Statesmen’s Quotes

Statesmen and politicians say some pretty clever things . . . and some pretty stupid things. You’ll find a pretty good mix here.

To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them. — George Mason

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. — Sir Winston Churchill

I think the American people want a solemn ass as a President, and I think I’ll go along with them. — President Calvin Coolidge (R)

The words of a President have an enormous weight, and ought not to be used indiscriminately. — President Calvin Coolidge (R)

Important principles may, and must, be inflexible. — President Abraham Lincoln (R)

So, let us not be blind to our differences—but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. — President John F. Kennedy (D)

History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. — Sir Winston Churchill

It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first. — President Ronald Reagan (R)

Chronic wrongdoing, or an impotence which results in a general loosening of the ties of civilized society, may ultimately require intervention by some civilized nation — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix. — Vice President Dan Quayle (R)

All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom; justice; honor; duty; mercy; hope. — Sir Winston Churchill

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. — Unknown (misattributed to Mahatma Gandhi)

A man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights. Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions. — President James Madison (Democratic-Republican)

But let us never forget . . . beyond Europe’s borders, in a world where oppression and violence are very real, liberation is still a moral goal, and freedom and security still need defenders. — President George W. Bush (R)

After two years in Washington, I often long for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood. — Senator Fred Thompson (R-TN)

Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate. — President John F. Kennedy (D)

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface. The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters. — President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R)

A liberal is a conservative who hasn’t been mugged yet. — Frank Rizzo

The most successful politician is he who says what everybody is thinking most often and in the loudest voice. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

The things Congress does best are nothing and overreacting. — Ambassador Tom Korologos

Government doesn’t solve problems, it subsidizes them. — President Ronald Reagan (R)

One way to make sure crime doesn’t pay would be to let the government run it. — President Ronald Reagan (R)

The only thing that saves us from the bureaucracy is its inefficiency. — Senator Eugene McCarthy (D-MN)

Unlike presidential administrations, problems rarely have terminal dates. — President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R)

A statesman is a politician who’s been dead for ten or fifteen years. — President Harry S Truman (D)

If you think too much about being reelected, it is very difficult to be worth reelecting. — President Woodrow Wilson (D)

The last time I spoke for only twelve minutes was when I said hello to my mother. — Vice President Hubert Humphrey (D)

The sound of tireless voices is the price we pay for the right to hear the music of our own opinions. — Governor Adlai Stevenson (D-IL)

The wisest thing to do with a fool is encourage him to hire a hall and discourse to his fellow citizens. Nothing chills nonsense like exposure to air. — President Woodrow Wilson (D)

In America, anybody can be president. That’s one of the risks you take. — Governor Adlai Stevenson (D-IL)

University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small. — Sec. of State Henrey Kissinger (R)

I would have made a good Pope. — President Richard Nixon (R)

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. — President John F. Kennedy (D)

Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along…. We have an obligation to call this what it is: the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history. — President George W. Bush (R)

Gun control historically serves as a gateway to tyranny. Tyrants from Hitler to Mao to Stalin have sought to disarm their own citizens, for the simple reason that unarmed people are easier to control. — Representative Ron Paul (R-TX)

Our Founders, having just expelled the British army, knew that the right to bear arms serves as the guardian of every other right. This is the principle so often ignored by both sides in the gun control debate. Only armed citizens can resist tyrannical government. — Representative Ron Paul (R-TX)

I do believe that where there is a choice only between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence. — Mahatma Ghandhi

A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government. — President George Washington

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. — President Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican)

Neither the United States of America nor the world community of nations can tolerate deliberate deception and offensive threats on the part of any nation. . . . We no longer live in a world where only the actual firing of weapons represents an efficient challenge to a nation’s security to constitute maximum peril. — President John F. Kennedy (D)

Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest. — Mahatma Gandhi

Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? . . . If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands? — Governor Patrick Henry (VA)

We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions. — President Ronald Reagan (R)

A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have. — President Gerald Ford (R)

The course of history shows that as the government grows, liberty decreases. — President Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican)

The right of self-defense never ceases. It is among the most sacred, and alike necessary to nations and to individuals. — President James Monroe (Democratic-Republican)

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. — Sir Winston Churchill

It isn’t that liberals are ignorant. It’s just that they know so much that isn’t so. — President Ronald Reagan (R)

It is to me a new and consolatory proof that wherever the people are well-informed they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights. — President Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican)

