Background Image

...

I Should Be Very Sorry To See The United States Holding Anyone In Confinement On Account Of Any Opinion That That Person Might Hold. It Is A Fundamental Tenet Of Our Institutions That People Have A Right To Believe What They Want To Believe And Hold Such Opinions As They Want To Hold Without Having To Answer To Anyone For Their Private Opinion.

-Calvin Coolidge

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

I Should Be Very

Calvin Coolidge

...

I Should Be Very Sorry To See The United States Holding Anyone In Confinement On Account Of Any Opinion That That Person Might Hold. It Is A Fundamental Tenet Of Our Institutions That People Have A Right To Believe What They Want To Believe And Hold Such Opinions As They Want To Hold Without Having To Answer To Anyone For Their Private Opinion.

Views: 7

Topic

More From Calvin Coolidge

Our Doctrine Of Equality And Liberty And Humanity Comes From Our Belief In The Brotherhood Of Man, Through The Fatherhood Of God.

Brotherhood Of Man

To The American People: Christmas Is Not A Time Or A Season But A State Of Mind. To Cherish Peace And Good Will, To Be Plenteous In Mercy, Is To Have The Real Spirit Of Christmas. If We Think On These Things, There Will Be Born In Us A Savior And Over Us Will Shine A Star Sending Its Gleam Of Hope To The World." ~ Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), American President. Presidential Message (december 25, 1927).

There's More, Much More, To Christmas Than Candlelight And Cheer; It's The Spirit Of Sweet Friendship That Brightens All Year. It's Thoughtfulness And Kindness, It's Hope Reborn Again, For Peace, For Understanding, And For Goodwill To Men!

If There Is To Be Responsible Party Government, The Party Label Must Be Something More Than A Mere Device For Securing Office. Unless Those Who Are Elected Under The Same Party Designation Are Willing To Assume Sufficient Responsibility And Exhibit Sufficient Loyalty And Coherence, So That They Can Cooperate With Each Other In The Support Of The Broad General Principles, Of The Party Platform, The Election Is Merely A Mockery, No Decision Is Made At The Polls, And There Is No Representation Of The Popular Will.

You Don't Have To Explain Something You Never Said.

Numbered Among Our Population Are Some 12,000,000 Colored People. Under Our Constitution Their Rights Are Just As Sacred As Those Of Any Other Citizen. It Is Both A Public And A Private Duty To Protect Those Rights. The Congress Ought To Exercise All Its Powers Of Prevention And Punishment Against The Hideous Crime Of Lynching, Of Which The Negroes Are By No Means The Sole Sufferers, But For Which They Furnish A Majority Of The Victims.

Eat It Up, Make It Do, Wear It Out.

There Is No Surer Road To Destruction Than Prosperity Without Character.

I Want The People Of America To Be Able To Work Less For The Government And More For Themselves. I Want Them To Have The Rewards Of Their Own Industry. This Is The Chief Meaning Of Freedom. Until We Can Reestablish A Condition Under Which The Earnings Of The People Can Be Kept By The People, We Are Bound To Suffer A Very Severe And Distinct Curtailment Of Our Liberty.

The Constitution Is The Sole Source And Guaranty Of National Freedom.

I Want Taxes To Be Less, That The People May Have More.

[the Reason A Man Has] So Much Trouble With The Senate Is That There Isn't A Man In The Senate Who Doesn't Think He Is Better Suited To Be President Than The President, And Thinks He Might Have Been President Except For Luck.

The American Revolution Represented The Informed And Mature Convictions Of A Great Mass Of Independent, Liberty-loving, God-fearing People Who Knew Their Rights, And Possessed The Courage To Dare To Maintain Them.

The Final Solution For Unemployment Is Work.

Unless The People, Through Unified Action, Arise And Take Charge Of Their Government, They Will Find That Their Government Has Taken Charge Of Them. Independence And Liberty Will Be Gone, And The General Public Will Find Itself In A Condition Of Servitude To An Aggregation Of Organized And Selfish Interest.

Well, Farmers Never Have Made Money. I Don't Believe We Can Do Much About It. But Of Course We Will Have To Seem To Be Doing Something; Do The Best We Can And Without Much Hope. The Life Of The Farmer Has Its Compensations But It Has Always Been One Of Hardship.

Money Will Not Purchase Character Or Good Government.

To Expect To Increase Prices And Then To Maintain Them At A Higher Level By Means Of A Plan Which Must Of Necessity Increase Production While Decreasing Consumption Is To Fly In The Face Of An Economic Law As Well Established As Any Law Of Nature.

Civilization And Profit Go Hand In Hand.

