American Presidents

Quotes from George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Herbert Hoover.

American Presidents' Quotes

“I apply the Abraham Lincoln test for moral casuistry: “If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.” Well, then, if waterboarding does not constitute t…

“People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.”

— Abraham Lincoln

“Honor is not the exclusive property of any political party.”

— Herbert Hoover

“All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.”

— Abraham Lincoln

The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.

—Thomas Jefferson

It is an axiom in my mind, that our liberty can never be safe but in the hands of the people themselves, and that too of the people with a certain degree of instruction. This it is the business of the State to effect, and on a general plan.

—Thomas Jefferson

I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.

—Thomas Jefferson

I am increasingly persuaded that the earth belongs exclusively to the living and that one generation has no more right to bind another to it’s laws and judgments than one independent nation has the right to command another.

—Thomas Jefferson

I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.

—Thomas Jefferson

On matters of style, swim with the current, on matters of principle, stand like a rock.

—Thomas Jefferson

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to appellation.

—George Washington

Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world that a Freeman, contending for liberty on his own ground, is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.

—George Washington

If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known, that we are at all times ready for War.

—George Washington

I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.

—Thomas Jefferson

But lest some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my reputation, I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room that I this day declare with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with.

—George Washington

To be prepared for War is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.

—George Washington

I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.

—Thomas Jefferson

I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.

—George Washington

There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people.

—Thomas Jefferson

Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.

—Thomas Jefferson

Experience teaches us that it is much easier to prevent an enemy from posting themselves than it is to dislodge them after they have got possession.

—George Washington

Never spend your money before you have it.

—Thomas Jefferson

A primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty more pressing than communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?

—George Washington

Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions any more than our opinions in physics or geometry.

—Thomas Jefferson

If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

—George Washington

The turning points of lives are not the great moments. The real crises are often concealed in occurrences so trivial in appearance that they pass unobserved.

—George Washington

The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon.

—George Washington

Associate yourself with men of good quality, if you esteem your own reputation; for ‘tis better to be alone than in bad company.

—George Washington

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few.

—George Washington

Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.

—George Washington