Jesse Ventura Quotations

I've jumped out of an airplane 34 times. I've dove 212 feet under water. I've done a lot of things that defied death.

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 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.

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

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.

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

There's no question that we need tougher drunk-driving laws for repeat offenders. We need to take a lesson from European countries where driving isn't a right but a privilege.

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.

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

Congratulations, you have a sense of humor. And to those who didn't: Go stick your head in the mud.

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.

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.

Government is like physics, you know - for every action, there's a reaction.

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

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

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

Disabled people need more invested in their education, housing, job training, transportation, assistive technology, and independent-living facilities. Governments earn back this investment - and more - by making people with disabilities economically productive citizens.

What do we have for veterans? Government-run health care. I understand that. Congressmen and senators... they get five choices of government-run health care. Why should a congressman and senator get anything more than a regular citizen does? Why are they privileged and the rest of us aren't?

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.

I follow the teachings of Major General Smedley Darlington Butler, United States Marine Corps. He won two Congressional Medals of Honor, and he wrote the highly controversial antiwar book 'War is a Racket.'

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

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

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

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.

If you were to come to Minnesota, I could have you locked up like that. That's power.

I'm tolerant of all religions... I don't care if someone wants to go out there and worship the bark on a tree.

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.

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

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.

My father used to always say to me that, you know, if a guy goes out to steal a loaf of bread to feed his family, they'll give him 10 years, but a guy can do white-collar crime and steal the money of thousands and he'll get probation and a slap on the wrist.

I will not be a Democrat or a Republican. They are the problem, not the solution. We need to abolish political parties in this country.

I also believe that government has no business telling us how we should live our lives. I think our lifestyle choices should be left up to us. What we do in our private lives is none of the government's business. That position rules out the Republican Party for me.

I think that when Americans go to vote, states should not list what party the candidates are affiliated with. That would require voters to actually think and get to know a candidate instead of voting for their favorite gang. 'Oh, this guy is a Republican, so he must be good.'

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

All of us should have free choice when it comes to patriotic displays... a government wisely acting within its bounds will earn loyalty and respect from its citizens. A government dare not demand the same.

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 don't support abortion. I could never participate in one. But I think it would be a mistake to make them illegal again.

A crime is a crime, regardless of what collar you wear.

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.

Patriotism is voluntary. It is a feeling of loyalty and allegiance that is the result of knowledge and belief. A patriot shows their their patriotism through their actions, by their choice.

I believe Lee Harvey Oswald did not kill John Kennedy. I believe that.

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

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

Health insurance should be a given for every citizen.

Let me say this: I'm paranoid of the government. They've lost my trust. They've lied to me so many times that I don't know what to believe from them anymore.

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 don't believe we need the government's help as much as some think we do. That belief sets me apart from the Democrats, since their way of dealing with everything is to tax and spend.

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

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

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.

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

When you drink fluoridated water, you're drinking liquid Prozac. You drink enough of it, even though it's a small amount, drink it for decades and decades and what does Prozac do to you? It dumbs you down; it makes you docile.

Students often approached me about state-paid tuition while I was out campaigning. After I explained to them that if the state pays their tuition now, they will pay higher taxes to pay other people's tuition for the rest of their lives, most of them ended up agreeing with me.

I would rather be uncomfortable with the truth than to be lied to in comfort. That's just my nature.

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.

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.

Democrats are so spineless, so afraid to go against the tide... but dissension is the greatest form of patriotism.

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

Get every candidate to wear a NASCAR racing suit when they go debate; this way we can see how their sponsors really are.

Republicans are not a political party. It's a mental condition.

I find that the history books that we teach our kids with are not fully truthful, in my opinion.

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

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.

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.

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

Our military doesn't defend our American people. Our military is the strong-arm muscle of corporations.

You don't need lawyers making laws. Regular citizens can make laws. Let the lawyers work under the laws.

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.

If you start studying history closer, you'll find that most all wars are based on false flag operations to get people - to convince the people that they're under attack in some way so that they will support the wars.

Barack Obama's large contributor was Goldman Sachs - same thing on the Republican side. If you go to both their conventions, you see the same lobbyists paying off both sides so they win either way.

I'm a warrior at heart; I'm an ex-Navy Seal. I'm too old to wage war anymore, and so now I wage it mentally. And so I find politics very stimulating; it's war without guns.

If waterboarding's OK, why don't we let our police do it to suspects so we can learn what they know? We only seem to waterboard Muslims... Have we waterboarded anyone else?

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

The Constitution guarantees us our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That's all. It doesn't guarantee our rights to charity.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A war is justified if you're willing to send your son. If you're not willing to send your son, then how do you send someone else's?

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

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.

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

The news used to be to report facts and allow you to make the decision.

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

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.

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

I don't support communism. I don't like that type of government.

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

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

We're the Fascist States of America today, not the United States of America, because the corporations are in power.

For every day the government is shut down, it should be that we don't have to pay income tax that day because they're not working.

Governments are run by people. People can be bad.

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 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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

Let's remember that very often, if you were to have someone with a legitimate conceal and carry weapon, you can stop crimes like this from happening.

shows that I support freedom and that no one is pulling my strings.