Presidential Quotes

A few of my favorite presidential quotes in honor of President’s day:

"On this view of the import of the term republic, instead of saying, as has been said, "that it may mean anything or nothing," we may say with truth and meaning, that governments are more or less republican as they have more or less of the element of popular election and control in their composition; and believing, as I do, that the mass of the citizens is the safest depository of their own rights, and especially, that the evils flowing from the duperies of the people, are less injurious than those from the egoism of their agents, I am a friend to that composition of government which has in it the most of this ingredient. "

~ Thomas Jefferson

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"...But taking us as a whole, taking the mass of Americans, we do not want charity, we do not want sentimentality, we merely want to learn how to act both individually and together in such a fashion as to enable us to hold our own in the world, to do good to others according to the measure of our opportunities, and to receive good from others in ways which will not entail on our part any loss of self-respect."

~ Theodore Roosevelt

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"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 are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave."

~ Calvin Coolidge

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"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."

~ George Washington

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"All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise, not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from the downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation."

~ John Adams

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"I look forward to a great future for America - a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose."

~ John F. Kennedy

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"Confidence... thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligation, on faithful performance. Without them, it cannot live."

~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

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"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

~ Abraham Lincoln

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"There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America."

~ Bill Clinton

What are your favorite presidential quotes?

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