31 Quotes by Douglas Wilder

Slavery is nothing to joke about. The history of this nation's involvement with slavery is nothing to pass off in a joke.

My experience politically has always been that one-word definition of politics: money. Keep your eye on the buck. And that tells you where the American people are going to be.

I fought in Korea, front line. I knew who the enemy were. The enemy were the people who were firing at me. And shooting at me.

Many voted in 2008 with the desire to see racism and racists humiliated by having a qualified black man elected president.

What is blackness? Is it the way you talk? Do you got to say, 'Dey this, dey dat.' Or the way you dress? Or is it the forgiving of certain things? What is black enough?

You don't ever earn a right to stop doing anything if you feel there is an obligation to move in terms of public service.

Greece's European neighbors were able step in and bolster the weak foundation on which Greece's free-spending budget was based. It would be difficult for any country, or intergovernmental organization, to rescue an economy the size of the U.S. if investors were ever to lose faith in our bonds because of our enormous debt.

During the 2008 campaign, I strongly endorsed Barack Obama for president. I did so early, when many Democratic leaders - including many prominent African-American politicians - believed the safe bet was to back then-front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Since Obama has expressed admiration for the portrait of Abraham Lincoln that Doris Kearns Goodwin paints in Team of Rivals, he could do the 16th president one better: He should name Hillary Clinton as his running mate in 2012. That would be both needed change and audacious.