I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy – but that could change.

Meaning of the quote

The quote suggests that the world is generally moving towards more freedom and democracy, but this positive trend could change and be reversed in the future. It means that while the world is becoming more free and democratic, this progress is not guaranteed to continue indefinitely and could potentially be undone. The quote expresses both optimism and uncertainty about the future path of freedom and democracy.

About Dan Quayle

Dan Quayle was the 44th Vice President of the United States, serving under President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1993. A member of the Republican Party, Quayle had a political career that included representing Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate before becoming Vice President.

More about the author

More quotes from Dan Quayle

It’s a question of whether we’re going to go forward into the future, or past to the back.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

The American people would not want to know of any misquotes that Dan Quayle may or may not make.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

What you guys want, I’m for.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

Let me just tell you how thrilling it really is, and how, what a challenge it is, because in 1988 the question is whether we’re going forward to tomorrow or whether we’re going to go past to the – to the back!

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy – but that could change.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

We have to do more than just elect a new President if we truly want to change this country.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

It’s wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

You do the policy, I’ll do the politics.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

Space is almost infinite. As a matter of fact, we think it is infinite.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

I stand by all the misstatements that I’ve made.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

It’s rural America. It’s where I came from. We always refer to ourselves as real America. Rural America, real America, real, real, America.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

I have a very good family. I’m very fortunate to have a very good family. I believe very strongly in the family. It’s one of the things we have in our platform, is to talk about it.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

When you make as many speeches and you talk as much as I do and you get away from the text, it’s always a possibility to get a few words tangled here and there.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag, and to the Savior, for whose Kingdom it stands, one Savior, crucified, risen, and coming again, with life and liberty for all who believe.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

I do have a political agenda. It’s to have as few regulations as possible.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

We should develop anti-satellite weapons because we could not have prevailed without them in ‘Red Storm Rising’.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

It’s time for the human race to enter the solar system.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

We’re all capable of mistakes, but I do not care to enlighten you on the mistakes we may or may not have made.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

This President is going to lead us out of this recovery.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

We will move forward, we will move upward, and yes, we will move onward.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

Sometimes cameras and television are good to people and sometimes they aren’t. I don’t know if its the way you say it, or how you look.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

The other day the President said, I know you’ve had some rough times, and I want to do something that will show the nation what faith that I have in you, in your maturity and sense of responsibility. He paused, then said, would you like a puppy?

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

People who bowl vote. Bowlers are not the cultural elite.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

The thing is, if you control the Senate meetings, you control the gavel. And the gavel is a very important instrument… an instrument of power. An instrument that establishes the agenda.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

I couldn’t help but be impressed by the magnitude of the earthquake.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

I deserve respect for the things I did not do.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

It shows ‘us vs. them,’ and I’m on the ‘us’ side.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

The global importance of the Middle East is that it keeps the Far East and the Near East from encroaching on each other.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

Bank failures are caused by depositors who don’t deposit enough money to cover losses due to mismanagement.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

My friends, no matter how rough the road may be, we can and we will, never, never surrender to what is right.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

When I have been asked during these last weeks who caused the riots and the killing in L.A., my answer has been direct and simple: Who is to blame for the riots? The rioters are to blame. Who is to blame for the killings? The killers are to blame.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

It’s a very good historical book about history.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

I was known as the chief grave robber of my state.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

We will invest in our people, quality education, job opportunity, family, neighborhood, and yes, a thing we call America.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

The President is going to benefit from me reporting directly to him when I arrive.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

The future will be better tomorrow.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

Unfortunately, the people of Louisiana are not racists.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

El Salvador is a democracy so it’s not surprising that there are many voices to be heard here. Yet in my conversations with Salvadorans… I have heard a single voice.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn’t study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

Japan is an important ally of ours. Japan and the United States of the Western industrialized capacity, 60 percent of the GNP, two countries. That’s a statement in and of itself.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

I am not part of the problem. I am a Republican.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

I spend a great deal of time with the President. We have a very close, personal, loyal relationship. I’m not, as they say, a potted plant in these meetings.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

We’re going to have the best-educated American people in the world.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

Every once in a while, you let a word or phrase out and you want to catch it and bring it back. You can’t do that. It’s gone, gone forever.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

They need help, and we have helped, and we are here to help. And we are helping, and we’re going to continue to help.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

What a terrible thing to have lost one’s mind. Or not to have a mind at all. How true that is.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice-president, and that one word is ‘to be prepared’.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

You all look like happy campers to me. Happy campers you are, happy campers you have been, and, as far as I am concerned, happy campers you will always be.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

Republicans have been accused of abandoning the poor. It’s the other way around. They never vote for us.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

If you give a person a fish, they’ll fish for a day. But if you train a person to fish, they’ll fish for a lifetime.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

When I talked to him on the phone yesterday. I called him George rather than Mr. Vice President. But, in public, it’s Mr. Vice President, because that is who he is.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

Votes are like trees, if you are trying to build a forest. If you have more trees than you have forests, then at that point the pollsters will probably say you will win.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

We shouldn’t have to be burdened with all the technicalities that come up from time to time with shrewd, smart lawyers interpreting what the laws or what the Constitution may or may not say.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

I want to be Robin to Bush’s Batman.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation’s history. I mean in this century’s history. But we all lived in this century. I didn’t live in this century.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

Welcome to President Bush, Mrs. Bush, and my fellow astronauts.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

Bobby Knight told me this: ‘There is nothing that a good defense cannot beat a better offense.’ In other words a good offense wins.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is in the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that is right here.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

If we don’t succeed we run the risk of failure.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

If Al Gore invented the Internet, I invented spell check.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

This election is about who’s going to be the next President of the United States!

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

Let me just be very clear that the Republican Party will select a nominee that will beat Bill Clinton.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

For NASA, space is still a high priority.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

I understand the importance of bondage between parent and child.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have a tremendous impact on history.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

I don’t watch it, but I know enough to comment on it.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

The loss of life will be irreplaceable.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

I love California, I practically grew up in Phoenix.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

Great American sport. Horseshoes is a very great game. I love it.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

What a waste it is to lose one’s mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

I’ve never professed to be anything but an average student.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

Tobacco exports should be expanded aggressively because Americans are smoking less.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

In George Bush you get experience, and with me you get – The Future!

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

It isn’t pollution that’s harming the environment. It’s the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

I just don’t believe in the basic concept that someone should make their whole career in public service.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

I have made good judgements in the past. I have made good judgements in the future.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993

I’m going to be a vice president very much like George Bush was. He proved to be a very effective vice president, perhaps the most effective we’ve had in a couple of hundred years.

Dan Quayle

vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993