Governments Do Not Make Ideals, But Ideals Make Governments. This Is Both Historically And Logically True. Of Course The Government Can Help To Sustain Ideals And Can Create Institutions Through Which They Can Be The Better Observed, But Their Source By Their Very Nature Is In The People. The People Have To Bear Their Own Responsibilities. There Is No Method By Which That Burden Can Be Shifted To The Government. It Is Not The Enactment, But The Observance Of Laws, That Creates The Character Of A Nation.

This Is As Good A Time As Any To Comment On What I Think Has Grown Into An Abuse. Congress Makes Holidays And Every Time There Isa Holiday It Is The Practice For One Department To Telephone Over To Another Department And Say We Are Going To Have An Extra Holiday In This Department And What Is Your Department Going To Do About It.... If It Comes On Saturday, They Want A Holiday On Friday, And Of Course They Couldn't Come Back And Travel On Sunday And So They Want Another Holiday On Monday To Get Back On.

We Demand Entire Freedom Of Action And Then Expect The Government In Some Miraculous Way To Save Us From The Consequences Of Our Own Acts.... Self-government Means Self-reliance.

Faith Is The Great Motive Power, And No Man Realizes His Full Possibilities Unless He Has The Deep Conviction That Life Is Eternally Important And That His Work Well Done Is A Part Of An Unending Plan.

Nobody Will Ever Forget What I've Accomplished.

The Foundations Of Our Society And Our Government Rest So Much On The Teachings Of The Bible That It Would Be Difficult To Support Them If Faith In These Teachings Would Cease To Be Practically Universal In Our Country.

American Ideals Do Not Require To Be Changed So Much As They Require To Be Understood And Applied.

What We Need In Appointive Positions Is Men Of Knowledge And Experience Who Have Sufficient Character To Resist Temptations.

Despotism Has Forever Had A Powerful Hold Upon The World. Autocratic Government, Not Self-government, Has Been The Prevailing State Of Mankind. The Record Of Past History Is The Record, Not Of The Success Of Republics, But Of Their Failure.

The Jews Themselves, Of Whom A Considerable Number Were Already Scattered Throughout The Colonies, Were True To The Teachings Of Their Prophets. The Jewish Faith Is Predominantly The Faith Of Liberty.

It Is A Great Advantage To A President, And A Major Source Of Safety To The Country, For Him To Know He Is Not A Great Man.

One Of The First Lessons A President Has To Learn Is That Every Word He Says Weighs A Ton.

The Slogan 'press On' Has Solved And Always Will Solve The Problems Of The Human Race.

I Appeal To Amherst Men To Reiterate The Amherst Doctrine That The Man Who Builds A Factory Builds A Temple, That The Man Who Works There Worships There, And To Each Is Due Not Scorn And Blame But Reverence And Praise.

Self-government Means Self Support.

Few People Are Lacking In Capacity, But They Fail Because They Are Lacking In Application.

Prosperity Is Only An Instrument To Be Used, Not A Deity To Be Worshipped.

Don't Expect To Build Up The Weak By Pulling Down The Strong.

The Doctrine Of The Declaration Of Independence Predicated Upon The Glory Of Man And The Corresponding Duty To Society That The Rights Of Citizens Ought To Be Protected With Every Power And Resource Of The State, And A Government That Does Any Less Is False To The Teachings Of That Great Document - False To The Name American.

If We Judge Ourselves Only By Our Aspirations And Everyone Else Only Their Conduct We Shall Soon Reach A Very False Conclusion.

When More And More People Are Thrown Out Of Work, Unemployment Results.

Those Who Want Their Rights Respected Under The Constitution And The Law Ought To Set The Example Themselves Of Observing The Constitution And The Law. While There May Be Those Of High Intelligence Who Violate The Law At Times, The Barbarian And The Defective Always Violate It. Those Who Disregard The Rules Of Society Are Not Exhibiting A Superior Intelligence, Are Not Promoting Freedom And Independence, Are Not Following The Path Of Civilization, But Are Displaying The Traits Of Ignorance, Of Servitude, Of Savagery, And Treading The Way That Leads Back To The Jungle.

It Is Difficult For Men In High Office To Avoid The Malady Of Self-delusion. They Are Always Surrounded By Worshipers. They Are Constantly, And For The Most Part Sincerely, Assured Of Their Greatness.

No Nation Ever Had An Army Large Enough To Guarantee It Against Attack In Time Of Peace, Or Ensure It Of Victory In Time Of War.

