George Washington (1789-1797)
"To be prepared for war is one of the most
effectual means of preserving peace."
"Government is not reason; it is not
eloquence; it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful
master."
"Few men have virtue to withstand the highest
bidder."
"Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a
plant of rapid growth.
John Adams (1797-1801)
"A pen is certainly an excellent instrument to
fix a man's attention and to inflame his ambition."
"I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessing
on this house (the White House) and on all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May
none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof!"
"Let every sluice of knowledge be open and set
a-flowing."
"The happiness of society is the end of
government.”
Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809)
"One man with courage is a majority."
"That government is best which governs the
least, because its people discipline themselves."
"The price of freedom is eternal
vigilance."
James Madison (1809-1817
"The truth is that all men having power ought
to be mistrusted."
“Slavery was like holding a wolf by the ear, and we
can neither hold him or safely let him go.”
"The problem to be solved is, not what form of
government is perfect, but which of the forms is least imperfect."
"I believe there are more instances of the
abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of
those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations."
James Monroe ( 1817-1825)
"National honor is a national property of the
highest value."
"The American continents . . . are henceforth
not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European
powers."
"A little flattery will support a man through
great fatigue."
John Quincy Adams (1825-1829)
"May our country be always successful, but
whether successful or otherwise, always right."
"America, with the same voice which spoke
herself into existence as a nation, proclaimed to mankind the inextinguishable
rights of human nature, and the only lawful foundations of government."
"Always vote for principle, though you may
vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never
lost."
Andrew Jackson (1829-1837)
"The individual who refuses to defend his
rights when called by his government, deserves to be a slave, and must be
punished as an enemy of his country and friend to her foe."
"I know what I am fit for. I can command a
body of men in a rough way; but I am not fit to be President."
"Internal improvement and the diffusion of
knowledge, so far as they can be promoted by the constitutional acts of the
Federal Government, are of high importance."
Martin Van Buren (1837-1841)
"It is easier to do a job right than to
explain why you didn't."
"I tread in the footsteps of illustrious men,
whose superiors it is our happiness to believe are not found on the executive
calendar of any country."
"As to the Presidency, the two happiest days
of my life were those of my entrance upon the office and my surrender of
it."
William Henry Harrison (1841-1841)
"The prudent capitalist will never adventure
his capital . . . if there exists a state of uncertainty as to whether the
Government will repeal tomorrow what it has enacted today."
"A decent and manly examination of the acts of
the Government should be not only tolerated, but encouraged."
"But I contend that the strongest of all
governments is that which is most free."
John Tyler (1841-1845)
"Popularity, I have always thought, may aptly
be compared to a coquette—the more you woo her, the more apt is she to elude
your embrace."
"Wealth can only be accumulated by the
earnings of industry and the savings of frugality."
"Here lies the body of my good horse, 'The
General.' For twenty years he bore me around the circuit of my practice, and in
all that time he never made a blunder. Would that his master could say the
same!"
James Knox Polk (1845- 1849)
"With me it is exceptionally true that the
Presidency is no bed of roses."
"Public opinion: May it always perform one of
its appropriate offices, by teaching the public functionaries of the State and
of the Federal Government, that neither shall assume the exercise of powers
entrusted by the Constitution to the other."
"I am heartily rejoiced that my term is so
near its close. I will soon cease to be a servant and will become a
sovereign."
Zachary Taylor (1849-1850)
"For more than half a century, during which
kingdoms and empires have fallen, this Union has stood unshaken. The patriots
who formed it have long since descended to the grave; yet still it remains, the
proudest monument to their memory. . ."
"It would be judicious to act with magnanimity
towards a prostrate foe."
"The idea that I should become President seems
to me too visionary to require a serious answer. It has never entered my head,
nor is it likely to enter the head of any other person.”
Millard Fillmore (1850-1853)
"It is not strange . . . to mistake change for
progress."
"An honorable defeat is better than a
dishonorable victory."
"The man who can look upon a crisis without
being willing to offer himself upon the altar of his country is not for public
trust."
Franklin Pierce (1853-1857)
"We have nothing in our history or position to
invite aggression; we have everything to beckon us to the cultivation of
relations of peace and amity with all nations."
"The storm of frenzy and faction must
inevitably dash itself in vain against the unshaken rock of the
Constitution."
"The revenue of the country, levied almost
insensibly to the taxpayer, goes on from year to year, increasing beyond either
the interests or the prospective wants of the Government."
James Buchanan (1857-1861)
"To avoid entangling alliances has been a
maxim of our policy ever since the days of Washington, and its wisdoms no one
will attempt to dispute."
"The ballot box is the surest arbiter of
disputes among freemen."
"There is nothing stable but Heaven and the
Constitution."
Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865)
"You can fool all of the people some of the
time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can not fool all of the
people all of the time."
"If slavery is not wrong, nothing is
wrong."
"Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them
my friends?"
Andrew Jackson (1865-1869)
"If the rabble were lopped off at one end and
the aristocrat at the other, all would be well with the country."
"Honest conviction is my courage; the
Constitution is my guide."
"The goal to strive for is a poor government
but a rich people."
Ulysses S Grant (1869-1877)
"I have never advocated war except as a means
of peace."
"My failures have been errors of judgment, not
of intent."
"The Southern rebellion was largely the
outgrowth of the Mexican war. Nations, like individuals, are punished for their
transgressions. We got our punishment in the most sanguinary and expensive war
of modern times.
Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1877-1881)
"Nothing brings out the lower traits of human
nature like office seeking."
"He serves his party best who serves the
country best."
"It is now true that this is God's Country, if
equal rights—a fair start and an equal chance in the race of life are
everywhere secured to all."
James Abram Garfield (1881-1881)
"I have had many troubles in my life, but the
worst of them never came."
"We can not overestimate the fervent love of
liberty, the intelligent courage, and the sum of common sense with which our
fathers made the great experiment of self-government."
"Whoever controls the volume of money in any
country is absolute master of all industry and commerce."
Chester Alan Arthur (1881-1885)
"Good ballplayers make good citizens."
"If it were not for the reporters, I would
tell you the truth."
"Men may die, but the fabrics of our free
institutions remain unshaken."
Stephen Grover Cleveland (1885-1889)
"A man is known by the company he keeps, and
also by the company from which he is kept out."
"Above all, tell the truth."
"It is the responsibility of the citizens to
support their government. It is not the responsibility of the government to
support its citizens."
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