Memorable Presidential Quotes for President's Day

Presidents Day, stemming from Washington's Birthday, is celebrated on the third Monday of February. It was implemented in 1880 for Washington, D.C. and has grown since 1885 to include all federal offices within the United States. As an homage to the Presidents, here is a list of the most memorable Presidential quotes in my opinion. Here we are, starting from George Washington and ending at George W. Bush.

1. George Washington's Farewell Adress. "Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."

2. John Adams' First State of the Union Address. "I was for some time apprehensive that it would be necessary, on account of the contagious sickness which afflicted the city of Philadelphia, to convene the National Legislature at some other place."

3. Thomas Jefferson's First State of the Union Address. "Among our Indian neighbors also a spirit of peace and friendship generally prevails, and I am happy to inform you that the continued efforts to introduce among them the implements and the practice of husbandry and the household arts have not been without success; that they are becoming more and more sensible of the superiority of this dependence for clothing and subsistence over the precarious resources of hunting and fishing, and already we are able to announce that instead of that constant diminution of their numbers produced by their wars and their wants, some of them begin to experience an increase of population."

4. James Madison, Jr.'s 29th Article in the Federalist Papers Concerning the Militia, "It requires no skill in the science of war to discern that uniformity in the organization and discipline of the militia would be attended with the most beneficial effects, whenever they were called into service for the public defense."

5. James Monroe's quotation, "Never did a government commence under auspices so favorable, nor ever was success so complete. If we look to the history of other nations, ancient or modern, we find no example of a growth so rapid, so gigantic, of a people so prosperous and happy."

6. John Quincy Adams' Independence Day Speech, "AND NOW, FRIENDS AND COUNTRYMEN, if the wise and learned philosophers of the elder world, the first observers of nutation and aberration, the discoverers of maddening ether and invisible planets, the inventors of Congreve rockets and Shrapnel shells, should find their hearts disposed to enquire what has America done for the benefit of mankind?"

7. Andrew Jackson's First Annual Message to Congress, "Deeply interested as we are in the prosperity of our sister Republics, and more particularly in that of our immediate neighbor, it would be most gratifying to me were I permitted to say that the treatment which we have received at her hands has been as universally friendly as the early and constant solicitude manifested by the United States for her success gave us a right to expect."

8. Martin Van Buren's First State of the Union Address, "The independent nations of this continent have ever since they emerged from the colonial state experienced severe trials in their progress to the permanent establishment of liberal political institutions."

9. William Henry Harrison's Inaugural Address, "Called from a retirement which I had supposed was to continue for the residue of my life to fill the chief executive office of this great and free nation, I appear before you, fellow-citizens, to take the oaths which the Constitution prescribes as a necessary qualification for the performance of its duties; and in obedience to a custom coeval with our Government and what I believe to be your expectations I proceed to present to you a summary of the principles which will govern me in the discharge of the duties which I shall be called upon to perform.

10. John Tyler, Jr.'s First State of the Union Address, "In the course of the session it is my hope to be able to announce some further degree of progress toward the accomplishment of this highly desirable end."

11. James K. Polk's Inaugural Address, "Without solicitation on my part, I have been chosen by the free and voluntary suffrages of my countrymen to the most honorable and most responsible office on earth."

12. Zachary Taylor's State of the Union Address, "While enjoying the benefits of amicable intercourse with foreign nations, we have not been insensible to the distractions and wars which have prevailed in other quarters of the world."

13. Millard Fillmore's First State of the Union Address, "Nations, like individuals in a state of nature, are equal and independent, possessing certain rights and owing certain duties to each other, arising from their necessary and unavoidable relations; which rights and duties there is no common human authority to protect and enforce."

14. Franklin Pierce's Inaugural Address, "It a relief to feel that no heart but my own can know the personal regret and bitter sorrow over which I have been borne to a position so suitable for others rather than desirable for myself."

15. James Buchanan Jr.'s First State of the Union Address, "It is our duty to inquire what has produced such unfortunate results and whether their recurrence can be prevented."

16. Abraham Lincoln's Speech at Chicago, Illinois, "I leave you, hoping that the lamp of liberty will burn in your bosoms until there shall no longer be a doubt that all men are created free and equal."

17. Andrew Johnson's State of the Union Address, "A simple mode of amendment is provided in the Constitution itself, so that its conditions can always be made to conform to the

requirements of advancing civilization."

18. Ullyses S. Grant's Second Inaugural Address, "I acknowledge before this assemblage, representing, as it does, every section of our country, the obligation I am under to my countrymen for the great honor they have conferred on me by returning me to the highest office within their gift, and the further obligation resting on me to render to them the best services within my power."