Measured By The Standards Of Men Of Their Time, [the Pilgrims] Were The Humble Of The Earth. Measured By Later Accomplishments, They Were The Mighty. In Appearance Weak And Persecuted They Came -- Rejected, Despised -- An Insignificant Band; In Reality Strong And Independent, A Mighty Host Of Whom The World Was Not Worthy Destined To Free Mankind.

We Are Too Solicitous For Government Intervention, On The Theory, First, That The People Themselves Are Helpless, And Second, That The Government Has Superior Capacity For Action. Often Times Both Of These Conclusions Are Wrong.

The Fundamental Precept Of Liberty Is Toleration.

The Suggestion Of Denying Any Measure Of Their Full Political Rights To Such A Great Group Of Our Population As The Colored People Is One Which, However It Might Be Received In Some Other Quarters, Could Not Possibly Be Permitted By One Who Feels A Responsibility For Living Up To The Traditions And Maintaining The Principles Of The Republican Party. Our Constitution Guarantees Equal Rights To All Our Citizens, Without Discrimination On Account Of Race Or Color. I Have Taken My Oath To Support That Constitution.

We Draw Our Presidents From The People. It Is A Wholesome Thing For Them To Return To The People. I Came From Them. I Wish To Be One Of Them Again.

We Need More Of The Office Desk And Less Of The Show Window In Politics. Let Men In Office Substitute The Midnight Oil For The Limelight.

[sun Yat-sen Is A] Combined Benjamin Franklin And George Washington Of China.

If American Democracy Is To Remain The Greatest Hope Of Humanity, It Must Continue Abundantly In The Faith Of The Bible

The Words Of The President Have An Enormous Weight And Ought Not To Be Used Indiscriminately.

No Method Of Procedure Has Ever Been Devised By Which Liberty Could Be Divorced From Local Self-government. No Plan Of Centralization Has Ever Been Adopted Which Did Not Result In Bureaucracy, Tyranny, Inflexibility, Reaction, And Decline.

If All Men Are Created Equal, That Is Final. If They Are Endowed With Inalienable Rights, That Is Final. If Governments Derive Their Just Powers From The Consent Of The Governed, That Is Final. No Advance, No Progress Can Be Made Beyond These Propositions.

There Is No Right To Strike Against The Public Safety By Anybody, Anywhere, Any Time.

Heroism Is Not Only In The Man, But In The Occasion.

It Is Much More Important To Kill Bad Bills Than To Pass Good Ones.

Libertarian Party

There Is No Force So Democratic As The Force Of An Ideal.

The World Is Full Of Educated Derelicts.

Teaching Is One Of The Noblest Of Professions. It Requires An Adequate Preparation And Training, Patience, Devotion, And A Deep Sense Of Responsibility. Those Who Mold The Human Mind Have Wrought Not For Time, But For Eternity.

The Benefit Of One Is The Benefit Of All, And The Neglect Of One Is The Neglect Of All.

General Welfare

The Budget Idea, I May Admit, Is A Sort Of Obsession With Me. I Believe In Budgets. I Want Other People To Believe In Them. I Have Had A Small One To Run My Own Home; And Besides That, I Am The Head Of The Organization That Makes The Greatest Of All Budgets, That Of The United States Government. Do You Wonder, Then, That At Times I Dream Of Balance Sheets And Sinking Funds?

It Is Hard To See How A Great Man Can Be An Atheist. Without The Sustaining Influence Of Faith In A Divine Power We Could Have Little Faith In Ourselves. We Need To Feel That Behind Us Is Intelligence And Love. Doubters Do Not Achieve; Skeptics Do Not Contribute; Cynics Do Not Create. Faith Is The Great Motive Power, And No Man Realizes His Full Possibilities Unless He Has The Deep Conviction That Life Is Eternally Important, And That His Work, Well Done, Is A Part Of An Unending Plan.

Any Reward That Is Worth Having Only Comes To The Industrious. The Success Which Is Made In Any Walk Of Life Is Measured Almost Exactly By The Amount Of Hard Work That Is Put Into It.

Surprisingly Few Men Are Lacking In Capacity, But They Fail Because... They Are Too Indolent To Apply Themselves With The Seriousness And The Attention That Is Necessary To Solve Important Problems.

The Chief Business Of America Is Business.

We Need Not Concern Ourselves Much About Rights Of Property If We Faithfully Observe The Rights Of Persons.

There Is Far More Danger Of Harm Than There Is Hope Of Good In Any Radical Changes.

Everyone Has An Influence On Public Affairs If He Will Take The Trouble To Exert It.

No Matter What Anyone May Say About Making The Rich And The Corporations Pay Taxes, In The End They Come Out Of The People Who Toil

Liberty Is Not Collective, It Is Personal. All Liberty Is Individual Liberty.

