AMERICA 250: Presidential Wisdom

This summer, as we celebrate the 250^th birthday of our founding on July 4, 1776, perhaps we could look back at some of the words of our past Presidents. Not everyone was as great an orator as Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, or Barack Obama, but many had words of wisdom culled from years of experience.

Gerald Ford: “I have always believed that most people are mostly good, most of the time.”

George Washington: “When one side only of a story is heard and often repeated, the human mind becomes impressed with it insensibly.”

George W. Bush: “To those of you who received honors, awards, and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say you, too, can be President of the United States!”

Abraham Lincoln: “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”

Theodore Roosevelt: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

Richard Nixon: “We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another.”

Ronald Reagan: “There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don't care who gets the credit.”

George Washington: “99% of failures come from people who make excuses.”

James K. Polk: “In his official action, he should not be the President of a party only, but of the whole people of the United States.”

Jimmy Carter: “We’ve learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose.”

Bill Clinton: “There is no them. There is only us.”

Benjamin Harrison: “I pity the man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth or shapes it into a garment will starve in the process.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt: “Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower: “Never waste a minute thinking about people you don’t like.”

John F. Kennedy: “One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.”

Ronald Reagan: “Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, leave the rest to God.”

George H.W. Bush: “Don't get down when your life takes a bad turn. Out of adversity comes challenge and often success.”

Bill Clinton: “We all do better when we work together. Our differences do matter, but our common humanity matters more.”

Woodrow Wilson: “I can imagine no greater disservice to the country than to establish a system of censorship that would deny to the people of a free republic like our own their indisputable right to criticize their own public officials.”

Barack Obama: “The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don't wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope.”

George H.W. Bush: “Think about every problem, every challenge, we face. The solution to each starts with education.”

Lyndon Johnson: “For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground.”

Thomas Jefferson: "Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching."

Andrew Jackson: "Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error." 

Martin Van Buren: "It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't."

Theodore Roosevelt: "It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed." 

John F. Kennedy: "Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction."

Harry S. Truman: "It's amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit."

James Monroe: “A little flattery will support a man through great fatigue”

John Quincy Adams: “Try and fail, but don’t fail to try.”

Martin Van Buren: “It’s easier to do a job right, than to explain why you didn’t.”

Abraham Lincoln: “Whatever you are, be a good one.”