Chris christie quotes

That's why I call Barack Obama a petulant child. He's doing it on guns. He did it on immigration. He's done it on "Obama care."

If we make the tough decisions now, we will be one year ahead of 80 percent of the states in the race to economic growth. If we fail to act, we will fall even further behind... by going first, we can become first.

What we need in Washington now is a strong Republican president who knows how to govern.

And I just think that we're at a point in our economic life here in our state - and - and, candidly, across the country, where increased taxes is just the wrong way to go. The people of our state are not convinced that state government, county government, local government has done all they can with the money we already give them, rather than the money that we have...

Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria. You fly in, it applies to you. And, yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if, in fact, they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the oval office is right now.

We need to support our police officers and make sure that community policing becomes something that becomes the standard across the country.

Someone has to stay on the line and say, no, we can do this by cutting spending and reducing the size of government. That's what I was committed to doing.

I believe we have become paralyzed, paralyzed by our desire to be loved. Now our founding fathers had the wisdom to know that social acceptance and popularity were fleeing, and that this country's principles needed to be rooted in strengths greater than the passions and the emotions of the times.

I can guarantee you this, that more pension and benefit reforms which I will consider arbitration reform to be one of them, are things that when they come to my desk, they will be signed.

I'm so tired of talking about Warren Buffett.

You know, at some point there has to be parity. There has to be parity between what is happening in the real world, and what is happening in the public sector world.

The president needs to be a force that is trusted in the world.

This is a president [Barack Obama] who came into office in 2008 with a big majority in the House and with a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Because of his policies and his conduct in office, seven years later, we have our largest majority in the House since 1928, and we have a majority in the Senate and we have 31 of the 60 governorships.

These esoteric, intellectual debates-I want them to come to New Jersey and sit across from the widows and the orphans and have that conversation.

We're telling small-business owners that not only are we going to raise their costs by a buck and a quarter, but we're also going to raise it with these cost-of-living adjustments. Here's what's going to happen: They're going to have to lay people off.

I support Planned Parenthood privately with my personal contribution, and that should be the goal of any such agency, to find private donations.

If anybody ran a business like that they would be out of business quickly, and Barack Obama's leadership is driving this business, the United States of America, toward a fiscal cliff.

Our party has failed in going in to those places because we`ve said, well, we don`t get instant gratification back. So therefore, why go there. And we need to go there, show up and campaign in places where we`re uncomfortable.

Higher taxes is the road to ruin. We must and we will shrink our government, and that means making some tough choices, tightening our belts.

Everybody in America has to be part of a shared sacrifice to create opportunity for greatness again for our people and our country.

If you're sick, take your sick day. If you don't take your sick day, know what your reward is? You weren't sick - that was the reward.

Now, in New Jersey, we have more government workers per square mile than any state in America. But since I've been governor we now have fewer people on the state payroll at any time since Christie Whitman left office in January 2001. That's the right direction, Mr. President, not the wrong direction.

I would rather die than be in the United States Senate. I would be bored to death. Could you imagine me, banging around that chamber with 99 other people, asking for a motion on the amendment in the subcommittee? Forget it...You'd watch me just walk out and walk right into the Potomac River and drown. That would be it.

I think he [Donald Trump] is generally a good person, but you know what? He had no business being president of the United States. If I thought he did, I wouldn`t be running. I`d be helping him.

If I cannot trust someone's judgment, I cannot ask others to do so, and I would not place him at the head of my political operation.

I think people are listening to our message of securing the homeland first, keeping the American people safe and improving our economic situation. I think those things are being received well, and we're moving forward here.

Here's what I know about political campaigns: no matter what you map out at the beginning, it's always different at the end.

I am pro-life, I believe in exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. That's my position, take it or leave it.

You just have to stand and grit your teeth and know your poll numbers are going to go down - and mine have - but you gotta grit through it because the alternative is unacceptable.

Today, the biggest challenge we must meet is the one we present to ourselves. To not become a nation that places entitlement ahead of accomplishment. To not become a country that places comfortable lies ahead of difficult truths. To not become a people that thinks so little of ourselves that we demand no sacrifice from each other.