No Matter What Anyone May Say About Making The Rich And The Corporations Pay The Taxes, In The End They Come Out Of The People Who Toil. It Is Your Fellow Workers Who Are Ordered To Work For The Government, Every Time An Appropriation Bill Is Passed. The People Pay The Expense Of Government, Often Many Times Over, In The Increased Cost Of Living. I Want Taxes To Be Less, That The People May Have More.

The Government Of A Country Never Gets Ahead Of The Religion Of A Country. There Is No Way By Which We Can Substitute The Authority Of The Law For The Virtues Of Men.

The Man Who Builds A Factory, Builds A Temple.

Of Course, The Accumulation Of Wealth Cannot Be Justified As The Chief End Of Existence.

The Collection Of Taxes Which Are Not Absolutely Required, Which Do Not Beyond Reasonable Doubt Contribute To Public Welfare, Is Only A Species Of Legalized Larceny. Under This Republic The Rewards Of Industry Belong To Those Who Earn Them.

Nothing In This 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 Government Can Supply No Substitute For Enterprise.

Our Government Rests Upon Religion. It Is From That Source That We Derive Our Reverance For Truth And Justice, For Equality And Liberty, And For The Rights Of Mankind. Unless The People Believe In These Principles They Cannot Believe In Our Government.

The Appropriation Of Public Money Always Is Perfectly Lovely Until Some One Is Asked To Pay The Bill. If We Are To Have A Billion Dollars Of Navy, Half A Billion Of Farm Relief, Etc... The People Will Have To Furnish More Revenue By Paying More Taxes. It Is For Them, Through Their Congress, To Decide How Far They Wish To Go.

It Seems To Me Probable That Of All Our Economic Life The Element On Which We Are Inclined To Place Too Low An Estimate Is Advertising.

It Is Accordance With Our Determination To Refrain From Aggression And Build Up A Sentiment And Practice Among Nations More Favorable To Peace, That We Ratified A Treaty For The Limitation Of Naval Armaments Made In 1921, Earnestly Sought For A Further Extension Of This Principle In 1927, And Have Secured The Consent Of Fourteen Important Nations To The Negotiation Of A Treaty Condemning Recourse To War, Renouncing It Is An Instrument Of National Policy, And Pledging Each Other To Seek No Solution Of Their Disagreements Except By Pacific Means.

If I Had Permitted My Failures, Or What Seemed To Me At The Time A Lack Of Success, To Discourage Me I Cannot See Any Way In Which I Would Ever Have Made Progress.

Congratulations

History Reveals No Civilized People Among Whom There Was Not A Highly Educated Class And Large Aggregations Of Wealth. Large Profits Mean Large Payrolls.

No Advance, No Progress Can Be Made Beyond These Propositions. If Anyone Wishes To Deny Their Truth Or Their Soundness, The Only Direction In Which He Can Proceed Historically Is Not Forward, But Backward Toward A Time When There Was No Equality, No Rights Of The Individual, No Rule Of The People. Those Who Wish To Proceed In That Direction Cannot Lay Claim To Progress. They Are Reactionary. Their Ideas Are Not More Modern, But More Ancient Than Those Of Our Revolutionary Ancestors.

While I Do Not Think It Was So Intended I Have Always Been Of The Opinion That This Turned Out To Be Much The Best For Me. I Had No National Experience. What I Have Ever Been Able To Do Has Been The Result Of First Learning How To Do It. I Am Not Gifted With Intuition. I Need Not Only Hard Work But Experience To Be Ready To Solve Problems. The Presidents Who Have Gone To Washington Without First Having Held Some National Office Have Been At Great Disadvantage.

We Do Not Need More Intellectual Power, We Need More Spiritual Power. We Do Not Need More Of The Things That Are Seen, We Need More Of The Things That Are Unseen.

They [the Founding Fathers] Were Intent Upon Establishing A Christian Commonwealth In Accordance With The Principle Of Self-government. They Were An Inspired Body Of Men. It Has Been Said That God Sifted The Nations That He Might Send Choice Grain Into The Wilderness ... Who Can Fail To See It In The Hand Of Destiny? Who Can Doubt That It Has Been Guided By A Divine Providence?

We Live An Age Of Science And Of Abounding Accumulation Of Material Things. These Did Not Create The Declaration. Our Declaration Created Them. ... If We Are To Maintain The Great Heritage Which Has Been Bequeathed To Us, We Must Be Like-minded As The Fathers Who Created It.

