Calvin Coolidge
» America » “The business of America is business and the chief ideal of the American people is idealism.”
» Army and Navy » “The nation which forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten.”
» Business » “The business of the country is business.”
» Civil Rights » “The government of the United States is a device for maintaining in perpetuity the rights of the people, with the ultimate extinction of all privileged classes.”
» Credulity » “When people are bewildered they tend to become credulous.”
» Critics and Criticism » “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.”
» Growth » “All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work.”
» Heroes and Heroism » “Heroism is not only in the man, but in the occasion.”
» Honor » “No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.”
» Ideals and Idealism » “There is no force so democratic as the force of an ideal.”
» Knowledge » “You can’t know too much, but you can say too much.”
» Law and Lawyers » “I sometimes wish that people would put a little more emphasis on the observance of the law than they do upon its enforcement.”
» Listening » “No one every listened themselves out of a job.”
» Patriotism » “Patriotism is easy to understand in America; it means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country.”
» Perseverance » “Nothing in the 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.”
» Politicians and Politics » “What we need in appointive positions are men of knowledge and experience with sufficient character to resist temptations.”
» Profits » “Civilization and profits go hand in hand.”
» Progress » “Little progress can be made by merely attempting to repress what is evil. Our great hope lies in developing what is good.”
» Property » “Ultimately property rights and personal rights are the same thing.”
» Prosperity » “Prosperity is only an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshipped.”
» Right and Rightness » “Men speak of natural rights, but I challenge any one to show where in nature any rights existed or were recognized until there was established for their declaration and protection a duly promulgated body of corresponding laws.”
» Risk » “Those who trust to chance must abide by the results of chance.”
» Service » “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.”
» Silence » “If you don’t say anything, you won’t be called on to repeat it.”
» Strength » “Don’t expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong.”
» Talkativeness » “No man ever listened himself out of a job.”
» Trials » “If you see 10 troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that 9 will run into the ditch before they reach you.”
» Vision » “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.”
» Wisdom » “Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers. It may not be difficult to store up in the mind a vast quantity of face within a comparatively short time, but the ability to form judgments requires the severe discipline of hard work and the tempering heat of experience and maturity.”
» Words » “I have never been hurt by what I have not said.”
» Work » “When more and more people are thrown out of work, unemployment results.”
» Worship » “It is only when men begin to worship that they begin to grow.”
