Coolidge Calvin Quotes & Sayings

War is the rule of force, and peace is the reign of law. — Calvin Coolidge

The only way I know to drive out evil from the country is by the constructive method of filling it with good. — Calvin Coolidge

I think the Senate ought to realize that I have to have about me those in whom I have confidence; and unless they find a real blemish on a man, I do not think they ought to make partisan politics out of appointments to the Cabinet. — Calvin Coolidge

If there is to be responsible party government, the party label must be something more than a mere device for securing office. Unless those who are elected under the same party designation are willing to assume sufficient responsibility and exhibit sufficient loyalty and coherence, so that they can cooperate with each other in the support of the broad general principles, of the party platform, the election is merely a mockery, no decision is made at the polls, and there is no representation of the popular will. — Calvin Coolidge

We have too much legislating by clamor, by tumult, by pressure. Representative government ceases when outside influence of any kind is substituted for the judgment of the representative. — Calvin Coolidge

What we need in appointive positions is men of knowledge and experience who have sufficient character to resist temptations. — Calvin Coolidge

Baseball is our national game. — Calvin Coolidge

No man ever listened himself out of a job. — Calvin Coolidge

The right thing to do never requires any subterfuge, it is always simple and direct. — Calvin Coolidge

We cannot permit any inquisition either within or without the law or apply any religious test to the holding of office. The mind of America must be forever free. — Calvin Coolidge

The appropriation of public money always is perfectly lovely until some one is asked to pay the bill. If we are to have a billion dollars of navy, half a billion of farm relief, [etc. ] the people will have to furnish more revenue by paying more taxes. It is for them, through their Congress, to decide how far they wish to go. — Calvin Coolidge

The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten. — Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge was the greatest man who ever came out of Plymouth Corner, Vermont. — Clarence Darrow

No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward a time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction cannot lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient than those of our Revolutionary ancestors. — Calvin Coolidge

We need not concern ourselves much about rights of property if we faithfully observe the rights of persons. — Calvin Coolidge

Coolidge expressed his "sympathy with the deep and intense longing which finds such fine expression in the Jewish National Homeland in Palestine." — Calvin Coolidge

I have noticed that nothing I never said ever did me any harm. — Calvin Coolidge

The Jews themselves, of whom a considerable number were already scattered throughout the colonies, were true to the teachings of their prophets. The Jewish faith is predominantly the faith of liberty. — Calvin Coolidge

There is far more danger of harm than there is hope of good in any radical changes. — Calvin Coolidge

You don't have to explain something you never said. — Calvin Coolidge

You have to stand every day three or four hours of visitors. Nine-tenths of them want something they ought not to have. If you keep dead-still they will run down in three or four minutes. If you even cough or smile they will start up all over again. — Calvin Coolidge

No person was ever honored for what he recieved. Honor has been the reward for what he gave. — Calvin Coolidge

In other periods of depression, it has always been possible to see some things which were solid and upon which you could base hope, but as I look about, I now see nothing to give ground to hope-nothing of man. — Calvin Coolidge

Government price-fixing once started, has alike no justice and no end. It is an economic folly from which this country has every right to be spared. — Calvin Coolidge

Restricted immigration is not an offensive but purely a defensive action. It is not adopted in criticism of others in the slightest degree, but solely for the purpose of protecting ourselves. We cast no aspersions on any race or creed, but we must remember that every object of our institutions of society and government will fail unless America be kept American. — Calvin Coolidge

I've heard this attributed to Calvin Coolidge. "Behold the turtle. He never gets anywhere unless he sticks his neck out. — Mike Coyle

After order and liberty, economy is one of the highest essentials of a free government. — Calvin Coolidge

In its main features the Declaration of Independence is a great spiritual document. It is a declaration not of material but of spiritual conceptions. Equality, liberty, popular sovereignty, the rights of man - these are not elements which we can see and touch. They are ideals. They have their source and their roots in the religious convictions. They belong to the unseen world. Unless the faith of the American people in these religious convictions is to endure, the principles of our Declaration will perish. We can not continue to enjoy the result if we neglect and abandon the cause. — Calvin Coolidge