We Insist On Producing A Farm Surplus, But Think The Government Should Find A Profitable Market For It. We Overindulge In Speculation, But Ask The Government To Prevent Panics. Now The Only Way To Hold The Government Entirely Responsible For Conditions Is To Give Up Our Liberty For A Dictatorship. If We Continue The More Reasonable Practice Of Managing Our Own Affairs We Must Bear The Burdens Of Our Own Mistakes. A Free People Cannot Shift Their Responsibility For Them To The Government. Self-government Means Self-reliance.

You Have To Stand Every Day Three Or Four Hours Of Visitors. Nine-tenths Of Them Want Something They Ought Not To Have. If You Keep Dead-still They Will Run Down In Three Or Four Minutes. If You Even Cough Or Smile They Will Start Up All Over Again.

There Is No Escaping The Fact That When The Taxation Of Large Incomes Is Excessive, They Tend To Disappear.

Work Is Not A Curse; It Is The Prerogative Of Intelligence, The Only Means To Manhood, And The Measure Of Civilization.

At First I Intended To Become A Student Of The Senate Rules And I Did Learn Much About Them, But I Soon Found That The Senate Hadbut One Fixed Rule, Subject To Exceptions Of Course, Which Was To The Effect That The Senate Would Do Anything It Wanted To Do Whenever It Wanted To Do It.

These Things Do Not Happen By Chance. There Is Much Less Luck In Public Affairs Than Some Suppose.

One Of The Greatest Perils To An Extensive Republic Is The Disregard Of Individual Rights.

Little Progress Can Be Made By Merely Attempting To Repress What Is Evil. Our Great Hope Lies In Developing What Is Good.

It Is Difficult For Men In High Office To Avoid The Malady Of Self-delusion

Mass Demand Has Been Created Almost Entirely Through The Development Of Advertising.

It Is All The More Necessary Under A System Of Free Government That The People Should Be Enlightened, That They Should Be Correctly Informed, Than It Is Under An Absolute Government That They Should Be Ignorant. Under A Republic The Institutions Of Learning, While Bound By The Constitution And Laws, Are In No Way Subservient To The Government.

Christmas Is Not A Time Nor A Season, But A State Of Mind. To Cherish Peace And Goodwill, To Be Plenteous In Mercy, Is To Have The Real Spirit Of Christmas.

One With The Law Is A Majority.

It Is Necessary To Have Party Organization If We Are To Have Effective And Efficient Government. The Only Difference Between A Mob And A Trained Army Is Organization, And The Only Difference Between A Disorganized Country And One That Has The Advantage Of A Wise And Sound Government Is Fundamentally A Question Of Organization.

Can Those Entrusted With The Gravest Authority Set Any Example Save That Of The Sternest Obedience To The Law?

That Man Has Offered Me Unsolicited Advice For Six Years, Most Of It Bad.

Nature Is Inexorable. If Men Do Not Follow The Truth They Cannot Live.

There Have Been Great Men With Little Of What We Call Education. There Have Been Many Small Men With A Great Deal Of Learning. There Has Never Been A Great People Who Did Not Possess Great Learning.

Governments Are Necessarily Continuing Concerns. They Have To Keep Going In Good Times And In Bad. They Therefore Need A Wide Margin Of Safety. If Taxes And Debt Are Made All The People Can Bear When Times Are Good, There Will Be Certain Disaster When Times Are Bad.

To Live Under The American Constitution Is The Greatest Political Privilege That Was Ever Accorded To The Human Race.

The Chief Business Of The American People Is Business.

I Have Found It Advisable Not To Give Too Much Heed To What People Say When I Am Trying To Accomplish Something Of Consequence. Invariably They Proclaim It Can't Be Done. I Deem That The Very Best Time To Make The Effort.

Life Is One Darn Thing After Another.

Changing A College Curriculum Is Like Moving A Graveyard-you Never Know How Many Friends The Dead Have Until You Try To Move Them!

It Is Only When Men Begin To Worship That They Begin To Grow.

No One Ever Lost His Job By Listening Too Much.

The Duties Which A Police Officer Owes To The State Are Of A Most Exacting Nature. No One Is Compelled To Choose The Profession Ofa Police Officer, But Having Chosen It, Everyone Is Obliged To Live Up To The Standard Of Its Requirements. To Join In That High Enterprise Means The Surrender Of Much Individual Freedom.

I Shouldn't Want You To Be Surprised, Or To Draw Any Particular Inference From My Making Speeches, Or Not Making Speeches, Out There. I Don't Recall Any Candidate For President That Ever Injured Himself Very Much By Not Talking.

It Is Very Difficult To Reconcile The American Ideal Of A Sovereign People Capable Of Owning And Managing Their Own Government With An Inability To Own And Manage Their Own Business.

