Hello all, I’ve been kind of busy lately. So, I haven’t done the best job in posting the last few weeks. The same thing happened in April 2021. April just seems to be a weak month for me in terms of blogging.
Anyways, I thought I’d make a more fun post today. For this post, I decided to share one quote from each of the 46 Presidents in US History (Grover Cleveland is both the 22nd & 24th President). With that, lets dive right in!
The First 10 Presidents
1. George Washington
“I am sure that never was a people, who had more reason to acknowledge a Divine interposition in their affairs, than those of the United States; and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten that agency, which was so often manifested during our Revolution, or that they failed to consider the omnipotence of that God who is alone able to protect them.“
2. John Adams
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
3. Thomas Jefferson
“He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world’s believing him. This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions.“
4. James Madison
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”
5. James Monroe
“The best form of government is that which is most likely to prevent the greatest sum of evil.“
6. John Quincy Adams
“The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.“
7. Andew Jackson
“After eight years as President I have only two regrets: that I have not shot Henry Clay or hanged John C. Calhoun.”
–Bonus quote: “The Supreme Court has made its decision, now let them enforce it.”
8. Martin Van Buren
“As to the presidency, the two happiest days of my life were those of my entrance upon the office and my surrender of it.“
9. William Henry Harrison
“All the lessons of history and experience must be lost upon us if we are content to trust alone to the peculiar advantages we happen to possess.”
10. John Tyler
“We direct the destinies of a mighty continent. Our resources are unlimited: our means unbounded. If we be true to ourselves, the glory of other nations, in comparison to ours, shall resemble but a tale from the days of chivalry.“
The Next Ten
11. James K. Polk
“We must ever mandate the principle that the people of this continent alone have the right to decide their own destiny.“
12. Zachary Taylor
“The Bible is the best of books, and I wish it were in the hands of every one. It is indispensable to the safety and permanence of our institutions. A free government can not exist without religion and morals, and there cannot be morals without religion. Especially should the Bible be placed in the hands of the young. It is the best school book in the world. I would that all our people were brought up under the influence of that holy book.“
13. Millard Fillmore
“Let us remember that revolutions do not always establish freedom. Our own free institutions were not the offspring of our revolution. They existed before.“
14. Franklin Pierce
“The founders of the Republic dealt with things as they were presented to them, in a spirit of self sacrificing Patriotism and as time has proved, with a comprehensive wisdom which it will always be safe for us to consult.”
15. James Buchanan
“The course of events is so rapidly hastening forward that the emergency may soon arise when you may be called upon to decide the momentous question whether you possess the power by force of arms to compel a State to remain in the Union.”
16. Abraham Lincoln
“Nations do not die from invasion; they die from internal rottenness.“
17. Andrew Johnson
“When I die, I desire no better winding sheet than the Stars and Stripes, and no softer pillow than the Constitution of my country.“
18. Ulysses S. Grant
“If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon’s but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.“
19. Rutherford B. Hayes
“The real difficulty is with the vast wealth and power in the hands of the few and the unscrupulous who represent or control capital. Hundreds of laws of Congress and the state legislatures are in the interest of these men and against the interests of workingmen. These need to be exposed and repealed. All laws on corporations, on taxation, on trusts, wills, descent, and the like, need examination and extensive change. This is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people no longer. It is a government of corporations, by corporations, and for corporations.“
20. James A. Garfield
“The return to solid values is always hard… Distress, panic, and hard times have marked our pathway in returning to solid values.“
Presidents 21 to 30
21. Chester A. Arthur
Well, there doesn’t seem anything else for an ex-President to do but to go into the country and raise big pumpkins.
22. & 24. Grover Cleveland
“A truly American sentiment recognizes the dignity of labor and the fact that honor lies in honest toil.“
23. Benjamin Harrison
“I pity the man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth will starve in the process.“
25. William McKinely
“The people of this country want an industrial policy that is for America and Americans.“
26. Theodore Roosevelt
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; . . . who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.
Bonus quote: “There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag…We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language…and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”
27. William Howard Taft
“Too many people don’t care what happens so long as it doesn’t happen to them.“
28. Woodrow Wilson
“No man has ever risen to the stature of spiritual manhood until he has found that it is finer to serve somebody else than it is to serve himself.“
29. Warren G. Harding
“I am not fit for this office and should never have been here.“
30. Calvin Coolidge
“Restricted immigration is not an offensive but purely a defensive action. It is not adopted in criticism of others in the slightest degree, but solely for the purpose of protecting ourselves. We cast no aspersions on any race or creed, but we must remember that every object of our institutions of society and government will fail unless America be kept American.“
Presidents 31-40
31. Herbert Hoover
“It is a paradox that every dictator has climbed to power on the ladder of free speech. Immediately on attaining power each dictator has suppressed all free speech except his own.“
Bonus quote: “Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt.“
32. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
“We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way. The third is freedom from want. The fourth is freedom from fear.“
33. Harry Truman
“My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. To tell the truth, there’s hardly a difference.“
34. Dwight D. Eisenhower
“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. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.“
35. John F. Kennedy
“My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.“
36. Lyndon B. Johnson
“There are plenty of recommendations on how to get out of trouble cheaply and fast. Most of them come down to this: Deny your responsibility.“
37. Richard Nixon
“Never forget, the press is the enemy. The establishment is the enemy. The professors are the enemy. Professors are the enemy. Write that on a blackboard 100 times and never forget it.“
38. Gerald Ford
“There is an old saying, The harder you try the luckier you get. I kind of like that definition of luck.“
39. Jimmy Carter
“Earlier in my life I thought the things that mattered were the things that you could see, like your car, your house, your wealth, your property, your office. But as I’ve grown older I’ve become convinced that the things that matter most are the things that you can’t see — the love you share with others, your inner purpose, your comfort with who you are.“
40. Ronald Reagan
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.“
The Final Six
41. George HW Bush
“The American Dream means giving it your all, trying your hardest, accomplishing something. And then I’d add to that, giving something back. No definition of a successful life can do anything but include serving others.“
42. Bill Clinton
“That all depends on what “is” is.“
43. George W. Bush
“Fool me once, shame on – shame on you. Fool me – you can’t get fooled again.“
44. Barack Obama
” I don`t think the guy`s [Donald Trump] qualified to be president of the United States, and every time he speaks, that opinion is confirmed.”
45. Donald J. Trump
“They are after you. I’m just in the way”
Bonus quote: “Disloyal R’s are far more difficult than Crooked Hillary. They come at you from all sides. They don’t know how to win–I will teach them how.”
46. Joe Biden
“In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking.“
Bonus quote: “The number one job facing the middle class. And it happens to be, as Barack says, a three-letter word: Jobs. J-O-B-S.“