Tuesday, March 4, 2014

American Presidential Remarks: The First 100 Years

 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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