What We Need Is Not More Federal Government, But Better Local Government.

We Do Not Need To Import Any Foreign Economic Ideas Or Any Foreign Government. We Had Better Stick To The American Brand Of Government, The American Brand Of Equality, And The American Brand Of Wages. America Had Better Stay American

The Only Way I Know To Drive Out Evil From The Country Is By The Constructive Method Of Filling It With Good.

Civilisation And Profits Go Hand In Hand.

In A Republic The First Rule For The Guidance Of The Citizen Is Obedience Of The Law.

Government Price-fixing Once Started, Has Alike No Justice And No End. It Is An Economic Folly From Which This Country Has Every Right To Be Spared.

Advertising Ministers To The Spiritual Side Of Trade.

Industry, Thrift And Self-control Are Not Sought Because They Create Wealth, But Because They Create Character.

The Strength Of A Country Is The Strength Of Its Religious Convictions.

If We Expect Others To Rely On Our Fairness And Justice We Must Show That We Rely On Their Fairness And Justice.

The Measure Discriminates Definitely Against Products Which Make Up What Has Been Universally Considered A Program Of Safe Farming. The Bill Upholds As Ideals Of American Farming The Men Who Grow Cotton, Corn, Rice, Swine, Tobacco, Or Wheat And Nothing Else. These Are To Be Given Special Favors At The Expense Of The Farmer Who Has Toiled For Years To Build Up A Constructive Farming Enterprise To Include A Variety Of Crops And Livestock.

In Life There Is Nothing More Common Than Talent And Intelligence. What Is Missing Is Passion, Persistence, Commitment, And Dedication.

When People Are Bewildered They Tend To Become Credulous.

A Wholesome Regard For The Memory Of The Great Men Of Long Ago Is The Best Assurance To A People Of A Continuation Of Great Men To Come, Who Shall Be Able To Instruct, To Lead, And To Inspire. A People Who Worship At The Shrine Of True Greatness Will Themselves Be Truly Great.

Workmen’s Compensation, Hours And Conditions Of Labor Are Cold Consolations, If There Be No Employment.

Realizing That We Can Not Live Unto Ourselves Alone, We Have Contributed Of Our Resources And Our Counsel To The Relief Of The Suffering And The Settlement Of The Disputes Among The European Nations. Because Of What America Is And What America Has Done, A Firmer Courage, A Higher Hope, Inspires The Heart Of All Humanity.

It Would Be Folly To Argue That The People Cannot Make Political Mistakes. They Can And Do Make Grave Mistakes. They Know It, They Pay The Penalty, But Compared With The Mistakes Which Have Been Made By Every Kind Of Autocracy They Are Unimportant.

Under Our Institutions The Only Way To Perfect The Government Is To Perfect The Individual Citizen. It Is Necessary To Reach The Mind And Soul Of The Individual. I Know Of No Way That This Can Be Done Save Through The Influence Of Religion And Education. By Religion I Do Not Mean Fanaticism Or Bigotry; By Education I Do Not Mean The Cant Of The Schools, But A Broad And Tolerant Faith, Loving Thy Neighbor As Thyself, And A Training And Experience That Enables The Human Mind To See Into The Heart Of Things.

Governments Do Not Make Ideals, But Ideals Make Governments.

Nothing In This World Can Take The Place Of Persistence. Talent Will Not: Nothing Is More Common Than Unsuccessful Men With Talent.

No Enterprise Can Exist For Itself Alone.

Profitable Business

I Love Vermont Because Of Her Hills And Valleys, Her Scenery And Invigorating Climate, But Most Of All Because Of Her Indomitable People. They Are A Race Of Pioneers Who Have Almost Beggared Themselves To Serve Others. If The Spirit Of Liberty Should Vanish In Other Parts Of The Union And Support Of Our Institutions Should Languish, It Could All Be Replenished From The Generous Store Held By The People Of This Brave Little State Of Vermont.

It Is Not In Violence And Crime That Our Greatest Danger Lies. These Evils Are So Perfectly Apparent That They Very Quickly Arouse The Moral Power Of The People For Their Suppression. A Far More Serious Danger Lurks In The Shirking Of Those Responsibilities Of Citizenship, Where The Evil May Not Be So Noticeable But Is More Insidious And Likely To Be More Devastating.

Inflation Is Repudiation.

