In Honor of our Presidents

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In honor of our current, former, and in some cases infamous, US Presidents I've copied some quotes for you to think about. You can learn a lot from our past presidents. Some have shown us how to be truly great as leaders and human beings. Others have shown us with they actions and words what not to do. Many have shown us the value of perseverance, hard-work, and a willingness to serve others. But we are reminded also, that power does not make anyone infallible or honest. Holding the office of President of the United States can even magnify our imperfections as individuals. Either way you look at it, whether you love them or hate them, our presidents can show us the best and worst of what it means to be human and to be an American. 

1. George Washington: "Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth."

2. John Adams: "Let every sluice of knowledge be open and set a-flowing." 

3. Thomas Jefferson: "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."

4. James Madison: "I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations."

5. James Monroe: "A little flattery will support a man through great fatigue."

6.John Quincy Adams: "America, with the same voice which spoke herself into existence as a nation, proclaimed to mankind the inextinguishable rights of human nature, and the only lawful foundations of government." 

7. Andrew Jackson: "I know what I am fit for. I can command a body of men in a rough way; but I am not fit to be President."

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

9. William Henry Harrison: "A decent and manly examination of the acts of the Government should be not only tolerated, but encouraged." 

10. John Tyler: "Popularity, I have always thought, may aptly be compared to a coquette—the more you woo her, the more apt is she to elude your embrace."

11. James Knox Polk: "With me it is exceptionally true that the Presidency is no bed of roses."

12. Zachary Taylor: "It would be judicious to act with magnanimity towards a prostrate foe." 

13. Millard Fillmore: "An honorable defeat is better than a dishonorable victory."

14. Franklin Pierce: "The storm of frenzy and faction must inevitably dash itself in vain against the unshaken rock of the Constitution." 

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15. James Buchanan: "The ballot box is the surest arbiter of disputes among freemen." 

16. Abraham Lincoln: "Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?"

17. Andrew Johnson: "The goal to strive for is a poor government but a rich people."

18. Ulysses Simpson Grant: "My failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent." 

19. Rutherford Birchard Hayes: "Nothing brings out the lower traits of human nature like office seeking."

20. James Abram Garfield: "We can not overestimate the fervent love of liberty, the intelligent courage, and the sum of common sense with which our fathers made the great experiment of self-government."

21. Chester Alan Arthur: "If it were not for the reporters, I would tell you the truth." 

22. Stephen Grover Cleveland: "A man is known by the company he keeps, and also by the company from which he is kept out."

23. Benjamin Harrison: "No other people have a government more worthy of their respect and love or a land so magnificent in extent, so pleasant to look upon, and so full of generous suggestion to enterprise and labor."

24. William McKinley: "That's all a man can hope for during his lifetime—to set an example—and when he is dead, to be an inspiration for history."

25. Theodore Roosevelt: "The only man who makes no mistake is the man who does nothing."

26. William Howard Taft: "The intoxication of power rapidly sobers off in the knowledge of its restrictions and under the prompt reminder of an ever-present and not always considerate press, as well as the kindly suggestions that not infrequently come from Congress."

27. Thomas Woodrow Wilson: "If you want to make enemies, try to change something."

28. Warren Gamaliel Harding: ""My God, this is a hell of a job! I have no trouble with my enemies . . . but my damn friends, they're the ones that keep me walking the floor nights."

29. John Calvin Coolidge: "I have never been hurt by anything I didn't say." 

30. Herbert Clark Hoover: "A splendid storehouse of integrity and freedom has been bequeathed to us by our forefathers. In this day of confusion, of peril to liberty, our high duty is to see that this storehouse is not robbed of its contents."

31. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: "Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort."

32. Harry S. Truman: "You can not stop the spread of an idea by passing a law against it." 

33. Dwight David Eisenhower: "I never saw a pessimistic general win a battle." 

34. John Fitzgerald Kennedy: "The American, by nature, is optimistic. He is experimental, an inventor and a builder who builds best when called upon to build greatly."

35. Lyndon Baines Johnson: "You ain't learnin' nothin' when you're talkin'." 

36. Richard Milhous Nixon: "Always give your best, never get discouraged, never be petty; always remember, others may hate you. Those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself."

37. Gerald Rudolph Ford: "Truth is the glue that holds governments together. Compromise is the oil that makes governments go."

38. James Earl Carter Jr.: "The best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of emulation." 

39. Ronald Wilson Reagan: "America is too great for small dreams." 

40. George Herbert Walker Bush: "If anyone tells you that America's best days are behind her, they're looking the wrong way."

41. William Jefferson Clinton: "We need a spirit of community, a sense that we are all in this together. If we have no sense of community, the American dream will wither."

42. George Walker Bush: "Recognizing and confronting our history is important. Transcending our history is essential. We are not limited by what we have done, or what we have left undone. We are limited only by what we are willing to do."

43. Barack Obama: "Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."

Read more: Presidential Quotes | Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/spot/presquotes1.html#ixzz2th6SG89f