Famous Presidential Quotes From America's Leaders

In the line of 45 U.S. presidents, there have been highs and lows. For some, history has been kind; for others, the stories in textbooks are complicated. Nevertheless, it has been a long and successful journey of presidential democracy. Here is a collection of famous presidential quotes that will inspire you. 

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."

William Henry Harrison:

"There is nothing more corrupting, nothing more destructive of the noblest and finest feelings of our nature, than the exercise of unlimited power."

Abraham Lincoln:

"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and, under a just God, cannot long retain it."

Ulysses S. Grant:

"Labor disgraces no man, but occasionally men disgrace labor."

Rutherford B. Hayes:

"One of the tests of the civilization of people is the treatment of its criminals."

Benjamin Harrison:

"Have you not learned that not stocks or bonds or stately houses, or products of the mill or field are our country? It is a spiritual thought that is in our minds."

William McKinley:

"The mission of the United States is one of benevolent assimilation."

Theodore Roosevelt:

"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. In this life, we get nothing save by effort."

William H. Taft:

"Don't write so that you can be understood; write so that you can't be misunderstood."

Woodrow Wilson:

"No nation is fit to sit in judgment upon any other nation."

Warren G. Harding:

"I don't know much about Americanism, but it's a damn good word with which to carry an election."

Calvin Coolidge:

"Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery."

Herbert Hoover:

"America—a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose."

Franklin D. Roosevelt:

"The only thing we have to fear is...fear itself."

Dwight D. Eisenhower:

"When you are in any contest, you should work as if there were—to the very last minute—a chance to lose it."

John F. Kennedy:

"Let us resolve to be masters, not the victims, of our history, controlling our own destiny without giving way to blind suspicions and emotions."

Lyndon B. 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."

Richard Nixon:

"A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits."

Jimmy Carter:

"Aggression unopposed becomes a contagious disease."

Bill Clinton:

"We must teach our children to resolve their conflicts with words, not weapons."