When Each Citizen Submits Himself To The Authority Of Law He Does Not Thereby Decrease His Independence Or Freedom, But Rather Increases It. By Recognizing That He Is A Part Of A Larger Body Which Is Banded Together For A Common Purpose, He Becomes More Than An Individual, He Rises To A New Dignity Of Citizenship. Instead Of Finding Himself Restricted And Confined By Rendering Obedience To Public Law, He Finds Himself Protected And Defended And In The Exercise Of Increased And Increasing Rights.

If You Can Get Enough Votes So That Mine Will Make A Majority, You Can Have It.

Character Is The Only Secure Foundation Of The State.

I Think The American Public Wants A Solemn Ass As A President, And I Think I'll Go Along With Them.

Silence Can Never Be Misquoted.

Public Debt [is] A Burden On All The People.

I Guess I Am Not Naturally Energetic. I Like To Sit Around And Talk.

The Door Of Opportunity Swings Wide Open In Our Country. Through It, In Constant Flow, Go Those Who Toil. America Recognizes No Aristocracy Save Those Who Work. The Badge Of Service Is The Sole Requirement For Admission To The Ranks Of Our Nobility.

Whether One Traces His Americanism Back Three Centuries To The Mayflower, Or Three Years To The Steerage, Is Not Half So Important As Whether His Americanism Of Today Is Real And Genuine. No Matter By What Various Crafts We Came Here, We Are All Now In The Same Boat.

All Growth Depends Upon Activity.

Our Country Represents Nothing But Peaceful Intentions Toward All The Earth, But It Ought Not To Fail To Maintain Such A Military Force As Comports With The Dignity And Security Of A Great People.

I Do Not Want To See Any Of The People Cringing Supplicants For The Favor Of The Government, When They Should All Be Independent Masters Of Their Own Destiny.

Christmas Is Not A Time Or A Season But A State Of Mind.

July 4, 1776 Was The Historic Day On Which The Representatives Of Three Millions Of People Vocalized Concord, And Lexington, And Bunker Hill, Which Gave Notice To The World That They Proposed To Establish An Independent Nation On The Theory That All Men Are Created Equal, That They Are Endowed By Their Creator With Certain Inalienable Rights, That Among These Are Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness.

Pursuit Of Happiness

The President Stands Between The Twin Mirrors Of The Past And Future, Causing His Being To Become Reflected An Infinite Amount Of Times. At First, This Can Be Very Disorienting. But It Induces The President To Move Quickly. He May, For Example, Mimic A Wave With His Arms In Order To See How His Actions Extend Across This Mirroring Of Time, Observing If The Figure At The End Acts At The Same Instant As The Figure Before Him, And So On And So Forth.

Education Should Be The Handmaid Of Citizenship.

Anytime You Don't Want Anything You Get It.

One Day The President And Mrs. Coolidge Were Visiting A Government Farm. Soon After Their Arrival They Were Taken Off On Separate Tours. When Mrs. Coolidge Passed The Chicken Pens She Paused To Ask The Man In Charge If The Rooster Copulates More Than Once Each Day. "dozens Of Times, Was The Reply." "please Tell That To The President," Mrs. Coolidge Requested. When The President Passed The Pens And Was Told About The Roosters, He Asked "same Hen Every Time?" "oh No, Mr. President, A Different One Each Time." The President Nodded Slowly, Then Said, "tell That To Mrs. Coolidge."

We Cannot Permit Any Inquisition Either Within Or Without The Law Or Apply Any Religious Test To The Holding Of Office. The Mind Of America Must Be Forever Free.

Nordics Deteriorate When Mixed With Other Races.

Theodore Roosevelt Was Always Getting Himself In Hot Water By Talking Before He Had To Commit Himself Upon Issues Not Well-defined.

As I Went About With My Father, When He Collected Taxes, I Knew That When Taxes Were Laid Someone Had To Work Hard To Earn The Money To Pay Them.

War Is The Rule Of Force, And Peace Is The Reign Of Law.

Coincident With The Right Of Individual Property Under The Provisions Of Our Government Is The Right Of Individual Property. . . . When Once The Right Of The Individual To Liberty And Equality Is Admitted, There Is No Escape From The Conclusion That He Alone Is Entitled To The Rewards Of His Own Industry. Any Other Conclusion Would Necessarily Imply Either Privilege Or Servitude.

It Is Hard To See How A Great Man Can Be An Atheist. . . . We Need To Feel That Behind Us Is Intelligence And Love.

Our Domestic Problems Are For The Most Part Economic. We Have Our Enormous Debt To Pay, And We Are Paying It. We Have The High Cost Of Government To Diminish, And We Are Diminishing It. We Have A Heavy Burden Of Taxation To Reduce, And We Are Reducing It. But While Remarkable Progress Has Been Made In These Directions, The Work Is Yet Far From Accomplished.