Mom spent the time that she was supposed to be a kid actully raising children, her younger brother and younger sister. She was tough as nails and did not suffer fools at all. And the truth was she could not afford to. She spoke the truth, bluntly, directly, and without much varnish. I am her son.

We need to take on the teachers' union once and for all.

I think America needs lots of tough people. Not just me. I think America needs to get tougher, all of us.

Today we must make a pact with each other to end this reckless conduct with the people's government.

If I missed my moment, I missed my moment. I mean, I wasn't pining to be president of the United States.

Our state is in crisis. Our people are hurting. Now is the time when we all must resist the traditional, selfish call to protect your own turf at the cost of our state. It is time to leave the corner, join the sacrifice, come to the center of the room and be part of the solution.

Given my last position, that I was the first U.S attorney post 9/11 in New Jersey, I understand acutely the pain and sorrow and upset of the family members who lost loved ones that day at the hands of radical Muslim extremists. And their sensitivities and concerns have to be taken into account.

I'm not in the business of satisfying everybody. I'm in the business of trying to satisfy the people who elected me governor.

The rule for effective governance is simple. It is one Ronald Reagan knew by heart. And one that he successfully employed with Social Security and the Cold War. When there is a problem, you fix it. That is the job you have been sent to do and you cannot wait for someone else to do it for you.

The first thing we need to do to make America stronger is to strengthen our military.

When people run a business and open their door to the public, they must serve the public. That doesn't mean they can't say whatever they want to say. It doesn't mean they can't believe whatever they want to believe. Those are protected also. But businesses must serve the public. And that's a principle that we fought for in this country over many, many decades, when some were invoking religious freedom as an excuse to deny people on the basis of their race, on the basis of their religion, on the basis of sex and on the basis now of sexual orientation. Let's not confuse one thing with the other.

Let's go to Russia. She [Hillary Clinton] went to the Kremlin on her very first visit and gave them that stupid symbolic reset button.

And on this you have my pledge - unlike in the past, when you stood up and did what was right, this governor will not pull the rug out from underneath you - I will sign strong reform bills.

The job of a leader, the job of a governor, the job of a president is to get the people in the room and to bang enough heads together and rub enough arms and cajole enough to have them put the country's and the state's greater interests ahead of their own personal interests.

Marijuana addiction is a serious problem

As governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts.

I would not compromise my principles for politics. You're saying, will it become politically unpopular to have the position I'm having? If it does, so be it. I don't compromise my principles for politics.

Is there any wonder why we are in such big trouble? Any question why the people don't trust their government anymore, and demand a change?

No wonder nobody around the world is nervous about America anymore. No wonder we're not intimidating our adversaries and they're running around wild in the world, because they know we're not investing in our defense anymore. We need to make or military strong, not to wage war, but to avoid war and to bring peace and stability in the world.

I don't compromise my principles for politics.

You have to do more than just talk about work. You have to really reward the people who are out there doing it.

Sometimes people need to be told to sit down and shut up.

The people elected us to end the talk and to act decisively.

Everyone wants to demagogue everyone else. That may be good politics, but it's awful policy.

One state retiree, 49 years old, paid, over the course of his entire career, a total of $124,000 towards his retirement pension and health benefits. What will we pay him? $3.3 million in pension payments over his life and nearly $500,000 for health care benefits - a total of $3.8m on a $120,000 investment.

They believe in teachers unions. We believe in teachers.

Today is the day for the complaining to end and for statesmanship to begin. Today I am taking action to cut state spending and balance the budget this year.

You know, I think what the American people want more than anything else right now is someone who's just going to look them in the eye and tell them the truth, even some truths that they don't like. And - but they have to believe the person's speaking from their heart and are authentic.

We believe - we believe that, if we tell the people the truth, that they will act bigger than the pettiness we see in Washington, D.C. We believe it is possible to forge bipartisan compromise, and stand up for our conservative principles.

Get the hell off the Beach in Asbury Park and get out. You're done. It's 4:30 PM. You've maximized your tan. Get off the beach. Get in you cars and get out of those areas.

The answer is I am not committed to doing anything in a new administration or not.

I believe marriage should be between one man and one woman. That's my view, and that'll be the view of our state because I wouldn't sign a bill that - like the one that was in New York.

