Presidential Quotes - Page 5

Of course I wrote most of the Constitution myself. I remember hesitating for a long time over the US presidential system. But it wouldn't have done - we were too trained in English democracy to sit down under a dictatorship which is what the American system really is.

The disfranchisement of a single legal elector by fraud or intimidation is a crime too grave to be regarded lightly.

Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.

Legislation can neither be wise nor just which seeks the welfare of a single interest at the expense and to the injury of many and varied interests.

Admittedly, there is a risk in any course we follow other than this, but every lesson in history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement, and this is the specter our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face.

If government is to serve any purpose it is to do for others what they are unable to do for themselves.

There is more selfishness and less principle among members of Congress than I had any conception of, before I became President of the U.S.

Lincoln had faith in time, and time has justified his faith.

Every advance in this half-century-Social Security, civil rights, Medicare, aid to education, one after another-came with the support and leadership of American Labor.

Above all, tell the truth.

For more than half a century, during which kingdoms and empires have fallen, this Union has stood unshaken. The patriots who formed it have long since descended to the grave; yet still it remains, the proudest monument to their memory. . .

The road to tyranny, we must never forget, begins with the destruction of the truth.

There is nothing stable but Heaven and the Constitution.

Think about every problem, every challenge, we face. The solution to each starts with education.

If the rabble were lopped off at one end and the aristocrat at the other, all would be well with the country.

The ballot is stronger than the bullet.

It would be judicious to act with magnanimity towards a prostrate foe.

Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.

Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.

The world must be made safe for democracy.

I feel incompetent to perform duties...which have been so unexpectedly thrown upon me.

Our labor unions are not narrow, self-seeking groups. They have raised wages, shortened hours, and provided supplemental benefits. Through collective bargaining and grievance procedures, they have brought justice and democracy to the shop floor.

It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God.

In the experiences of a year of the Presidency, there has come to me no other such unwelcome impression as the manifest religious intolerance which exists among many of our citizens. I hold it to be a menace to the very liberties we boast and cherish.

The truth was that all men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.