One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project. Most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care for people who possibly can’t afford it. — President Ronald Reagan (R)

There’s an old saying in Tennessee…I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee…that says, fool me once, shame on…shame on you. Fool me…you can’t get fooled again. — President George W. Bush (R)

Our citizens have been always free to make, vend, and export arms…the benefits of them will be left equally free and open to all. — President Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican)

Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure, when we’ve removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of people that these liberties are the gifts of God? — President Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican)

It is a fact, too—although a curious one—that the sale of small arms to gun enthusiasts or sportsmen produces a greater sense of moral outrage in western society than is produced by the sale to psychotic despots of weaponry capable of killing thousands. — Margaret Thatcher

Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils. — General John Stark

Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! — Governor Patrick Henry (VA)

All the armies of Europe combined could not by force make a track upon the Blue Ridge, or take a drink from the Ohio. If we are to be destroyed, we must do it ourselves. — President Abraham Lincoln (R)

In free government the rulers are the servants, and the people their superiors and sovereigns. — Benjamin Franklin

God who gave us life gave us liberty. — President Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican)

Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. — President George Washington

It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood. — President James Madison (Democratic-Republican), The Federalist #62

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. — Benjamin Franklin

Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power. — Benjamin Franklin

I’ve lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing Proofs I see of this Truth: That God governs in the Affairs of Men. — Benjamin Franklin

…in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. — Benjamin Franklin

If Men are so wicked as we now see them with Religion what would they be if without it? — Benjamin Franklin

Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people’s money. — Margaret Thatcher

Americans are a free people, who know that freedom is the right of every person and the future of every nation. The liberty we prize is not America’s gift to the world, it is God’s gift to humanity. — President George W. Bush (R)

The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country. — President George Washington

The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the republican model of government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people. — President George Washington

It is infinitely better to have a few good men than many indifferent ones. — President George Washington

The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. — President George Washington

Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened. — President George Washington

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 tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions. — President Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican)

Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost. — President Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican)

The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. — President Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican)

I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground: That ‘all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people.’ To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power…. — President Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican)

The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government. — President Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican)

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. — President Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican)

It is not by the consolidation or concentration, of powers, but by their distribution that good government is effected. — President Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican)

I agree with you that in politics the middle way is none at all. — President John Adams (Federalist)

Virtue is not always amiable. — President John Adams (Federalist)

The right of a nation to kill a tyrant, in cases of necessity, can no more be doubted, than to hang a robber, or kill a flea. But killing one tyrant only makes way for worse, unless the people have sense, spirit, and honesty enough to establish and support a constitution guarded at all points against the tyranny of the one, the few, and the many. — President John Adams (Federalist)

Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations…. — President James Madison (Democratic-Republican)

If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the general welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one subject to particular exceptions. — President James Monroe (Democratic-Republican)

The government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government. — President James Monroe (Democratic-Republican)

A popular Government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives. — President James Madison (Democratic-Republican)

Suspicion is a virtue as long as its object is the public good, and as long as it stays within proper bounds…. Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. — Governor Patrick Henry (VA)

It has been observed that a pure democracy if it were practicable would be the most perfect government. Experience has proved that no position is more false than this. — Sec. of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton (Federalist)

Civil liberty is only natural liberty, modified and secured by the sanctions of civil society. It is not a thing, in its own nature, precarious and dependent on human will and caprice; but it is conformable to the constitution of man, as well as necessary to the well-being of society. — Sec. of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton (Federalist)

…the [National Rifle] Association fills an important role in our national defense effort, and fosters in an active and meaningful fashion the spirit of the Minutemen. — President John F. Kennedy (D)

I have attended public worship in all countries and with all sects and believe them all much better than no religion, though I have not thought myself obliged to believe all I heard. — President John Adams (Federalist)

I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say there is no God. — President Abraham Lincoln (R), (as recollected by Gilbert J. Greene)

Any people anywhere being inclined and having the power have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable, a most sacred right—a right which we hope and believe is to liberate the world. — President Abraham Lincoln (R)

Let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man, this race and that race and the other race being inferior and therefore they must be placed in an inferior position. Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people throughout this land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal. — President Abraham Lincoln (R)

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it. — President Abraham Lincoln (R)

[A] great Empire, like a great Cake, is most easily diminished at the Edges. — Benjamin Franklin

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure. — President Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican)

