Nancy Pelosi

Being the first woman speaker and breaking the marble ceiling is pretty important. Now it's time to move on.

I would say that one of the things that encouraged me so much when I became elected to the leadership was the letters I received from fathers of daughters, saying that, 'My daughter can now do many more things because of what you did.'

As you may know, I was raised in an Italian Catholic family in Baltimore, Maryland.

I must have good genes from my parents because I feel no slowdown of energy, enthusiasm or even memory.

If you make - not have - $1 million a year, should you not participate in the sense of community of our country? I'm willing to put that on the table.

If I cry, it's about the personal loss of a friend or something like that. But when it comes to politics - no, I don't cry.

Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process.

The American people voted to restore integrity and honesty in Washington, D.C., and the Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history.

I know about raising money.

The beauty of the Democratic Party is in the mix.

The American dream is about freedom.

The name 'Republican' in some ways has been hijacked by obstructionists.

Let's just do what is right for the American people. And those of us who are involved in politics and government know that our responsibility is to the American people, that we have a responsibility to find our common ground, to seek it and to find it.

I had five children in six years. The day I brought my fifth baby home, that week, my daughter turned 6.

With President Obama, we will move America forward.

My husband and I, when we had our five children and they were grown, we thought we were entitled to grandchildren. And so we were just expecting this to happen; of course, nothing was happening. And then we kept begging, bribing, cajoling, anything - threatening to adopt our own grandchildren - and finally, we got some grandchildren.

Women are leaders everywhere you lookfrom the CEO who runs a Fortune 500 company to the housewife who raises her children and heads her household. Our country was built by strong women and we will continue to break down walls and defy stereotypes.

Democrats believe we must create jobs, not protect the special interests; build the economy from the middle out, not the top down.

When I first ran for Congress, I went to my daughter Alexandra, who was going to be a senior in high school, and said: 'I have a chance to run. I may not win, but I'd be gone three nights a week. So, if you want me to stay, I'll be happy to.' And do you know what she said to me? 'Mother, get a life!'

I have deep emotions about the American people. If I were to cry for anything, I would cry for them and the policies that they're about to face.

Let's respect women for the value let's respect everyone, men and women, for the value they bring to the workplace.

I have a few uniforms - depending on whether I'm going to a college campus or meeting a head of state. But clean and easy works best for me.

But we have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.

Raising the minimum wage is the right thing to do, but it's a popular thing to do as well.

I was pampered in the fact that I had five older brothers, which I highly recommend to anyone.

With Americans worried about losing their jobs, their savings, their homes and their chance at the American Dream, the New Direction Congress will work in a bipartisan way to lift our economy and help America's middle class.

Social Security has never failed to pay promised benefits, and Democrats will fight to make sure that Republicans do not turn a guaranteed benefit into a guaranteed gamble.

I read that my lifelong dream is to serve as speaker with Hillary Clinton as president. So what?

Washington and Congress are steeped in history and tradition, and that's been very male-oriented.

I think that much of the truth has been withheld from the American people.

Furthermore, we believe that health care reform, again I said at the beginning of my remarks, that we sent the three pillars that the President's economic stabilization and job creation initiatives were education and innovation - innovation begins in the classroom - clean energy and climate, addressing the climate issues in an innovative way to keep us number one and competitive in the world with the new technology, and the third, first among equals I may say, is health care, health insurance reform.

The war on terror is the war in Afghanistan.

They're anti-government ideologues who dominate the Republican Party.

I went to Catholic school throughout my whole academic life. In fact, my children - my husband and I and our children in my own family now have over 100 years of Catholic education among us.

The country needs more than one-party dominance, as much as I believe the Democratic Party is the party for the middle class... We need to have a marketplace of ideas.

In our recovery package we put new standards of accountability and transparency, which we hope will now apply.

For 25 years, it has been my privilege to represent the city of San Francisco and the great state of California; to work to strengthen our vibrant middle class; to secure opportunity and equality.

The Republican Party is the Grand Old Party. It's made enormous contributions to the success of our country. And it is a party that has embraced its leadership role when it has had the majority or the White House.

Bipartisanship is nice, but it cannot be a substitute for action, not having it cannot prevent us from going forward.

Nothing surprises me. One thing I don't ever have in my world is surprise.

Don't underestimate your opponent, but don't overestimate them, either.

I would never think of crying about any loss of an office, because that's always a possibility, and if you're professional, then you deal with it professionally.

