Jesse Ventura

I have every right to know how my taxes are spent, how every single penny of it is spent. I have the right to know that.

I would give the people of America to their first opportunity to elect a president who doesn't belong to either party since George Washington.

I believe in the America people's ability to govern themselves. If government would just get out of the way and allow them to lead their lives as they choose, they will succeed.

If you work for the federal government, the average salary is $7,000 higher than the private sector. Something's wrong with that, when you're making more money working for the government than you can working in the private sector.

Is it government's job to make up for someone's mistakes?

In wrestling, my mustache made me look more like a villain. A good mustache can give you the look of the devil.

I've been water-boarded, and I speak from experience, and it's torture.

My position is that it isn't government's job to mandate patriotism. To me, mandating a pledge of allegiance to a government is something Saddam Hussein would do.

A car is a 2,000 pound projectile that can go 100 miles an hour.

You have to accept the rule of law, even when it's inconvenient, if you're going to be a country that bides by the rule of law.

I'm an equal opportunity despiser.

I think a person who is disabled should be disabled by no act of their own. If you become disabled because of alcoholism, drugs, or things of that nature, I do not think those conditions qualify someone to be called disabled. I think those conditions result from personal decisions.

Let's face it: WikiLeaks exists because the mainstream media haven't done their job.

I think the founding fathers believed religion shouldn't interact directly with government.

WikiLeaks is exposing our government officials for the frauds that they are. They also show us how governments work together to lie to their citizens when they are waging war.

We call our country home of the brave and land of the free, but it's not. We give a false portrayal of freedom. We're not free - if we were, we'd allow people their freedom.

I like surfing in Mexico a whole lot better than sitting with people in Washington that I don't even like.

Monsanto can do anything they want to you, and put anything they want into your foods. There's nothing you can do about it.

Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat.

Liberty is security. Freedom is security.

The prohibition of drugs causes crime. You don't have to legalize, just decriminalize it.

Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business.

Industrial hemp is a very useful plant. I challenged the attorney general to get rid of the criminal stigma associated with hemp so we can look at it in terms of how it might be useful.

If you want to stop illegal immigration, you have to make it so that - so that the people that hire the illegal immigrants will not be in a position to hire them.

I think they should let gays in the military because we are the United States of America. And if a gay person wants to serve his or her country, why should they not be allowed to?

If you're smart enough to go to college, you should be smart and creative enough to pay for it.

Government is at its worst when you have apathy from its citizens.

I don't want to spend the rest of my life in politics. When I'm finished with my term as governor, I'm going back to the life that's waiting for me in the private sector.

In my era of wrestling, there were no guaranteed contracts, so it was inherent that you draw the crowd in to make money.

Remember that government doesn't earn one single dollar it spends. In order for you to get money from the government, that money must first be taken from somebody else.

When the Constitution gave us the right to bear arms, it also made us responsible for using them properly. It's not fair of us as citizens to lean more heavily on one side of that equation than on the other.

I'm saying 9/11 was to get us into Iraq and get us into Afghanistan.

I'm the only person in the world that, when he holds down two jobs, gets criticized for it; everyone else gets a pat on the back and say, 'What an entrepreneuring, hardworking person,' but apparently that doesn't apply to me.

In February 2003, I signed a three-year contract with MSNBC to host a talk show. Having recently decided not to run again for governor of Minnesota, I was still a pretty hot commodity. The show was originally scheduled for an hour, four nights a week.

People in this country need to understand when you go to any airport in the United States, you are not protected by the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. They can do anything they want to you, and there is no where you can go to seek redress.

It seems that elections today are more popularity than they are substantial issues.

Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers.

I've never been arrested in my life. Never had cuffs put on me, never been charged with a crime, never spent one day in jail.

If I wanna be president, I probably can.

You need to hunt something that can shoot back at you to really classify yourself as a hunter. You need to understand the feeling of what it's like to go into the field and know your opposition can take you out.

I have metal in my body, so every time I go to an airport, the metal detector goes off.

There are lots of people out there who think they know the truth about God and religion, but does anybody really know for sure? That's why the founding fathers built freedom of religious belief into the structure of this nation, so that everybody could make up their minds for themselves.

There is no right religion, and no one can prove that there is.

Wrestling is ballet with violence.

Once you privatize something, it becomes a for-profit business.

I think that Minnesota is different because we are proving that tri-partisan government could work, that you do not need to necessarily be a Democrat or a Republican to be successful at governing.

The SuperPACs and the Citizens United ruling that gives corporations a voice in the political process are all bad news. They made it so you can now lie, and the politician being promoted on that lie will not be held responsible for it.

'The Young and the Restless' is my favorite television show.

