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Who really said it

Read my lips: no new taxes

Spoken by George H.W. Bush 1924–2018 · 41st U.S. President & 1988 Republican nominee
Verified In copyright

Bush delivered the line in his acceptance speech at the 1988 Republican National Convention in New Orleans on 18 August 1988. The wording was crafted by speechwriter Peggy Noonan, but Bush himself spoke it — making this one of the few high-profile political one-liners whose source is fully documented rather than apocryphal.

Last verified 16 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Verified quote & credit

“Read my lips: no new taxes” — George H.W. Bush, Republican National Convention acceptance speech, August 18, 1988 (line written by Peggy Noonan)

Can you use it?

Still under copyright (rights held by Estate of George H.W. Bush and speechwriter Peggy Noonan). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.

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In context

Evoking the world of George H.W. Bush — 41st President of the United States (1989–1993). Theme: "Read my lips: no new taxes". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "Read my lips: no new taxes". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

The source

Speaker
George H.W. Bush
Work
Republican National Convention acceptance speech
Delivered
18 August 1988, New Orleans, Louisiana
Line written by
Peggy Noonan (speechwriter)

And the Congress will push me to raise taxes, and I’ll say no, and they’ll push, and I’ll say no, and they’ll push again, and I’ll say to them: ‘Read my lips: no new taxes.’

The famous phrase is the climax of a longer passage in which Bush dramatizes refusing Congress.

Read my lips: no new taxes — Wikipedia

How we verified this

  • The documented record places the line in Bush’s acceptance speech at the 1988 Republican National Convention in New Orleans on 18 August 1988.
  • The wording was written by speechwriter Peggy Noonan — so the phrasing is hers, though Bush is the one who spoke it aloud on national television.
  • The expression “read my lips” was already a colloquial idiom before 1988; Bush’s speech is what fixed it in political memory.
In copyright

The acceptance speech containing this line was first delivered and published in 1988, well after the 1931 U.S. public-domain cutoff, so the speech text is in copyright. (A six-word slogan on its own is generally too short for copyright, but the surrounding speech — drafted by Peggy Noonan — is protected.)

Fact-check

The nuance

Unlike most quotes pinned on famous politicians, this one is genuinely Bush’s — he really said it. The honest caveats are about authorship and origin, not attribution.

Peggy Noonan speechwriter

The line was written by campaign speechwriter Peggy Noonan, not composed by Bush himself. Bush delivered it, so crediting the quote to him is correct — but the memorable phrasing is Noonan’s craft.

The phrase “read my lips” pre-existing

“Read my lips” was already an everyday colloquial expression meaning ‘listen closely, I mean it.’ Bush’s speech didn’t invent the phrase — it welded it to a tax pledge.

George H.W. Bush did say “Read my lips: no new taxes” — on 18 August 1988, in a speech written by Peggy Noonan. The attribution is real; only the authorship of the phrasing is shared.

Context

Why it mattered

The pledge helped Bush win the presidency in 1988 by drawing a sharp anti-tax contrast with his Democratic opponent. But in 1990, facing a budget deal with a Democratic Congress, Bush agreed to tax increases — breaking the promise in the most quotable possible terms.

The reversal handed opponents a ready-made attack. Bill Clinton hammered it in 1992, and the broken pledge is widely cited as a key reason Bush became a one-term president.

The line that helped elect him in 1988 helped defeat him in 1992.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Character Power

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Read my lips: no new taxesWikipedia

Full history of the line, the 1988 speech, Noonan’s authorship, and the political fallout
Peggy NoonanWikipedia

The speechwriter who crafted the line for Bush’s acceptance speech
6 Little Words Helped Make George H.W. Bush a One-Term PresidentNPR

Retrospective on the phrase, the 1988 convention, and its political cost
1988 Republican National ConventionWikipedia

The New Orleans convention where the acceptance speech was delivered on 18 August 1988
read my lipsWiktionary

Dictionary entry for the idiom, citing Bush’s 1988 line as the famous example
Read My LipsPolitical Dictionary

Entry tracing the phrase’s use and Bush’s popularization of it

The author

About George H.W. Bush

George H.W. Bush

1924–2018 · 41st President of the United States (1989–1993)

George Herbert Walker Bush served as the 41st President of the United States after a long career as a congressman, U.N. ambassador, CIA director, and Ronald Reagan’s vice president. His 1988 pledge became the defining line of his campaign — and, after he agreed to a 1990 budget deal that raised taxes, a symbol of the broken promise that Bill Clinton used against him in 1992. Bush lost his re-election bid, making him a one-term president.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source — Chicago

George H.W. Bush, acceptance speech, Republican National Convention, New Orleans, 18 August 1988. Line written by speechwriter Peggy Noonan. Documented in “Read my lips: no new taxes,” Wikipedia.

MLA (9th ed.)

Bush, George H. W. Acceptance Speech, Republican National Convention. 18 Aug. 1988, New Orleans, Louisiana. Speech written by Peggy Noonan.

APA (7th ed.)

Bush, G. H. W. (1988, August 18). Acceptance speech, Republican National Convention [Speech]. New Orleans, LA.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Read my lips: no new taxes’?” Last verified 16 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/read-my-lips-no-new-taxes

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