Bill Frist

American physician, businessman, and politician

William Harrison Fristis an American physician, businessman, conservationist and policymaker who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1995 to 2007. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as Senate Majority Leader from 2003 to 2007.

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About the Bill Frist

William Harrison Fristis an American physician, businessman, conservationist and policymaker who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1995 to 2007. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as Senate Majority Leader from 2003 to 2007. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Frist studied government and health care policy at Princeton University and earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from Harvard Medical School. He trained as a cardiothoracic transplant surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital and Stanford University School of Medicine, and later founded the Vanderbilt Transplant Center. In 1994, he defeated incumbent Democratic Senator Jim Sasser.

After serving as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Frist succeeded Tom Daschle as the Senate Majority Leader. Frist helped pass several parts of President George W. Bush’s domestic agenda, including the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 and the Medicare Modernization Act. Frist left the Senate in 2007, honoring his pledge to serve no more than two terms.

In his post-Senate career, he serves as chair of the global board of The Nature Conservancy. He is also a founding partner of Frist Cressey Ventures, a special partner and chairman of the Executives Council of the health service investment firm Cressey & Company, and co-chair of the Health Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center. He currently hosts the A Second Opinion Podcast on the intersection of policy, medicine, and innovation.

26 Quotes by Bill Frist

  1. 1.

    I very much feel that marriage is a sacrament and that sacrament should extend… to that legal entity of a union between what traditionally in our Western values has been defined as between a man and a woman.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  2. 2.

    Voluntary personal savings accounts would enable future retirees to harness the power of the marketplace when saving for their retirements.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  3. 3.

    America has the best doctors, the best nurses, the best hospitals, the best medical technology, the best medical breakthrough medicines in the world. There is absolutely no reason we should not have in this country the best health care in the world.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  4. 4.

    Congress should be forward thinking in the policies we set, instead of waiting until catastrophe looms.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  5. 5.

    Every child should have the opportunity to receive a quality education.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  6. 6.

    Space offers extraordinary potential for commerce and adventure, for new innovations and new tests of will. As Americans, we can’t help but reach for the stars. It’s our nature. It’s our destiny.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  7. 7.

    The enemies of freedom will not prevail.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  8. 8.

    Personal savings accounts to me are one of the most powerful things, not necessarily in saving, solvency, or bankruptcy of the program, but in guaranteeing, the words I used a few minutes ago, a safe and secure retirement for our seniors.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  9. 9.

    Education is the cornerstone of our communities and our country.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  10. 10.

    September 11 impressed upon us that life is a precious gift. Every life has a purpose. And I think we all have a duty to devote at least a small portion of our daily lives to ensuring that neither America nor the world ever forgets September 11.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  11. 11.

    The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  12. 12.

    The valor and courage of our young women and men in the armed services are a shining example to all of the world, and we owe them and their families our deepest respect.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  13. 13.

    Social Security, a critically important, great program which does serve as the cornerstone of support for senior citizens, now faces challenges that threaten its long-term stability and well-being. The facts are there. The facts are crystal clear.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  14. 14.

    When we talk about safety and security of the American people, politics falls aside pretty quickly.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  15. 15.

    The American people expect and deserve a government that works and leaders who work together.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  16. 16.

    From blood banking to the modern subway, from jazz to social justice, the contributions of African Americans have shaped and molded and influenced our national culture and our national character.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  17. 17.

    Our top focus – protecting our Nation – must go beyond homeland preparedness; America will only be secure if we deal with threats before they happen, not just after they happen.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  18. 18.

    Education brings about opportunity, and in turn inspiration.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  19. 19.

    America enjoys the best health care in the world, but the best is no good if folks can’t afford it, access it and doctor’s can’t provide it.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  20. 20.

    From slavery to segregation, we remember that America did not always live up to its ideals. In fact, we often fell far short of them. But we also learned that fundamental to our national character is the drive to live out the true meaning of our creed.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  21. 21.

    This legislation confronts the human truth that the need for clean water knows no borders, and proper management and intervention can be a currency for peace and international cooperation.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  22. 22.

    It is our duty and our privilege to keep America moving forward.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  23. 23.

    The African-American experience is one of the most important threads in the American tapestry.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  24. 24.

    Sound science must be a basis to governing our trade relations around the globe.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  25. 25.

    Just two weeks ago, millions of Iraqis defied the threats of terrorists and went to the polls to determine their own future. I congratulate the Iraqi people for the courage they’ve shown in making these elections so successful.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician

  26. 26.

    America is moving forward and gaining strength. We have been tested, and we have proven ourselves to be a tough, resilient and resourceful nation.

    Bill Frist

    American physician, businessman, and politician