America will be far safer if we reduce the chances of a terrorist attack in one of our cities than if we diminish the civil liberties of our own people.

Republicans support opening the floodgates to special interest money and suppressing the right to vote. It's just plain wrong.

My vision for the future always centers around our children - it always centers around our children. So anytime anybody asks me what are the three most important issues facing the Congress, I always say the same thing: 'Our children, our children, our children.'

If you don't vote, you don't count.

Politicians are trying to attract people to issues.

Let's respect the dignity of women to make their own decisions about the size and timing of their families.

I do believe that during the Bush-Cheney administration, that Vice President Cheney set a tone and an attitude for the CIA.

Women are leaders everywhere you look -- from the CEO who runs a Fortune 500 company to the housewife who raises her children and heads her household. Our country was built by strong women, and we will continue to break down walls and defy stereotypes.

Presidents and speakers for over 100 years had tried to pass affordable care for all Americans. It was challenged over and over. The Supreme Court declared it constitutional.

Jobs mean freedom for workers to support their families.

Democratic priorities remain clear: to provide a tax cut for working families, to promote policies that produce jobs and economic growth, and to assist millions of our fellow Americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.

I say to my colleagues never confine your best work, your hopes, your dreams, the aspiration of the American people to what will be signed by George W. Bush because that is too limiting a factor.

I have newspapers coming to me and saying, 'Can we get in on the TARP?'.

We are not going back to the failed policies of the past. We are fighting for the middle class!

The impact of climate change is a tremendous risk to the security and well being of our countries.

Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance.

My biggest fight has been between those who wanted to do something incremental and those who wanted to do something comprehensive. We won that fight, and once we kick through this door, there'll be more legislation to follow.

We're sad about some of the losses of members of great seniority and distinction in the Congress, and some very new members, who will no longer be serving with us.

America must be a light to the world, not just a missile.

We haven't really gotten the credit for what we have done.

Elections are about the future.

I will not be making appointments to a committee that is not bipartisan.

We have so much room for improvement. Every aspect of our lives must be subjected to an inventory... of how we are taking responsibility.

Let me just say as one who has been speaker of the House, I've had to have a very thick skin about every kind of thing that was thrown at me.

When taxpayers are subsidizing low wages, people should be aware of that. We're subsidizing an economy. We're not subsidizing people. They are doing a hard day's work. When we're not rewarding work actively, there's something wrong with the system.

Jobs are central to the American dream - and President Obama has focused on jobs from day one.

I think about my parents all the time, especially on Sunday when I'm at Mass. My mother always said, 'We do not pray to win elections. We pray for people's health, we pray that God's will be done, we pray that we do our best. But we do not pray to win elections.'

Freedom is secured every day by our men and women in uniform. We must build a future worthy of their sacrifice.

Democrats believe in reigniting the American dream by removing barriers to success and building ladders of opportunity for all, so everyone can succeed.

Every month that we do not have an economic recovery package 500 million Americans lose their jobs.

The impact of climate change is a tremendous risk to the security and well-being of our countries.

After over 200 years, not even a fifth of Congress is women.

The president led us into the Iraq war on the basis of unproven assertions without evidence; he embraced a radical doctrine of pre-emptive war unprecedented in our history; and he failed to build a true international coalition.

I've never walked away from any of my positions. I take pride in them.

I have absolutely no regret about my vote against this war. The same questions remain. The cost in human lives, the cost to our budget, probably 100 billion. We could have probably brought down that statue for a lot less.

Americans deserve a better tomorrow, today.

My father was in Congress when I was born. He was mayor my whole life from when I was in grade school - first grade - to when I went away to college.

What we're discussing privately and publicly, is a budget which is a blueprint for the future which creates jobs, which educates our children, which provides healthcare for all Americans, which takes our deficit down, which gives a tax cut for 95% of the American people.

I really want women to know their power, to value their experience. To understand that nothing has been more wholesome in the political process than the increased involvement of women.

Organize, don't agonize.

I never dread going back to Congress.

I don't care how popular I am. I'm not putting myself out there to run for higher office.

I don't know that anybody has walked up to me in the street or in a store or in the grocery and said to me, 'I hope you bomb Assad.' Certainly plenty have said, 'No; thumbs down, thumbs down, thumbs down.'

We in Congress stand by Israel. In Congress, we speak with one voice on the subject of Israel.