Be not intimidated . . . nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberties by any pretense of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery[,] and cowardice. — President John Adams (Federalist)

Such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths. — President James Madison (Democratic-Republican)

If men were angels, no government would be necessary. — President James Madison (Democratic-Republican)

The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. — President James Madison (Democratic-Republican)

America seeks no earthly empire built on blood and force…. The higher state to which she seeks the allegiance of all mankind is not of human, but of divine origin. She cherishes no purpose save to merit the favor of Almighty God. — President Calvin Coolidge (R), 1925 Inaugural Address

Now anything the people demand that is right it is most clearly and most emphatically the duty of this Legislature to do; but we should never yield to what they demand if it is wrong. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

I would rather go out of politics having the feeling that I had done what was right than stay in with the approval of all men, knowing in my heart that I have acted as I ought not to. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives. — Abba Eban

Show me that age and country where the rights and liberties of the people were placed on the sole chance of their rulers being good men, without a consequent loss of liberty? — Governor Patrick Henry (VA)

Occasionally he stumbled over the truth, but hastily picked himself up and hurried on as if nothing had happened. — Sir Winston Churchill

[President Theodore] Roosevelt’s [R] all right, but he’s got no more use for the Constitution than a tomcat has for a marriage license. — Representative Joe Cannon (R-IL 18th)

If a man has a very decided character, has a strongly accentuated career, it is normally the case of course that he makes ardent friends and bitter enemies. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

[My father] gave me a piece of advice that I have always remembered, namely, that, if I was not going to earn money, I must even things up by not spending it. As he expressed it, I had to keep the fraction constant, and if I was not able to increase the numerator, then I must reduce the denominator. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

…the more I see the better satisfied I am that I am an American; free born and free bred, where I acknowledge no man as my superior, except for his own worth, or as my inferior, except for his own demerit. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

Better a thousand times err on the side of over-readiness to fight, than to err on the side of tame submission to injury, or cold-blooded indifference to the misery of the oppressed. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

Diplomacy is utterly useless when there is no force behind it; the diplomat is the servant, not the master of the soldier. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

It is through strife, or the readiness for strife, that a nation must win greatness. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

We are not making a revolution, we are merely recognizing and giving shape to an evolution. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

[President William] McKinley [R] has his ear so close to the ground it’s always full of grasshoppers. — Representative Joe Cannon (R-IL 18th)

The friendliness and charity of our countrymen can always be relied upon to relieve their fellow-citizens in misfortune…. Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character, while it prevents the indulgence among our people of that kindly sentiment and conduct which strengthens the bonds of a common brotherhood. — President Grover Cleveland (D)

The feminists hate me, don’t they? And I don’t blame them. For I hate feminism. It is poison. — Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (United Kingdom)

The said Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of The United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms. — Gov. Samuel Adams (Democratic-Republican-MA)

If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom–go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! — Gov. Samuel Adams (MA-Democratic-Republican)

If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves. — Sir Winston Churchill

To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical. — President Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican)

Some pundits said our programs would result in catastrophe. Our views on foreign affairs would cause war. Our plans for the economy would cause inflation to soar and bring about economic collapse…. Well, [they] were wrong. The fact is, what they called ‘radical’ was really ‘right.’ What they called ‘dangerous’ was just ‘desperately needed.’ — President Ronald Reagan (R)

I wasn’t a great communicator, but I communicated great things, and they didn’t spring full bloom from my brow, they came from the heart of a great nation—from our experience, our wisdom, and our belief in the principles that have guided us for two centuries. — President Ronald Reagan (R)

The lesson of all this was, of course, that because we’re a great nation, our challenges seem complex. It will always be this way. But as long as we remember our first principles and believe in ourselves, the future will always be ours. — President Ronald Reagan (R)

The family is the cornerstone of our society. More than any other force it shapes the attitude, the hopes, the ambitions, and the values of the child. And when the family collapses it is the children that are usually damaged. When it happens on a massive scale the community itself is crippled. — President Lyndon B. Johnson (D)

I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. — Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ)

I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue! — Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ)

Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. — Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ)

Equality, rightly understood, as our founding fathers understood it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation of creative differences. Wrongly understood, as it has been so tragically in our time, it leads first to conformity and then to despotism. — Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ)

My faith in the future rests squarely on the belief that man, if he doesn’t first destroy himself, will find new answers in the universe, new technologies, new disciplines, which will contribute to a vastly different and better world in the twenty-first century. — Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ)

Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual…but rather he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country. — Gov. Samuel Adams (Democratic-Republican-MA)

Every man of power by the very fact of that power, is capable of doing damage to his neighbors; but we cannot afford to discourage the development of such men merely because it is possible they may use their power for wrong ends. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

Probably the greatest harm done by vast wealth is the harm that we of moderate means do ourselves when we let the vices of envy and hatred enter deep into our own hearts. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

Normally the man of great productive capacity who becomes rich by guiding the labor of many other men does so by enabling them to produce more than they could produce without his guidance; and both he and they share in the benefit, which comes also to the public at large. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

Here is the thing you must bear in mind: I do not represent public opinion; I represent the public. There is a wide difference between the two, between the real interests of the public, and the public’s opinion of these interests. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

To be neutral between right and wrong is to serve wrong. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer. — Benjamin Franklin

Identity politics is corrosive to the great American melting pot and we reject it. We must reject the notion that demography is destiny, the pathetic and simplistic notion that skin pigmentation dictates voter behavior. We must treat all people as individuals rather than as members of special interest groups. — Governor Bobby Jindal (R-LA)

A tax, in the general understanding of the term, and as used in the Constitution, signifies an exaction for the support of the Government. The word has never been thought to connote the expropriation of money from one group for the benefit of another. — Justice Owen Roberts

The question is not what power the Federal Government ought to have, but what powers, in fact, have been given by the people…. The federal union is a government of delegated powers. It has only such as are expressly conferred upon it and such as are reasonably to be implied from those granted. — Justice Owen Roberts

From the accepted doctrine that the United States is a government of delegated powers, it follows that those not expressly granted, or reasonably to be implied from such as are conferred, are reserved to the states, or to the people. To forestall any suggestion to the contrary, the Tenth Amendment was adopted. — Justice Owen Roberts

If the Constitution, intelligently and reasonably construed, stands in the way of desirable legislation, the blame must rest upon that instrument, and not upon the court for enforcing it according to its terms. The remedy in that situation—and the only true remedy—is to amend the Constitution. — Justice George Sutherland

It would be a master stroke if those great Powers honestly bent on peace would form a League of Peace, not only to keep the peace among themselves, but to prevent, by force if necessary, its being broken by others. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

The people have spoken, and the politicians must learn to answer or understand. They will be made to understand that they are the servants of the rank and file of the plain citizens of the republic. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

The great mass of ordinary commonplace men of dull imagination who simply vote under the party symbol and whom it is almost as difficult to stir by any appeal to the higher emotions and intelligence as it would be to stir so many cattle. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

There can be no higher international duty than to safeguard the existence and independence of industrious, orderly states, with a high personal and national standard of conduct, but without the military force of the great powers. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

The one certain way to invite disaster is to be opulent, offensive, and unarmed. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

The way to treat an adversary like [Theodore] Roosevelt is to gaze at the stars over his head. — President Woodrow Wilson (D)

We treat education as a social issue. And I’ll tell you what happens with social issues: When the budget crunch comes, they get swept under the rug, they get pushed aside. We have to start treating education as an economic issue. — Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee (D-DC)

We have a treaty that says we have to defend Taiwan in the event that it is attacked by China. The only problem is that we would now have to borrow the money from China to do it. — Unidentified Deficit Commission Member, (as recorded in ‘That Used to Be Us’ by Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum)

At any rate, while I am in public life, however short a time it may be, I am in honor bound to act up to my beliefs and convictions. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

In El Paso, the people are homicidal but orthodox. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

The captains of industry who have driven the railway systems across this continent, who have built up our commerce, who have developed our manufactures, have on the whole done great good to our people. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

The whole history of the world shows that legislation will generally be both unwise and ineffective unless undertaken after calm enquiry and with sober self-restraint. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

I had much rather be a real President for three years and a half than a figurehead for seven years and a half. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

[British Ambassador Sir Mortimer Durand] seems to have a brain of about eight guinea-pig power. — President Theodore Roosevelt (R)

Should Congress, under the pretext of executing its powers, pass laws for the accomplishment of objects not entrusted to the Government, it would become the painful duty of [the Supreme Court], should a case requiring such a decision come before it, to say that such an act was not the law of the land. — Chief Justice John Marshall, McCulloch v. Maryland

The Constitution does not prohibit legislatures from enacting stupid laws. — Justice Thurgood Marshall