If a painting of a tree was only the exact representation of the original, so that it looked just like the tree, there would be no reason for making it; we might as well look at the tree itself. But the painting, if it is of the right sort, gives something that neither a photograph nor a view of the tree conveys. It emphasizes something of character, quality, individuality. We are not lost in looking at thorns and defects; we catch a vision of the grandeur and beauty of a king of the forest. — Calvin Coolidge

Advertising is the life of trade. — Calvin Coolidge

It would be difficult to conceive a finer example of true sport. — Calvin Coolidge

It is very difficult to reconcile the American ideal of a sovereign people capable of owning and managing their own government with an inability to own and manage their own business. — Calvin Coolidge

The business of the country is business. — Calvin Coolidge

I have never been hurt by what I have not said. — Calvin Coolidge

Advertising ministers to the spiritual side of trade. It is great power that has been entrusted to your keeping which charges you with the high responsibility of inspiring and ennobling the commercial world. It is all part of the greater work of the regeneration and redemption of mankind. — Calvin Coolidge

The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country. — Calvin Coolidge

One day the President and Mrs. Coolidge were visiting a government farm. Soon after their arrival they were taken off on separate tours. When Mrs. Coolidge passed the chicken pens she paused to ask the man in charge if the rooster copulates more than once each day. "Dozens of times, was the reply." "Please tell that to the President," Mrs. Coolidge requested. When the President passed the pens and was told about the roosters, he asked "Same hen every time?" "Oh no, Mr. President, a different one each time." The President nodded slowly, then said, "Tell that to Mrs. Coolidge." — Calvin Coolidge

Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. — Calvin Coolidge

I have found it advisable not to give too much heed to what people say when I am trying to accomplish something of consequence. Invariably they proclaim it can't be done. I deem that the very best time to make the effort. — Calvin Coolidge

Nothing can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrecognized genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are the omnipotent. Calvin Coolidge 30th President — R. Padfield

To place your name by gift or bequest in the keeping of an active educational institution is to ... make a permanent contribution to the welfare of humanity. — Calvin Coolidge

Wherever we look, the work of the chemist has raised the level of our civilization and has increased the productive capacity of our nation. — Calvin Coolidge

It is only when men begin to worship that they begin to grow. — Calvin Coolidge

Mass demand has been created almost entirely through the development of advertising. — Calvin Coolidge

On being told of the death of former President Calvin Coolidge: How could they tell? — Dorothy Parker

Freedom is not only bought with a great price; it is maintained by unremitting effort. — Calvin Coolidge

In a republic the first rule for the guidance of the citizen is obedience of the law. — Calvin Coolidge

Whenever Nature's bounty is in danger of exhaustion, the chemist has sought for a substitute. The conquest of disease has made great progress as a result of your efforts. Wherever we look, the work of the chemist has raised the level of our civilization and has increased the productive capacity of the nation. Waste materials, formerly cast aside, are now being utilized. — Calvin Coolidge

[May] this civic and social landmark [the Washington, D.C., Jewish Community Center] ... be a constant reminder of the inspiring service that has been rendered to civilization by men and women of the Jewish faith. May [visitors] recall the long array of those who have been eminent in statecraft, in science, in literature, in art, in the professions, in business, in finance, in philanthropy and in the spiritual life of the world. — Calvin Coolidge

We have found that when men and women are left free to find the places for which they are best fitted, some few of them will indeed attain less exalted stations than under a regime of privilege; but the vast multitude will rise to a higher level, to wider horizons, to worthier attainments. — Calvin Coolidge

There is new life in the soil for every man. There is healing in the trees for tired minds and for our overburdened spirits, there is strength in the hills, if only we will lift up our eyes. Remember that nature is your great restorer. — Calvin Coolidge

Because of what America is and what America has done, a firmer courage, a higher hope, inspires the heart of all humanity. — Calvin Coolidge

While we should not refuse to spend and be spent in the service of our country, it is hazardous to attempt what we feel is beyond our strength to accomplish. — Calvin Coolidge

The world is full of educated derelicts — Calvin Coolidge

The presidency does not yield to definition. Like the glory of a morning sunrise, it can be experienced. — Calvin Coolidge

