American President

Explore 616 quotes by American Presidents

Truth is great and will prevail if left to herself; that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate; errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them.

Thomas Jefferson

More information about this quote

Topic

Power of truth Truth and error

Author

Thomas Jefferson

Language

English

Time

1779 1770s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom. 18 June 1779.

Current Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. "An Act for Establishing Religious Freedom, 1779." The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Including the Autobiography, The Declaration of Independence & His Public and Private Letters, edited by Adrienne Koch and William Peden. Modern Library, 1998.

In life, as in a foot-ball game, the principle to follow is: Hit the line hard; don't foul and don't shirk, but hit the line hard!

Theodore Roosevelt

More information about this quote

Topic

Going for it

Author

Theodore Roosevelt

Language

English

Time

1900 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Roosevelt, Theodore, Jr. "The American Boy." St. Nicholas Magazine, May 1900.

Deals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. That's how I get my kicks.

Donald Trump

The Art of the Deal

Buy The Art of the Deal at Amazon Buy The Art of the Deal at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Business Art and business Nature of art

Author

Donald Trump

Source

The Art of the Deal

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1987 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Trump, Donald and Tony Schwartz. Trump: The Art of the Deal. Random House, 1987, ch. 1.

The world must be made safe for democracy.

Woodrow Wilson

More information about this quote

Topic

America and the world International politics

Speaker

Woodrow Wilson

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1917 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Wilson, Woodrow. Address to congress requesting a declaration of war against Germany. Congress meeting. 2 Apr. 1917, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Current Citation

Wilson, Woodrow. "Address to a Joint Session of Congress Calling for a Declaration of War." Woodrow Wilson: Essential Writings and Speeches of the Scholar-President, edited by Mario R. DiNunzio. New York University Press, 2006.

I hold that if the Almighty had ever made a set of men that should do all the eating and none of the work, he would have made them with mouths only and no hands, and if he had ever made another class that he intended should do all the work and none of the eating, he would have made them without mouths and with all hands.

Abraham Lincoln

More information about this quote

Topic

Equality

Speaker

Abraham Lincoln

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. Speech at Cincinnati, Ohio. 17 Sept. 1859, Cincinnati, OH, USA.

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Speech at Cincinnati, Ohio, September 17, 1859." Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 1989.

North Korean Leader Kim Jung Un just stated that the "Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times." Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!

Donald Trump

More information about this quote

Topic

Nuclear weapons

Author

Donald Trump

Medium

Tweet

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

2018 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

@realDonaldTrump. "North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!" Twitter, 2 Jan. 2018, 7:49 p.m., https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/948355557022420992.

The true conservative seeks to protect the system of private property and free enterprise by correcting such injustices and inequalities as arise from it. The most serious threat to our institutions comes from those who refuse to face the need for change. Liberalism becomes the protection for the far-sighted conservative.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

More information about this quote

Topic

Conservatism

Speaker

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1936 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano. Campaign address. Democractic State Convention. 29 Sept. 1936, Syracuse, NY, USA.

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.

John Adams

More information about this quote

Topic

Facts

Speaker

John Adams

Medium

Speech

Genre

Courtroom speech

Language

English

Time

1770 1770s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Adams, John. Spoken at the argument in defense of the British soldiers in the Boston Massacre Trials. Boston Massacre Trials. 4 Dec. 1770, Queen Street courtroom, Boston, MA, USA.

A radical is a man with both feet firmly planted-in the air. A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned to walk forward. A reactionary is a somnambulist walking backwards. A liberal is a man who uses his legs and his hands at the behest...of his head.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

More information about this quote

Topic

Politics

Speaker

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano. Radio address to the New York Herald Tribune Forum. 26 Oct. 1939, Washington, DC, USA.

I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish...in a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the moon—if we make this judgment affirmatively, it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there.

John F. Kennedy

Read this speech at UVA's Miller Center website

More information about this quote

Topic

The moon landing Space race

Speaker

John F. Kennedy

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1961 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Kennedy, John F. Special Message to Congress on Urgent National Needs. 25 May 1961, U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

John Adams

Read this letter at the National Archives website

More information about this quote

Topic

Morality and politics Political theory American experiment

Author

John Adams

Source

Letters of John Adams

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1798 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Adams, John. Letter to the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts. 11 Oct. 1798.

Back then, government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

Ronald Reagan

More information about this quote

Topic

Government regulation

Speaker

Ronald Reagan

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1986 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Reagan, Ronald. Remarks to state chairs in Washington, DC. National White House Conference on Small Business. 15 Aug. 1986, Old Executive Office Building, Washington, DC, USA.

There are no necessary evils in the government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favor alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing.

Andrew Jackson

More information about this quote

Topic

Government Political theory

Speaker

Andrew Jackson

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1832 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Jackson, Andrew. Veto message on bank bill. Congress meeting. 10 July 1832, U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history.

Gerald Ford

More information about this quote

Topic

Impeachment American politics

Speaker

Gerald Ford

Language

English

Time

1970 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Ford, Gerald. Remarks in the U.S. House of Representatives in an effort to impeach Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas. House of Representatives meeting. 15 Apr. 1970, House of Representatives Chamber, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

My position as regards the moneyed interests can be put in a few words. In every civilized society property rights must be carefully safeguarded; ordinarily, and in the great majority of cases, human rights and property rights are fundamentally and in the long run identical; but when it clearly appears that there is a real conflict between them, human rights must have the upper hand, for property belongs to man and not man to property.

Theodore Roosevelt

More information about this quote

Topic

Property rights

Speaker

Theodore Roosevelt

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1910 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Roosevelt, Theodore, Jr. "Citizenship in a Republic." 23 Apr. 1910, Sorbonne University, Paris, France.

Current Citation

Roosevelt, Theodore, Jr. "Citizenship in a Republic." Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.: Letters and Speeches, edited by Louis Auchincloss. Library of America, 2004.

The chief business of the American people is business.

Calvin Coolidge

More information about this quote

Topic

American character Americans Business

Speaker

Calvin Coolidge

Source

The Press Under a Free Government (Speech)

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1925 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Coolidge, Calvin. "The Press Under a Free Government." American Society of Newspaper Editors meeting. 17 Jan. 1925, Washington, DC, USA.

Every project has been found to be no better than committing the lamb to the custody of the wolf, except that one which is called a balance of power.

John Adams

More information about this quote

Topic

Constitutional theory Political theory

Author

John Adams

Source

Letters of John Adams

Medium

Letter

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1789 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Adams, John. Letter to Roger Sherman. 17 July 1789.

Current Citation

Adams, John. "Correspondence with Roger Sherman and John Taylor." The Portable John Adams. Penguin Classics, 2004.

Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima... The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East.

Harry Truman

More information about this quote

Topic

Nuclear weapons World War II

Speaker

Harry Truman

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1945 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Truman, Harry S. First announcement of the atomic bomb. 6 Aug. 1945, The White House, Washington, DC, USA.

I don't want loyalty. I want loyalty. I want him to kiss my ass in Macy's window at high noon and tell me it smells like roses. I want his pecker in my pocket.

Lyndon B. Johnson

On a prospective assistant.

More information about this quote

Topic

Loyalty

Speaker

Lyndon B. Johnson

Language

English

Time

1967 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Johnson, Lyndon B. Lyndon Johnson demanding loyalty from a potential White House hire. c. 1967, Washington, DC, USA.

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. 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 the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.

Calvin Coolidge

More information about this quote

Topic

Equality Political progress Political theory American founding

Speaker

Calvin Coolidge

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1926 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Coolidge, Calvin. Speech on the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 5 July 1926, Philadelphia, PA, USA.