The greatness of America is in the American people. And what we need to do is get the government the hell out of the way and let the American people win once again.

I think we have to focus,on exactly what the priorities are.

You see, Mr. President - real leaders don't follow polls. Real leaders change polls.

You can't lay back and wait for somebody else to do it. And I think if the president's made a mistake here, it's this laid-back kind of approach where he's waiting for someone else to solve the problem.

This administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led - has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks.

I spent seven years of my life in the immediate aftermath of September 11th doing this work, working with the Patriot Act, working with our law enforcement, working with the surveillance community to make sure that we keep America safe.

When the president of the United States says he's going to do something, he needs to do it. That makes not only our adversaries more emboldened. It makes our allies more nervous.

The truth was you can't continue to spend the kind of money our spending on all these entitlement programs. I think we need more people in public life who are willing to say, no, we can't afford certain things. No, we can't do certain things.

I have another question: Hillary Clinton, lying to the American people about her selfish, awful judgment in making our secrets vulnerable.Guilty or not guilty?

Well, let me tell you, after three years of Obama, we are hopeless and changeless, and we need Mitt Romney to bring us back, to bring America back.

When elected, I will make education funding a top priority and I believe we must ensure those dollars reach our children and the classroom

I said we are going to balance an $11 billion budget deficit in a $29 billion budget, so by percentage, the largest budget deficit in America, by percentage, larger than California, larger than New York, larger than Illinois. And we're going to balance that without raising taxes on the people of the state of New Jersey.

When I think about the folks who are out there at home tonight watching... They know that this country is not respected around the world anymore. They know that this country is pushing the middle class, the hardworking taxpayers, backwards, and they saw a president who doesn't understand their pain, and doesn't have any plan for getting away from it.

If you want a candidate who agrees with you 100 percent of the time, I'll give you a suggestion: Go home and look in the mirror. You are the only person you agree with 100 percent of the time. You'll always know who I am, you'll always know what I believe and you'll always know where I stand.

I don't hide my emotions from people. I am not a focus-group tested, blow-dried candidate or governor.

We talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time.

I'm tired of dealing with the crazies.

Hillary Rodham Clinton was America's chief diplomat. So let's look around at the violence and danger in our world today in every region of the world that has been infected with her flawed judgment.

What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people.

People have the absolute right to preach and to think and to say whatever they believe, and at the same time those beliefs can't be used as the basis for denying other people their equal rights and their equal freedom.

It is heartbreaking to me that I wasn't told the truth. I'm a very loyal guy, and I expect loyalty in return. And lying to me is not an exhibition of loyalty.

I love to hug my children. I love to tell them I love them every day before they leave for school or before I leave for work. And I think that's the most important thing you can do as a father is to make sure that your children know they're loved.

But our leaders of today have decided it's more important to be popular, to say and do what's easy, and say yes rather than to say no, when no is what is required.

Although the governor strongly disagrees with the court substituting its judgment for the constitutional process of the elected branches or a vote of the people, the court has now spoken clearly as to their view of the New Jersey Constitution, and, therefore, same-sex marriage is the law.

Hillary Clinton supported concessions to the Castro brothers and got almost nothing in return for ending the embargo.

The American people are tired. They're tired of the bickering in Washington, D.C., and the lack of action.

What do you think the appropriate role of government is in society? The way I look at this job is, you want me to do X? Well, is the private sector doing X with any kind of success? Because if they are, I'd rather have them do it than have us do it.

I'd rather have my teeth drilled than listen to that awful song, 'Fly, Eagles Fly.'

You know, something may be going down tonight, but it ain’t going to be jobs, sweetheart!

I am who I am, but I am not a bully.

This country pays a price whenever our economy fails to deliver rising living standards to our citizens - which is exactly what has been the case for years now. We pay a price when our political system cannot come together and agree on the difficult but necessary steps to rein in entitlement spending or reform our tax system.

I'm quite sure that no court is telling anybody that they cannot say whatever they want to say.

I am not going to make any commitments to the teachers union to do anything until they do something that's other than in their own self-interest. And everything they have done so far is in their self-interests, and that's it.

I think Gingrich has embarrassed the party over time. Whether he'll do it again in the future, I don't know. But Gov. Romney never has.

