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Calvin Coolidge

391 quotes

“In testimony of the respect in which his memory is held by the Government and people of the United States, I do hereby direct that the flags of the White House and of the several Departmental buildings be displayed at half staff for a period of thirty days, and that suitable military and naval honors under orders of the Secretary of War and of the Secretary of the Navy may be rendered on the day of the funeral.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This conference has been called to encourage Americans to make more of their opportunities and appropriate more of the advantages of America. For a long time one of the ideals of perfection has been that of a sound mind in a sound body. When most of our original educational institutions were founded, they at first served a race of pioneers. They were attended by those whose very existence depended on an active outdoor life in the open country. The most universal custom among all the people was bodily exercise. Those days long ago passed away for most of the people of this country.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nearly every city is making large appropriations for laying out spacious parks and playgrounds. These are providing recreation fields for the playing of outdoor games by both old and young. Golf courses and tennis courts abound. Too much emphasis can not be placed on the effort to get the children out of the alleys and off the streets into spacious open places where there is good sunlight and plenty of fresh air. Such an opportunity has both a physical and mental effect. It restores the natural balance of life and nourishes the moral fiber of youth.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Another activity which is being encouraged is that of gardening. This is necessarily somewhat limited, but the opportunity for engaging in it has never been anywhere near exhausted. It makes its appeal alike to youth and age. It is extremely practical on the one hand, and lends itself to the artistic on the other.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Civilization is measured in no small part by these standards. The famous beauty and symmetry of the Greek race in its prime was due in no small part to their general participation in athletic games. This meant development.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We can see in the gladiatorial shows of Rome, which degenerated into the butchery alike of beasts and men, the sure sign of moral decay which ended in the destruction of the empire and the breaking up of the great influence it had cast over the world. It is altogether necessary that we keep our own amusements and recreations within that field which will be prophetic, not of destruction, but of development. It is characteristic of almost the entire American life that it has a most worthy regard for clean and manly sports. It has little appetite for that which is unwholesome or brutal.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A special consideration suggests the value of a development of national interest in recreation and sports. There is no better common denominator of a people. In the case of a people which represents many nations, cultures and races, as does our own, a unification of interests and ideals in recreations is bound to wield a telling influence for solidarity of the entire population. No more truly democratic force can be set off against the tendency to class and caste than the democracy of individual parts and prowess in sport.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A mightier force than ever followed Grant or Lee has leveled both their hosts, raised up an united Nation, and made us all partakers of a new glory. It is not for us to forget the past but to remember it, that we may profit by it. But it is gone; we can not change it. We must put our emphasis on the present and put into effect the lessons the past has taught us.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This was an age-old conflict. At its foundation lies the question of how can the Government govern and the people be free? How can organized society make and enforce laws and the individual remain independent? There is no short sighted answer to these inquiries. Whatever may have been the ambiguity in the Federal Constitution, of course the Union had to be supreme within its sphere or cease to be a Union. It was also certain and obvious that each State had to be sovereign within its sphere or cease to be a State.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is equally clear that a government must govern, must prescribe and enforce laws within its sphere or cease to be a government. Moreover, the individual must be independent and free within his own sphere or cease to be an individual. The fundamental question was then, is now, and always will be through what adjustments, by what actions, these principles may be applied.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Perhaps I have said enough to indicate the great advantages that accrue to all of us by the support and maintenance of our Government, the continuation of the functions of legislation, the administration of justice, and the execution of the laws. There can be no substitute for these, no securing of greater freedom by their downfall and failure, but only disorganization, suffering and want, and final destruction. All that we have of rights accrue from the Government under which we live.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But that great struggle was carried on by those whom this day is set apart to commemorate, not only for the preservation of the Union. The authority of the Federal Government had been resisted by armed force. They were also striving to restore peace. It must be remembered that our Republic was organized to avoid and discourage war, and to promote and establish peace. It is the leading characteristic of our national holidays that they are days of peace. The ways of our people are the ways of peace. They naturally seek ways to make peace more secure.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our Nation has associated itself with other great powers for the purpose of promoting peace in the regions of the Pacific Ocean. It has steadily refused to accept the covenant of the League of Nations, but long before that was thought of, before the opening of the present century, we were foremost in promoting the calling of a conference at The Hague to provide for a tribunal of arbitration for the settlement of international disputes. We have made many treaties on that basis with other nations.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“While there are those who think we would be exposed to peril by adhering to this court, I am unable to attach great weight to their arguments. Whatever differences, whatever perils exist for us in the world, will come anyway, whether we oppose or support the court. I am one of those who believe we would be safer and that we would be meeting our duties better by supporting it and making every possible use of it. I feel confident that such action would make a greater America, that it would be productive of a higher and finer national spirit, and of a more complete national life.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It has come to be a legend, and I believe with more foundation of fact than most legends, that Howard University was the outgrowth of the inspiration of a prayer meeting. I hope it is true, and I shall choose to believe it, for it makes of this scene and this occasion a new testimony that prayers are answered. Here has been established a great university, a sort of educational laboratory for the production of intellectual and spiritual leadership among a people whose history, if you will examine it as it deserves, is one of the striking evidences of a soundness of our civilization.