Tom DeLay

"So many minority youths had volunteered...that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like [myself]."

"We have a small faction, and they are a minority, who believe they are there to govern. Then there is the majority of us who believe that indeed we are there to govern but more importantly we are there to be an opposition to the Democratic philosophy and the only way to do that is through confrontation."

"The EPA, the Gestapo of government, pure and simply has been one of the major claw-hooks that the government maintains on the backs of our constituents."

"It's never been proven that air toxics [sic] are hazardous to people."

"I am not a federal employee. I am a constitutional officer. My job is the Constitution of the United States, I am not a government employee. I am in the Constitution."

"Emotional appeals about working families trying to get by on $4.25 an hour [the minimum wage in 1996] are hard to resist. Fortunately, such families do not exist."

"Newt Gingrich is an incredible leader. He is a leader of our time, and he's going to lead us into the future. And we're going to accomplish the things that we've all dreamed of."

"The judges need to be intimidated. They need to uphold the Constitution. (If they don't behave) we're going to go after them in a big way."

"Our school systems teach the children that they are nothing but glorified apes who are evolutionized out of some primordial soup of mud."

"Nothing is more important in the face of a war than cutting taxes."

"I don't believe there is a separation of church and state. I think the Constitution is very clear. The only separation is that there will not be a government church."

"You know, the Democrats want to balance the budget by raising spending and raising taxes. The Soviet Union had a balanced budget."

"Kofi Annan's kangaroo court...a clear and present danger to the war on terrorism and Americans fighting it all over the world."

"My friends, there is no Palestinian-Israeli conflict. There is only the global war on terrorism."

"I have seen these liberal psychologists and sociologists talk about there is no need for the man in the family. The woman can take care of it. A woman can take care of the family. It takes a man to provide structure. To provide stability. Not that a woman can’t provide stability, I’m not saying that... It does take a father, though."

"Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?"

"I have notified the speaker that I will temporarily step aside from my position as majority leader pursuant to rules of the House Republican Conference and the actions of the Travis County district attorney today."

"I am the Federal Government."

"After many weeks of personal prayerful thinking and analysis, I have come to the conclusion that it is time to close this public service chapter of my life. It’s time to begin opening new chapters and pursuing new opportunities to engage in the important cultural and political battles of our day from outside the arena of the U.S. House of Representatives...I refuse to allow liberal Democrats an opportunity to steal this seat with a negative, personal campaign....I just realized that my constituents don't deserve this, they deserve a Republican. I think I could have won this seat but it would have been nasty, it would have cost a fortune to do it. The challenge has always been in the interest of the constituents' cause and the Republican majority. I'm more interested in growing the Republican majority than my own future."

"I’ve been indicted for rules that don’t even exist."

"It's the fault of the liberals and the media and the Democrats, that from the very beginning have tried to undermine the will of the American people to fight this."

"If we had those 40 million children that were [aborted] over the last 30 years, we wouldn't need the illegal immigrants to fill the jobs that they are doing today."

"We've already found a secret memo coming out of the Justice Department. They're now going to go after 12 new perversions, things like bestiality, polygamy, having sex with little boys and making that legal. Not only that, but they have a whole list of strategies to go after the churches, the pastors, and any businesses that tries to assert their religious liberty. This is coming and it's coming like a tidal wave."