In Honor of President's Day today we offer some of the greatest inspirational quotes from American Presidents.
"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. "
George Washington (1789–1797)
"If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?"
John Adams (1797–1801)
"I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be...I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country."
Thomas Jefferson (1801–1809)
"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy."
James Madison (1809–1817)
"National honor is a national property of the highest value."
James Monroe (1817–1825)
"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." John Quincy Adams (1825–1829)
“The mischief springs from the power which the monied interest derives from a paper currency which they are able to control, from the multitude of corporations with exclusive privileges which they have succeeded in obtaining...and unless you become more watchful in your states and check this spirit of monopoly and thirst for exclusive privileges you will in the end find that the most important powers of government have been given or bartered away…."
- Andrew Jackson, Farewell Address, 1837
"There is a power in public opinion in this country—and I thank God for it: for it is the most honest and best of all powers—which will not tolerate an incompetent or unworthy man to hold in his weak or wicked hands the lives and fortunes of his fellow-citizens."
Martin Van Buren (1837–1841)
"A decent and manly examination of the acts of the Government should be not only tolerated, but encouraged."
William Henry Harrison (1841) (Harrison resigned from the army in 1814. He had an obscure career in politics ending up 20 years later as a county recorder in Ohio. He was nominated for president in 1835 and billed as a military hero whom the conservatives of the day hoped to control, he ran surprisingly well against Van Buren in 1836 and defeated Van Buren in the following election. He caught pneumonia and died in Washington on April 4, 1841, a mere month after his inauguration. Harrison was the first president to die in office.)
"Patronage is the sword and cannon by which war may be made on the liberty of the human race."
John Tyler (1841–1845)
"No president who performs his duties faithfully and conscientiously can have
any leisure."
James Knox Polk (1845–1849)
"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. . ."
Zachary Taylor (1849–1850 )
"The man who can look upon a crisis without being willing
to offer himself upon the altar of his country is not fit
for public trust."
Millard Fillmore (1850–1853)
"The storm of frenzy and faction must inevitably dash itself in vain against the unshaken rock of the Constitution."
Franklin Pierce (1853–1857)
"The test of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there."
James Buchanan (1857–1861)
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy."
Abraham Lincoln (1861–1865)
"Honest conviction is my courage; the Constitution is my guide."
Andrew Johnson (1865–1869)
"I have never advocated war except as a means of peace."
Ulysses Simpson Grant (1869–1877)
"He serves his party best who serves the country best."
Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1877–1881)
"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."
James Abram Garfield (1881) ( The Garfield administration had barely started when he was shot by Charles J. Guiteau, a disappointed republican office seeker, in Washington on July 2, 1881. He died in Elberon, N.J., on Sept. 19.)
"Good ballplayers make good citizens."
Chester Alan Arthur (1881–1885)
"A man is known by the company he keeps, and also by the company from which he is kept out." Stephen Grover Cleveland (1885–1889)
"We Americans have no commission from God to police the world."
Benjamin Harrison (1889–1893)
"Unlike any other nation, here the people rule, and their will is the supreme law. It is sometimes sneeringly said by those who do not like free government, that here we count heads. True, heads are counted, but brains also . . ."
William McKinley (1897–1901)
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909)
"Next to the right of liberty, the right of property is the most important individual right guaranteed by the Constitution . ."
William Howard Taft (1909–1913) (I Suppose the SCOTUS decision that eminent domain included corporate interests overriding citizens ownership rights disagrees no?)
"We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers."
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (1913–1921)
"Our most dangerous tendency is to expect too much of government, and at the same time do for it too little."
Warren Gamaliel Harding (1921–1923)
Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
John Calvin Coolidge (1923–1929)
"Prosperity is just around the corner."
Herbert Clark Hoover (1929–1933)
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933–1945)
"We need not fear the expression of ideas—we do need to fear their suppression."
Harry S. Truman (1945–1953)
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
Dwight David Eisenhower (1953–1961)
"And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1961–1963)
"If government is to serve any purpose it is to do for others what they are unable to do for themselves."
Lyndon Baines Johnson (1963–1969)
" Solutions are not the answer. "
Richard Milhous Nixon (1969–1974)
"Truth is the glue that holds governments together. Compromise is the oil that makes governments go."
Gerald Rudolph Ford (1974–1977)
"The best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of emulation."
James Earl Carter, Jr. (1977–1981)
"I would have voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964."
Ronald Wilson Reagan (1981–1989)
"I want a kinder, gentler nation."
George Herbert Walker Bush (1989–1993)
"There is nothing wrong in America that can't be fixed with what is right in America."
William Jefferson Clinton (1993–2001)
"I have opinions of my own-strong opinions-but I don't always agree with them."
George Walker Bush (2001–2008)
President Bush Called Former President Clinton one afternoon.
"Hello, Bill? It's Dubya. Say, I've been meanin' ta ask ya sumthin'. How did you do so well with the ladies when you were president?"
"I'll tell ya, George. The trick is to dazzle them with charm and intelligent conversation."
"Yeah, but what can I do?" asked Bush.
Clinton paused. "Well, George, if all else fails, try puttin' a potato down your pants. That works every time."
The next week, Bush called Clinton again.
"Bill? Dubya. Laura was in Crawford over the weekend and I got to go stag to the embassy ball. I tried the potato trick, but all the ladies kept their distance."
"I know, I saw the ball on C-SPAN," laughed Clinton. "Next time, try puttin' the potato down the front of your pants."
"Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential. " - President Barrack Obama
Happy President's Day Everyone!
Submitted by the Editor
