
“I could have been a great many things.”
Variant: I should have been a great many things, Mr Mayor
Source: Little Women
Trumpism is here to stay: America’s neo-fascist fever dream has only just begun (2016)
“I could have been a great many things.”
Variant: I should have been a great many things, Mr Mayor
Source: Little Women
Post-Presidency, Nobel lecture (2002)
Context: The world has changed greatly since I left the White House. Now there is only one superpower, with unprecedented military and economic strength. The coming budget for American armaments will be greater than those of the next fifteen nations combined, and there are troops from the United States in many countries throughout the world. Our gross national economy exceeds that of the three countries that follow us, and our nation's voice most often prevails as decisions are made concerning trade, humanitarian assistance, and the allocation of global wealth. This dominant status is unlikely to change in our lifetimes.
Great American power and responsibility are not unprecedented, and have been used with restraint and great benefit in the past. We have not assumed that super strength guarantees super wisdom, and we have consistently reached out to the international community to ensure that our own power and influence are tempered by the best common judgment.
Within our country, ultimate decisions are made through democratic means, which tend to moderate radical or ill-advised proposals. Constrained and inspired by historic constitutional principles, our nation has endeavored for more than two hundred years to follow the now almost universal ideals of freedom, human rights, and justice for all.
“All men who have achieved great things have been great dreamers.”
“I have been called a great many things in my time – that's politics.”
Upon being fined €2,980 for "inappropriate behaviour" towards Herman Van Rompuy, EU President - Nigel Farage fined for verbal attack on EU president http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/mar/02/nigel-farage-fined-mep-rompuy, The Guardian, 2 March 2010.
2010
“Some things I loved have vanished. A great many others have been given to me”
Source: The Woman Destroyed
“One of the most engaging artists to emerge from Great Britain in the last decade. ~ Art in America”
“Success has always been a great liar”
Source: Culture and Value (1980), p. 86e