The two great political parties of the nation have existed for the purpose, each in accordance with its own principles, of undertaking to serve the interests of the whole nation. Their members of the Congress are chosen with that great end in view. — Calvin Coolidge

Anytime you don't want anything you get it. — Calvin Coolidge

Whether one traces his Americanism back three centuries to the Mayflower, or three years to the steerage, is not half so important as whether his Americanism of today is real and genuine. No matter by what various crafts we came here, we are all now in the same boat. — Calvin Coolidge

Despotism has forever had a powerful hold upon the world. Autocratic government, not self-government, has been the prevailing state of mankind. The record of past history is the record, not of the success of republics, but of their failure. — Calvin Coolidge

It is accordance with our determination to refrain from aggression and build up a sentiment and practice among nations more favorable to peacethat we have incurred the consent of fourteen important nations to the negotiation of a treaty condemning recourse to war, renouncing it as an instrument of national policy. — Calvin Coolidge

When large numbers of men are unable to find work, unemployment results. — Calvin Coolidge

It has become the custom in our country to expect all Chief Executives, from the President down, to conduct activities analogous to an entertainment bureau. No occasion is too trivial for its promoters to invite them to attend and deliver an address. — Calvin Coolidge

There has been abroad many times some criticism of our Government, of our people, and our ways, but that has demonstrated, I think, that when they are in real trouble and real difficulty over there, they turn to us as a nation that will be fair with them
one in whose judgment and in whose character they can rely; and that not withstanding differences that have seemed to exist, they are willing to abide by the faith that they have in us, and I think that is a very substantial accomplishment. — Calvin Coolidge

The most remarkable thing about Calvin Coolidge is that he served for 67 months, and when he left office, the budget was lower than he came in. In real terms - in nominal terms with vanilla on top - he cut the budget year over year. — Amity Shlaes

Those who want their rights respected under the Constitution and the law ought to set the example themselves of observing the Constitution and the law. While there may be those of high intelligence who violate the law at times, the barbarian and the defective always violate it. Those who disregard the rules of society are not exhibiting a superior intelligence, are not promoting freedom and independence, are not following the path of civilization, but are displaying the traits of ignorance, of servitude, of savagery, and treading the way that leads back to the jungle. — Calvin Coolidge

It would be folly to argue that the people cannot make political mistakes. They can and do make grave mistakes. They know it, they pay the penalty, but compared with the mistakes which have been made by every kind of autocracy they are unimportant. — Calvin Coolidge

A government which requires of the people the contribution of the bulk of their substance and rewards cannot be classed as a free government ... — Calvin Coolidge

When each citizen submits himself to the authority of law he does not thereby decrease his independence or freedom, but rather increases it. By recognizing that he is a part of a larger body which is banded together for a common purpose, he becomes more than an individual, he rises to a new dignity of citizenship. Instead of finding himself restricted and confined by rendering obedience to public law, he finds himself protected and defended and in the exercise of increased and increasing rights. — Calvin Coolidge

We live an age of science and of abounding accumulation of material things. These did not create the Declaration. Our Declaration created them ... If we are to maintain the great heritage which has been bequeathed to us, we must be like-minded as the fathers who created it. — Calvin Coolidge

Little progress can be made by merely attempting to repress what is evil. Our great hope lies in developing what is good. — Calvin Coolidge

Inflation is repudiation. — Calvin Coolidge

I guess I am not naturally energetic. I like to sit around and talk. — Calvin Coolidge

The people cannot look to legislation generally for success. Industry, thrift, character, are not conferred by act or resolve. Government cannot relieve from toil. It can provide no substitute for the rewards of service. It can, of course, care for the defective and recognize distinguished merit. The normal must care for themselves. Self-government means self-support. — Calvin Coolidge

The good people of Dakota offered to give Calvin Coolidge a farm if he would live on it. I wouldn't advise you to give those people too much credit for generosity. There is not a farmer in any State in the West that wouldn't be glad to give him a farm if he will paint it, fix up the fences and keep up the series of mortgages that are on it. And if you think Coolidge ain't smart, you just watch him not take it. — Will Rogers