America under Barack Obama has become a defensive, reactive and weaker country both at home and abroad.

This type of discourse in the campaign is just unwarranted. But it was started by Ms.[Hillary] Clinton. Ms. Clinton has started the idea of calling Donald Trump those types of names [bigot].

The President's biggest problem right now is he's gotta tell the truth. And we've seen this in New Jersey. I've told lots of hard truths in New Jersey that people didn't necessarily agree with, but they give you credit for looking them in the eye and telling them the truth.

Here is their plan. Whistle a happy tune while driving us off a fiscal cliff as long as they are behind the wheel of power when we fall.

And the greatest lesson that mom ever taught me though was this one. She told me there would be times in your life when you have to choose between being loved and being respected. Now she said to always pick being respected.

We have to put America's security first. The American people - we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work.It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country.

And I think what people in New Jersey have gotten to know about me over the last decade that I've been in public life is what you see is what you get. And I'm no different when I'm sitting with you than I am when I'm at home or anyplace else.

Be careful about anybody who's running for president who's going to tell you that they're going to build a wall across the entire southern border. It's not going to happen. It is the wrong message to send. And it's not going to be effective.

A retired teacher paid $62,000 towards her pension and nothing, yes nothing, for full family medical, dental and vision coverage over her entire career. What will we pay her? $1.4 million in pension benefits and another $215,000 in health care benefit premiums over her lifetime.

The three top issues have to be restoring jobs and private sector job growth to our country, getting the entitlement mess under control, and restoring back to our country a sense of self-confidence that Americans can achieve whatever we want to achieve.

I think what the American people want more than anything else is a strong and decisive leader.

I don't think there's anybody in America who thinks my personality is best suited to being Number Two.

I know we can fix our problems. When there are people in the room who care more about doing the job they were elected to do than they worry about winning reelection, it is possible to work together, achieve principal compromise, and get results for the people who give us these jobs in the first place.

There is only one group to blame for the continued suffering of these innocent victims: the House majority and their Speaker John Boehner.

Common Core has been eliminated in New Jersey.

I feel passionately about issues, and I don't hide my emotions from people. I am not a focus group-tested, blow-dried candidate or governor. Now that has always made some people, you know, uneasy. Some people like that style, some people don't. [...] But I am not a bully.

It's perfectly legal in this country to change your mind. But when you're a governor, you have to admit it. You can't hide behind parliamentary tricks. That's the difference, and that's the kind of leader we need in the White House. Stop the Washington bull and let's get things done.

I have a job to do. ... If you think right now I give a damn about presidential politics, then you don't know me.

Never be easy for any president to deal with any Congress. But republicans got to work together. We got to get things done.

We are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people.

Insisting that we must tax and take and demonize those who have already achieved the American Dream. That may turn out to be a good re-election strategy for President Obama, but is a demoralizing message for America.

No parent at home is saying my gosh, if we can just get a higher minimum wage, all of our aspirations have been realized.

I never wrote a check to Planned Parenthood.

People have an absolute right to believe what they want to believe and to say what they want to say, and churches have an absolute protection to preach and do and not do whatever they choose to do within their houses of worship. But nondiscrimination laws apply to the commercial marketplace and they do protect all of us.

I don't disagree with Senator Paul's position that we shouldn't be funding our enemies. But I absolutely believe that Israel is a priority to be able to fund and keep them strong and safe after eight years of this administration.

Since the president's [Barack Obama] lost all of that [majority in Senate], he now has decided he's just going to write laws on his own. He's going to give us edicts, as if he's a king. And that is a petulant child. He's refusing to listen to the will of the American people, which is they reject his policies.

I absolutely believe that, come November 2012, I'm going to be governor of New Jersey and not in any other office. But the fact of the matter is, if Gov. Romney, who's going to be our nominee, picked up the phone and called me to talk about this, I love my country enough and I love my party enough to listen.

When you're exonerated, then the people who wrongly accused you should have the guts to stand up and say, "I'm sorry."

They said it was impossible to touch the third rail of politics, to take on public-sector unions and to reform a pension and health benefits system that was headed to bankruptcy. But with bipartisan leadership, we saved taxpayers $132 billion dollars over 30 years and saved retirees their pensions. We did it.