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The accomplishments of the colored people in the United States, in the brief historic period since they were brought here from the restrictions of their native continent, can not but make us realize that there is something essential in our civilization which gives it a special power. I think we shall be able to agree that this particular element is the Christian religion, whose influence always and everywhere has been a force for the illumination and advancement of the peoples who have come under its sway.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The progress of the colored people on this continent is one of the marvels of modern history. We are perhaps even yet too near to this phenomenon to be able fully to appreciate its significance. That can be impressed on us only as we study and contrast the rapid advancement of the colored people in America with the slow and painful upward movement of humanity as a whole throughout the long human story.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Howard University is but one of the many institutions which have grown up in this country, dedicated to this purpose of preserving one of the races of men and fitting it for its largest usefulness. Here is a people adapted, as most people are not, to life in the tropics. They are capable of redeeming vast luxuriant areas of unexampled productivity, and of reclaiming them for the sustenance of mankind and the increasing security of the human community. It is a great destiny, to which we may now look forward with confidence that it will be fully realized.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The propaganda of prejudice and hatred which sought to keep the colored men from supporting the national cause completely failed. The black man showed himself the same kind of citizen, moved by the same kind of patriotism, as the white man. They were tempted, but not one betrayed his country. Among well-nigh 400,000 colored men who were taken into the military service, about one-half had overseas experience. They came home with many decorations and their conduct repeatedly won high commendation from both American and European commanders.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are not all permitted the privilege of a university training. We can not all enter the professions. What is the great need of American citizenship? To my mind it is this, that each should take up the burden where he is. 'Do the day's work', I have said, and it should be done in the remembrance that all work is dignified. Your race is entitled to great praise for the contribution it makes in doing the work of the world.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Your letter is received, accompanied by a newspaper clipping which discusses the possibility that a colored man may be the Republican nominee for Congress from one of the New York districts.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A colored man is precisely as much entitled to submit his candidacy in a party primary, as is any other citizen. The decision must be made by the constituents to whom he offers himself, and by nobody else.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This occasion is dedicated to freedom. The people of Baltimore, and of Maryland, are gathered here in that spirit. Because Americans cherish that sentiment they cherish the name of Lafayette. On the anniversary of his birth, we are gathered about his statue in this proud city which we know he loved, almost in the shadow of the stately monument reared to his great friend Washington, to rededicate ourselves to the inspiring memory of a true son of world freedom.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This is not only his birthday, but the anniversary of the farewell reception extended to him at the White House by President Adams during his last visit to our country. This day not only recalls his youth and his dashing figure in our Revolution, but it reminds us of the venerable man, half a century later, held in love and admiration by two countries for the sacrifices he had made in the service of liberty.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As Commander of the National Guard, again he might have made himself dictator. Instead he was pleading with the Assembly to adopt the preamble of the American Constitution as the foundation of its declaration of rights. When alien armies were brought to France to crush her liberties he was put at the head of the Army of the North, but treachery and suspicion overcame him. He was retired from his command and was seeking to leave the country when he was captured and held for five years in imprisonment. Tradition has it that he was released through the joint efforts of Washington and Napoleon.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This lesson was firmly in the minds of those who made the American Constitution. They proposed to adopt institutions under which the people should be supreme, and the government should derive its just powers from the consent of the governed. They were determined to be a sovereign people under a government having such powers as they from time to time should confer upon it by a written constitution. They did not propose to be under the tyranny of either the executive or the legislature.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At a time when all the world is seeking for the adjudication of differences between nations, not by war, but by reason, the suggestion that we should limit the jurisdiction of our domestic courts is reactionary in the highest degree. It would cast aside the progress of generations to begin again the contest for supremacy between executive and legislature. Whichever side has won in that struggle, the people have always lost.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our Constitution has raised certain barriers against too hasty change. I believe such provision is wise. I doubt if there has been any change that has ever really been desired by the people which they have not been able to secure. Stability of government is a very important asset. If amendment be made easy, both revolution and reaction, as well as orderly progress, also become easy. The nation has lost little, but has gained much, through the necessity of due deliberation. The pressing need of the present day is not to change our constitutional rights, but to observe our constitutional rights.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Constitution of the United States has for its almost sole purpose the protection of the freedom of the people. We must combat every attempt to break down or to make it easy, under the pretended guise of legal procedure, to throw open the way to reaction or revolution. To adopt any other course is to put in jeopardy the sacred right to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To be independent to my mind does not mean to be isolated, to be the priest or the Levite, but rather to be the good Samaritan. There is no real independence save only as we secure it through the law of service.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I want to see America set the example to the world both in our domestic and foreign relations of magnanimity.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We cannot make over the people of Europe. We must help them as they are, if we are to help them at all. I believe that we should help, not at the sacrifice of our independence, not for the support of imperialism, but to restore to those great peoples a peaceful civilization. In that course lies the best guarantee of freedom. In that course lies the greatest honor which we can bestow upon the memory of Lafayette.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Something in all human beings makes them want to do the right thing. Not that this desire always prevails; oftentimes it is overcome and they turn towards evil. But some power is constantly calling them back. Ever there comes a resistance to wrongdoing. When bad conditions begun to accumulate, when the forces of darkness become prevalent, always they are ultimately doomed to fail, as the better angels of human nature are roused to resistance.