I Want The People Of America To Be Able To Work Less For The Government, And More For Themselves

Advertising Is The Most Potent Influence In Adapting And Changing The Habits And Modes Of Life Affecting What We Eat, What We Wear, And The Work And Play Of A Whole Nation.

Perhaps One Of The Most Important Accomplishments Of My Administration Has Been Minding My Own Business.

Your Ability To Face Setbacks And Disappointments Without Giving Up Will Be The Measure Of Your Ability To Succeed.

I Have Noticed That Nothing I Never Said Ever Did Me Any Harm.

There Is No Substitute For A Militant Freedom.

We Have Got So Many Regulatory Laws Already That In General I Feel That We Would Be Just As Well Off If We Didn't Have Any More.

One Of The Greatest Favors That Can Be Bestowed Upon The American People Is Economy In Government.

The Danger To America Is Not In The Direction Of The Failure To Maintain Its Economic Position, But In The Direction Of The Failure To Maintain Its Ideals.

[the Political Mind] Is A Strange Mixture Of Vanity And Timidity, Of An Obsequious Attitude At One Time And A Delusion Of Grandeurat Another Time. The Political Mind Is The Product Of Men In Public Life Who Have Been Twice Spoiled. They Have Been Spoiled With Praise And They Have Been Spoiled With Abuse.

Advertising Is The Life Of Trade.

We Have Too Much Legislating By Clamor, By Tumult, By Pressure. Representative Government Ceases When Outside Influence Of Any Kind Is Substituted For The Judgment Of The Representative.

Prosperity Cannot Be Divorced From Humanity.

Wealth Comes From Industry And From The Hard Experience Of Human Toil. To Dissipate It In Waste And Extravagance Is Disloyalty To Humanity.

I Sometimes Wish That People Would Put A Little More Emphasis Upon The Observance Of The Law Than They Do Upon Its Enforcement.

What America Needs Is To Hold To Its Ancient And Well-charted Course. Our Country Was Conceived In The Theory Of Local Self-government. It Has Been Dedicated By Long Practice To That Wise And Beneficent Policy. It Is The Foundation Principle Of Our System Of Liberty. It Makes The Largest Promise To The Freedom And Development Of The Individual. Its Preservation Is Worth All The Effort And All The Sacrifice That It May Cost.

Baseball Is Our National Game.

It Would Be Difficult To Conceive A Finer Example Of True Sport.

The Most Common Commodity In This Country Is Unrealized Potential.

Patriotism Is Easy To Understand In America. It Means Looking Out For Yourself By Looking Out For Your Country.

All Growth Depends Upon Activity. There Is No Development Physically Or Intellectually Without Effort, And Effort Means Work.

Duty Is Not Collective; It Is Personal.

You Know, I Have Found In The Course Of A Long Public Life That The Things I Did Not Say Never Hurt Me.

The People Cannot Look To Legislation Generally For Success. Industry, Thrift, Character, Are Not Conferred By Act Or Resolve. Government Cannot Relieve From Toil. It Can Provide No Substitute For The Rewards Of Service. It Can, Of Course, Care For The Defective And Recognize Distinguished Merit. The Normal Must Care For Themselves. Self-government Means Self-support.

I Always Figured The American Public Wanted A Solemn Ass For President, So I Went Along With Them.

Don't Hesitate To Be As Revolutionary As Science. Don't Hesitate To Be As Reactionary As The Multiplication Table.

I Should Think That An Ordinary Copy Of The King James Version Would Have Been Good Enough For Those Congressmen.

It Is Not Easy To Conceive Of Anything That Would Be More Unfortunate In A Community Based Upon The Ideals Of Which Americans Boast Than Any Considerable Development Of Intolerance As Regards Religion.

I Do Not Choose To Run For President In 1928.

School Is Not The End But Only The Beginning Of An Education.

Good Government Cannot Be Found On The Bargain-counter. We Have Seen Samples Of Bargain-counter Government In The Past When Low Tax Rates Were Secured By Increasing The Bonded Debt For Current Expenses Or Refusing To Keep Our Institutions Up To The Standard In Repairs, Extensions, Equipment, And Accommodations. I Refuse, And The Republican Party Refuses, To Endorse That Method Of Sham And Shoddy Economy.

The Welfare Of The Weakest And The Welfare Of The Most Powerful Are Inseparably Bound Together. ... The General Welfare Cannot Be Provided For In Any One Act, But It Is Well To Remember That The Benefit Of One Is The Benefit Of All, And The Neglect Of One Is The Neglect Of All.

Trending Author

Bernadette Peters

Tracee Ellis Ross

Category