I should be very sorry to see the United States holding anyone in confinement on account of any opinion that that person might hold. It is a fundamental tenet of our institutions that people have a right to believe what they want to believe and hold such opinions as they want to hold without having to answer to anyone for their private opinion. — Calvin Coolidge

The strength of a country is the strength of its religious convictions. — Calvin Coolidge

Business will be either better or worse. — Calvin Coolidge

No enterprise can exist for itself alone. It ministers to some great need, it performs some great service, not for itself, but for others; or failing therein, it ceases to be profitable and ceases to exist. — Calvin Coolidge

You know, I have found out in the course of a long public life that the things I did not say never hurt me. — Calvin Coolidge

It has not been my fortune to know very much of Freemasonry, but I have had the great fortune to know many Freemasons and have been able in that way to judge the tree by its fruit. I know of your high ideals. I have seen that you hold your meetings in the presence of the open Bible, and I know that men who observe that formality have high sentiments of citizenship, of worth, and character. That is the strength of our Commonwealth and nation. — Calvin Coolidge

Don't you know that four fifths of all our troubles in this life would disappear if we would just sit down and keep still? — Calvin Coolidge

One of the greatest favors that can be bestowed upon the American people is economy in government. — Calvin Coolidge

No Congress of the United States ever assembled, on surveying the state of the Union, has met with a more pleasing prospect than that which appears at the present time. In the domestic field there is tranquillity and contentment, harmonious relations between management and wage earner, freedom from industrial strife, and the highest record of years of prosperity. — Calvin Coolidge

Human nature provides sufficient distrust of all that is alien, so that there is no need of any artificial supply. — Calvin Coolidge

Economy is idealism in its most practical form. — Calvin Coolidge

Of course our school life was not free from pranks. The property of the townspeople was moved to strange places in the night. One morning as the janitor was starting the furnace he heard a loud bray from one of the class rooms. His investigation disclosed the presence there of a domestic animal noted for his long ears and discordant voice. In some way during the night he had been stabled on the second floor. About as far as I deem it prudent to discuss my own connection with these escapades is to record that I was never convicted of any of them and so must be presumed innocent. — Calvin Coolidge

If I had permitted my failures, or what seemed to me at the time a lack of success, to discourage me I cannot see any way in which I would ever have made progress. — Calvin Coolidge

If we expect others to rely on our fairness and justice we must show that we rely on their fairness and justice. — Calvin Coolidge

Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration has been minding my own business. — Calvin Coolidge

It is not in violence and crime that our greatest danger lies. These evils are so perfectly apparent that they very quickly arouse the moral power of the people for their suppression. A far more serious danger lurks in the shirking of those responsibilities of citizenship, where the evil may not be so noticeable but is more insidious and likely to be more devastating. — Calvin Coolidge

I think the American public wants a solemn ass as a president, and I think I'll go along with them. — Calvin Coolidge

It seems impossible that any man could adequately describe his mother. I cannot describe mine. — Calvin Coolidge

Industry, thrift and self-control are not sought because they create wealth, but because they create character. — Calvin Coolidge

Measured by the standards of men of their time, [the Pilgrims] were the humble of the earth. Measured by later accomplishments, they were the mighty. In appearance weak and persecuted they came
rejected, despised
an insignificant band; in reality strong and independent, a mighty host of whom the world was not worthy destined to free mankind. — Calvin Coolidge

We do not need more intellectual power, we need more spiritual power. We do not need more of the things that are seen, we need more of the things that are unseen. — Calvin Coolidge

It takes a great man to be a good listener. — Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge, "There is no right to strike against the public safety, by anybody, anywhere, at any time." In — Bill O'Reilly

But this does not detract from the wisdom of his faith in the people and his constant insistence that they be left to manage their own affairs. His opposition to bureaucracy will bear careful analysis, and the country could stand a great deal more of its application. The trouble with us is that we talk about Jefferson but do not follow him. In his theory that the people should manage their government, and not be managed by it, he was everlastingly right. — Calvin Coolidge

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. — Calvin Coolidge

We cannot weaken or destroy political parties in ther United States without weakening or destroying the rule of the people ... Those who support party organization and submit to party discipline are supporting the only course yet discovered for orderly government by the people. — Calvin Coolidge