Newt on Himself

Kristen Powers has assembled a great collection of Gingrich quotes about himself. Some classics:

I am much like Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.

I helped lead the effort to defeat communism in the Congress

I don’t want my country to collapse. I don’t want my daughter and wife raped and killed. People like me are what stand between us and Auschwitz.

And the all time winner of the Golden Narcissus award, here is a scribbled note of Newt's that turned up during the House Ethics Committee investigation of his finances:

Gingrich—primary mission: advocate of civilization, definer of civilization, teacher of the rules of civilization, arouser of those who fan civilization, organizer of the pro-civilization activists, leader (possibly) of the civilizing forces.

Possibly!

UPDATE

Jacob Weisberg has more, along with pictures of Newt's famous doodles:

I want to shift the entire planet. And I'm doing it.

(That was in 1985, when Newt was a Congressional back bencher.)

I think I am a transformational figure. I think I am trying to effect a change so large that the people who would be hurt by the change, the liberal machine, have a natural reaction ... I think because I'm so systematically purposeful about changing our world.

This is from another one of the notes that ended up in the files of the Ethics Commission (like the picture above):

Priorities to 6/30/93

1. Articulate the vision of civilizing humanity and recivilizing all Americans (TASK 1)
2. Design general planning—management system and set up quarterly review at a general level (task 2, 9, 10, 11)
3. Build a House republican Team committed to professionalizing the House GOP and to becoming a majority and in particular building a team among the leadership and with our active House member patrons (TASKS, 6)
4. Building a volunteer-staff Team in the 6th Distr. (task 7)
5. Define, plan and begin to organize the movement for civilization and the effort to transform our welfare state into an opportunity society to help people achieve productivity, responsibility, and safety so they can achieve prosperity and freedom so they can pursue happiness (task 3, 5, 8)
6. Diet, exercise, recreational renewal with Marianne (task 9)
7. Begin to plan and develop the intellectual—educational effort to sustain in the vision of civilizing humanity and recivilizing America (task 4)