J. C. Watts

“We need to remember that politics is all about people, not programs. We shouldn't want to take the humanness out of the political arena.”

— J. C. Watts

“The measure of a man is not how great his faith is, but how great his love is. We must not let government programs disconnect our souls from each other.”

— J. C. Watts

“My work in the House of Representatives, at this time in my life, is completed. It is time to return home.”

— J. C. Watts

“Everything I am I owe to my faith and secondly to parents who were old school.”

— J. C. Watts

“I think in politics, in Congress, you often do things that are Republican, or you do things because you're a Democrat. Sometimes that's good, obviously, and sometimes that's obviously bad. But in the news business, there's no such thing as Republican or Democratic news. News is news.”

— J. C. Watts

“There's a whole lot more to the African-American community than entertainment and sports.”

— J. C. Watts

“Republicans and Democrats have used accounting gimmicks and competing government analyses to deceive the public into believing that 2 + 2 = 6. If our leaders cannot agree on the numbers, if 'facts' are fictional, how can they possibly have a substantive debate on solutions?”

— J. C. Watts

“In my wildest imagination, I never thought that the fifth of six children born to Helen and Buddy Watts - in a poor black neighborhood, in the poor rural community of Eufaula, Oklahoma - would someday be called Congressman.”

— J. C. Watts

“In 1989 when I switched from Democrat to Republican, with God as my witness, not one thing changed about what I believed about one man and one woman in a marriage or about diversity of color. That's a good thing.”

— J. C. Watts

“Some might think that George W. Bush had his shortcomings, but let me tell you something - history's going to be kind to George W. Bush.”

— J. C. Watts

“It doesn't take a lot of strength to hang on. It takes a lot of strength to let go.”

— J. C. Watts

“I never got into politics for it to be a career.”

— J. C. Watts

“I would love to be associated with some sports organization. I was a journalism major. That's kind of intriguing, to do something in the political-commentary arena.”

— J. C. Watts

“I never got into politics for it to be a career. It doesn't take a lot of strength to hang on. It takes a lot of strength to let go.”

— J. C. Watts

“Individual responsibility, hard work, paying attention in school, faith, family all these things are important.”

— J. C. Watts

“Good policy makes good politics and what I've done has been good politics.”

— J. C. Watts

“I think you grow wherever God plants you. I hope I'm growing as a person of faith, as a Christian. That should be our number one objective this journey of life. That all starts with a personal intimate relationship with Christ and then being in prayer every single day about all of those things - being tenacious about it.”

— J. C. Watts

“The strength of America is not in Washington.”

— J. C. Watts

“I'm not driven to get back into politics. It's not on my top five things to do before I die, but saying that, I may be in politics in the next year or the next ten years. I've been on the front line for 12 years, four in state government, eight on the national level.”

— J. C. Watts

“I am willing to compete on my merits and on my character - not with the color of my skin. We talk about being a color-blind society, but I don't think the political process could actually handle that.”

— J. C. Watts