19. Rutherford B. Hayes' Inaugural Address, "The permanent pacification of the country upon such principles and by such measures as will secure the complete protection of all its citizens in the free enjoyment of all their constitutional rights is now the one subject in our public affairs which all thoughtful and patriotic citizens regard as of supreme importance."

20. James A. Garfield's Inaugural Address, "The will of the nation, speaking with the voice of battle and through the amended Constitution, has fulfilled the great promise of 1776 by proclaiming "liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof."

21. Chester A. Arthur's First State of the Union Address, "All measures looking to their protection against the spread of contagious diseases and to the increase of our sanitary knowledge for such purposes deserve attention of Congress."

22. Grover Cleveland's Address as President, at Washington, March 4, 1885, "In the presence of this vast assemblage of my countrymen I am about to supplement and seal, by the oath which I shall take, the manifestation of the will of a great and free people."

23. Benjamin Harrison's State of the Union Address, "There are few transactions in the administration of the Government that are even temporarily held in the confidence of those charged with the conduct of the public business."

24. Stephen Grover Cleveland's State of the Union Address, "The Constitution, which requires those chosen to legislate for the people to annually meet in the discharge of their solemn trust, also requires the President to give to Congress information of the state of the Union and

recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall deem necessary and expedient."

25. William McKinley, Jr.'s 3rd State of the Union Address, "Combinations of capital organized into trusts to control the conditions of trade among our citizens, to stifle competition, limit production, and determine the prices of products used and consumed by the people, are justly provoking public discussion, and should early claim the attention of the Congress."

26. Theodore Roosevelt's Inaugural Address, "Our relations with the other powers of the world are important; but still more important are our relations among ourselves."

27. William Howard Taft's State of the Union Address, "The relations of the United States with all foreign governments have continued upon the normal basis of amity and good understanding, and are very generally satisfactory."

28. Thomas Woodrow Wilson's The New Freedom, "For I understand it to be the fundamental proposition of American liberty that we do not desire special privilege, because we know special privilege will never comprehend the general welfare."

29. Warren G. Harding's Second State of the Union Address, "If the sober and deliberate appraisal of pre-war civilization makes it seem a worth-while inheritance, then with patience and good courage it will be preserved."

30. Calvin Coolidge's State of the Union Address, "The best method for selecting

public servants is the merit system."

31. Herbert Clark Hoover's Inaugural Address, "The United States fully accepts the profound truth that our own progress, prosperity, and peace are interlocked with the progress, prosperity, and peace of all humanity."

32. Franklin D. Roosevelt's First Inaugural Address, "Hand in hand with this we must frankly recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to provide a better use of the land for those best fitted for the land."

33. Harry S. Truman's Special Message to the Congress Recommending a Comprehensive Health Program, "Millions of our citizens do not now have a full measure of opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health. Millions do not now have protection or security against the economic effects of sickness. The time has arrived for action to help them attain that opportunity and that protection."

34. Dwight D. Eisenhower's First Inaugural Address, "In the light of this equality, we know that the virtues most cherished by free people--love of truth, pride of work, devotion to country--all are treasures equally precious in the lives of the most humble and of the most exalted."

35. John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address, "Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world."

36. Lyndon Baines Johnson's Inaugural Address, "For myself, I ask only, in the words of an ancient leader: "Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people: for who can judge this thy people, that is so great?"

37. Richard M. Nixon's Statement of January 5th, 1972, "We are learning the imperatives of universal brotherhood and global ecology learning to think nd act as guardians of one tiny blue and green island in the trackless oceans of the Universe."

38. Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr.'s First State of the Union Address "If we can show that this Nation is able and willing to help other nations meet the common challenge, it can demonstrate that the United States will fulfill its responsibilities as a leader among nations."

39. Jimmy Carter's Nobel Peace Prize 2002, "I am not here as a public official, but as a citizen of a troubled world who finds hope in a growing consensus that the generally accepted goals of society are peace, freedom, human rights, environmental quality, the alleviation of suffering, and the rule of law."

40. Ronald Regan's Labor Day Speech at Liberty State Park, Jersey City, New Jersey, "They came to make America work. They didn't ask what this country could do for them but what they could do to make this refuge the greatest home of freedom in history."

41. George H.W. Bush's First Inaugural Address, "The ambitions of some Americans are limited by failing schools and hidden prejudice and the circumstances of their birth. And sometimes our differences run so deep, it seems we share a continent, but not a country."

42. William Jefferson Clinton's State of the Union Address "If we do that we will return over and over again to the principle that if we simply give ordinary people equal opportunity, quality education, and a fair shot at the American dream, they will do extraordinary things."

43. George W. Bush's Press Availability with President Kagame of Rwanda, "...a clear lesson I learned in the museum was that outside forces that tend to divide people up inside their country are unbelievably counterproductive. In other words, people came from other countries - I guess you'd call them colonialists - and they pitted one group of people against another. "