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That character clearly saw no use for discipline, and just as clearly found his reward in the life of an outcast. The principles which he proclaimed could not lead in any other direction. Vice and misery were their natural and inevitable consequences. He refused to recognize or obey any authority, save his own material inclinations. He never rose above his appetites. Your Society stands as a protest against this attitude of mind.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Of course we are all aware that the recognition of brotherhood brings in the requirement of charity. But it is only on the basis of individual property that there can be any charity. Our very conception of the term means that we deny ourselves of what belongs to us, in order to give it to another. If that which we give is not really our own, but belongs to the person to whom we give it, such an act may rightfully be called justice, but it cannot be regarded as charity.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our conceptions of liberty under the law are not narrow and cramped, but broad and tolerant. Our Constitution guarantees civil, political and religious liberty; fully, completely and adequately; and provides that 'no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States'. This is the essence of freedom and toleration solemnly declared in the fundamental law of the land.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What a wide difference between the American position and that imagined by the vagabond who thought of liberty as a glorious feast unprotected and unregulated by law. This is not civilization, but a plain reversion to the life of the jungle. Without the protection of the law, and the imposition of its authority, equality cannot be maintained, liberty disappears and property vanishes. This is anarchy. The forces of darkness are traveling in that direction. But the spirit of America turns its face towards the light.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We Americans are idealists. We are willing to follow the truth solely because it is the truth. We put our main emphasis on the things which are spiritual. While we possess an unsurpassed skill in marshaling and using the material resources of the world, still the nation has not sought for wealth and power as an end but as a means to a higher life.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Yet Americans are not visionary, they are not sentimentalists. They want idealism, but they want it to be practical, they want it to produce results. It would be little use to try to convince them of the soundness and righteousness of their institutions, if they could not see that they have been justified in the past history and the present condition of the people. They estimate the correctness of the principle by the success which they find in their own experience. They have faith but they want works.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are only two main theories of government in the world. One rests on righteousness, the other rests on force. One appeals to reason, the other appeals to the sword. One is exemplified in a republic, the other is represented by a despotism. …”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The history of government on this earth has been almost entirely a history of the rule of force held in the hands of a few. Under our Constitution, America committed itself to … the power in the hands of the people. … Our government rests upon religion. It is from that source that we derive our reverence for truth and justice, for equality and liberty, and for the rights of mankind. Unless the people believe in these principles they cannot believe in our government.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Is it possible for us to make an analysis which will disclose this element that has wrought such a strangely different result here in our country? It must be an element that was present among the peoples of Europe while they were still in Europe. It could not have been brought here except by them. There has been nobody else to bring it. The original human materials were the same in both cases.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It has seemed to me that our search for this mysterious factor of difference must lead to the conclusion that it was not a single factor but the united workings of at least three forces, that brought about the wide difference.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Among these I should place, first, the broadly tolerant attitude that has been a characteristic of this country. I use the word in its most inclusive sense, to cover tolerance of religious opinion, tolerance in politics, tolerance in social relationships; in general, the liberal attitude of every citizen toward his fellows. It is this factor which has preserved to all of us that equality of opportunity which enables every American to become the architect of whatever fortune he deserves.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Along with this element of universal tolerance, I should couple our Republican system of Government, which gives to every man a share and a responsibility in the direction of public affairs. And third, I should place our system of universal free education.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As a Nation, our first duty must be to those who are already our inhabitants, whether native or immigrants. To them we owe an especial and a weighty obligation. They came to us with stout hearts and high hopes of bettering their estate. They have contributed much to making our country what it is. They magnificently proved their loyalty by contributing their full part when the war made demand for sacrifices by all Americans.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You have demonstrated again and again that it is useless to appeal to you on any thing but patriotic motives. You are for America, you are for our Constitution, you will not be tempted to take any action that will imperil our society or our Government.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But in cherishing all that is best in the land of your origin, and in desiring the highest welfare of the people of the old home, the question arises as to how that result can best be secured. I know that there is no better American spirit than that which is exhibited by many of those who have recently come to our shores.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Taxes. Everyone desires a reduction of taxes, and there is a great preponderance of sentiment in favor of taxation reform. When I approved the present tax law, I stated publicly that I did so in spite of certain provisions which I believed unwise and harmful. One of the most glaring of these was the making public of the amounts assessed against different income-tax payers. Although that damage has now been done, I believe its continuation to be detrimental To the public welfare and bound to decrease public revenues, so that it ought to be repealed.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A decrease in the world supply of wheat has resulted in a very large increase in the price of that commodity. The position of all agricultural products indicates a better balanced supply, but we can not yet conclude that agriculture is recovered from the effects of the war period or that it is permanently on a prosperous basis. The cattle industry has not yet recovered and in some sections has been suffering from dry weather. Every effort must be made both by Government activity and by private agencies to restore and maintain agriculture to a complete normal relationship with other industries.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source