I tend to like to read history - recent history, because I find that much more intriguing than just a writer's imagination.

I'm not allowed on FOX, and I'm not allowed on MSNBC.

If the government mandates anything with a price tag on it, then it ought to fund the project.

I speak my mind. If it offends some people, well, there's not much I can do about that. But I'm going to be honest. I'm going to continue to speak my mind, and that's who I am.

There is much more to being a patriot and a citizen than reciting the pledge or raising a flag.

I can't see any difference in government between Bush and Obama apart from the color of their skin.

I'm against the draft. I believe we should have a professional military; it might be smaller, but it would be more effective.

As governor, there isn't a lot I can do beyond that to crack down on crime. Law enforcement is really a local issue. It's the cops' job to tighten down on criminals.

Government's role should be only to keep the playing field level, and to work hand in hand with business on issues such as employment. But beyond this, to as great an extent as possible, it should get the hell out of the way.

Patriotism to your country is something that comes from your heart. It should be taught to you by your parents.

How come life in prison doesn't mean life? Until it does, we're not ready to do away with the death penalty. Stop thinking in terms of punishment for a minute and think in terms of safeguarding innocent people from incorrigible murderers.

I live in Mexico in the wintertime, and I live off the grid down there.

You can't legislate morality.

Every fat person says its not their fault that they have gland trouble. You know which gland The saliva gland. They cant push away from the table.

Love is bigger than government.

I decided to run for governor because I got mad... I want to make government more directly accountable to the people.

Al Gore, you've been a real inspiration. But a lot of other people who preach the global warming gospel aren't out to save the world. They're out to run it.

I love my country, not my government.

Let's remember, the CIA's job is to go out and create wars.

I don't oppose hunting in any way, shape or form. If that's what you enjoy doing, you are free to do it.

Now our biggest environmental problems come from our own actions, our own choices, rather than pollution produced by big business.

The thing is, and Americans are starting to realize this now, that while street gangs are violent, the Democrats and Republicans are worse. They are worse because their decisions affect your life.

I'm going to put on my gravestone, 'He never owned a cell phone.'

You give me a waterboard, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders.

Tell the truth because then you don't have to have a good memory.

When you live in Mexico, your houses all have names.

If I could be reincarnated as a fabric, I would come back as a 38 double-D bra.

Congratulations you have a sense of humor. And to those who didnt Go stick your head in the mud.

Government works less efficiently when it begins to grow out of control and takes on more and more of the responsibilities that belong to the citizens.

I don't have to muzzle myself when I'm a civilian. When you're a governor, you kind of have to do it, because you represent the whole state. You have to leave your personal opinions to yourself a lot. I learned that.

My children were attacked by the Minnesota media when I was governor.

Mexico has strict gun control. You cannot own a gun in Mexico.

There are a lot of good causes out there, but they can't possibly all be served by government.

I do not support the third party movement anymore. I now advocate the abolishment of all political parties. We've allowed the parties to take over the government.

You can't put civil rights on the ballot.

I never believe anything in the world of entertainment until it actually happens and the check clears the bank.

I believe patriotism comes from the heart. Patriotism is voluntary. It is a feeling of loyalty and allegiance that is the result of knowledge and belief.

I believe to go along to get along is unpatriotic. I believe that agreeing with your government on everything they do is unpatriotic. I believe a patriot stands up and holds your government's feet to the fire. Because if you do that, you will get good government.

Any party that would put Sarah Palin up on a pedestal will never have my support.

I love fat people. Every fat person says it's not their fault, that they have gland trouble. You know which gland? The saliva gland.

I'm a Slovak. And when I was growing up, I believed that I was Czechoslovakian because of what Russia did. They came in and took two separate countries - Slovakia and the Czech Republic - put them together as one.

If I were an innocent individual, flown to a foreign country and held for several years and tortured, I'd become a terrorist, too. I'd go to war against the U.S.

Sarah Palin's a quitter.

People don't like politicians.

I'm kind of like Che Guevera. I lead the revolution, but at some point I turn it over to someone else.

If I can get on the presidential ballot in all 50 states and be allowed into the debates, I'd not only run, I'd win.

Health insurance should be a given for every citizen.

The communism of Karl Marx would probably be actually the best for everybody as a whole. But what he didn't figure into was human nature, and that's what corrupts it.

I never thought I'd be investigating global warming. I believe it's real and that saving the planet is good.

I could never be a career politician, because I believe in telling the truth.

I asked Dalai Lama the most important question that I think you could ask - if he had ever seen Caddyshack.

You're lucky if I watch 10 minutes of wrestling a month. Most of the time, I channel surf, and I lose interest after a few minutes.