate.

- Jeb Bush

I think my dad's post-presidency, he didn't miss a beat. He didn't get into any kind of 'Woe is me.' He dusted himself off and led an incredible life since 1993.

- Jeb Bush

It's been painful to see the people that you love be attacked when you know it's not fair or true.

- Jeb Bush

Who among us has never looked up into the heavens on a starlit night, lost in wonder at the vastness of space and the beauty of the stars?

- Jeb Bush

I'm getting nervous to be called a centrist. Breaking out in a rash.

- Jeb Bush

I have never wavered from my intention to advance the cause of diversity in new and more effective ways.

- Jeb Bush

I get to advocate issues and ideas that I believe in.

- Jeb Bush

My record as a pro-life governor is not in dispute. I am completely pro-life, and I believe that we should have a culture of life. It's informed by my faith from beginning to end. And this not just as it related to unborn babies - I did it at the end of life issues as well. This is something that goes way beyond politics.

- Jeb Bush

Traditional marriage is what should be sanctioned.

- Jeb Bush

There's a whole lot of America that looks at each other and says, 'Well, there's 340 million people living in America. Isn't there somebody other than a Bush or a Clinton who can be president in these modern times?'

- Jeb Bush

If you believe, like I do, that the world is abundant with possibilities, then we need to make sure we build capacity so that everybody is successful or can be successful in the pursuit of their dreams - not the dreams of someone from government, but their own dreams.

- Jeb Bush

It's a volatile time.

- Jeb Bush

People are moping around and I think campaigns can be about lifting the spirits of the American people.

- Jeb Bush

I do a lot of traveling overseas.

- Jeb Bush

Florida has its own rhythm, too. People go to work, they watch their children learn and grow and start families of their own. They play in the sun and pass their lives enjoying the outsized blessings that make our state unique.

- Jeb Bush

Apparently there are some Democratic leaders in the Senate that are running for office who now believe in tax cuts.

- Jeb Bush

It's hard to be a son of a candidate. It's hard to be a brother of a candidate. I think it may be the hardest thing to be the dad of the candidate.

- Jeb Bush

I think the voters can make up their own minds.

- Jeb Bush

In a divided government, you can't just say, 'It's my way or the highway.'

- Jeb Bush

I miss being governor.

- Jeb Bush

I don't miss politics.

- Jeb Bush

Our children can achieve great things when we set high expectations for them.

- Jeb Bush

In Washington, particularly, the loyal opposition has a job to be the opposition. But you can't stop there.

- Jeb Bush

I'm comfortable with the life I have.

- Jeb Bush

Imagine Texas as a blue state: how hard it would be to carry the presidency or gain control of the Senate.

- Jeb Bush

There's a lot of obsession about people's personal ambitions.

- Jeb Bush

The fact that the U.S. is superior to all others allows for free commerce to take place.

- Jeb Bush

Immigration is as much about the American experience and the values we share, and a lot more about economics than it is about politics.

- Jeb Bush

If you set a tone that you don't want people to be part of your team, they don't join.

- Jeb Bush

I was blessed to have a mother and father that recognized the value of education.

- Jeb Bush

My guess is my brother would call his mom and his dad pretty regularly, a lot more than I probably did.

- Jeb Bush

You have to remember that in a state like Florida, independent voters will decide the election.

- Jeb Bush

I support high academic standards. Period.

- Jeb Bush

I've been so blessed to be part of a family that has dedicated its life to public service.

- Jeb Bush

You know, when you run you got to be all in and you take risks of winning and losing.

- Jeb Bush

If I decide to run for office again, it will be based on what I believe, and it will be based on my record. And that record was one of solving problems completely from a conservative prospective.

- Jeb Bush

I have a blessed life.

- Jeb Bush

I have a blessed life in so many ways.

- Jeb Bush

I don't know if I'm a national education figure.

- Jeb Bush

I'm fairly accessible.

- Jeb Bush

I'm a conservative - a practicing one. I'm not a talk-about-it one.

- Jeb Bush

You focus on the things that you can control, and that's what I'm doing.

- Jeb Bush

Right now people seem to be very tentative about the positive benefits of capitalism.

- Jeb Bush

I want my voice to have purpose.

- Jeb Bush

I think life is precious from beginning to end.

- Jeb Bush