Wit and Wisdom

I'm currently working on the easiest 'paper' I've had the pleasure of doing in college. In my lap is a book of quotations entitled Wit and Wisdom of the American Presidents. Funny enough, it stops at William Jefferson Clinton and doesn't have any of Bush II. Take that for what you will.

That said, the book has 70 pages worth of quotes from the men we've called President. The assignment is to read through all of them and pick one for each President that best fits my personal 'image, thoughts, perception' of that particular President. So, I thought I'd share.

George Washington - As the first of everything, in our situation, will serve to establish a precedent, it is devoutly wished on my part, that these precedents may be fixed on true principles.

John Adams - In the first place, what is your definition of a republic? Mine is this: a government whose sovereignty is vested in more than one person.

Thomas Jefferson - Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty.

James Madison - The essence of government is power; and power, lodged in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.

James Monroe - So seducing is the passion for extending our territory, that if compelled to take our own redress it is quite uncertain within what limit it will be confined.

John Quincy Adams - Always vote for a principle, though you vote alone, and you may cherish the sweet reflection that your vote is never lost.

Andrew Jackson - Each public officer who takes an oath to support the Constitution swears that he will support it as he understands, and not as it is understood by others.

Martin Van Buren - As for the presidency, the two happiest days of my life were those of my entry upon the office and of my surrender of it.

William Henry Harrison - [Brrrr, it's cold out here....just kidding] If political parties in a republic are necessary to secure a degree of vigilance to keep the public functionaries within the bounds of law and duty, at that point their usefulness ends.

John Tyler - The Constitution never designed that the executive should be a mere cipher. On the contrary, it denies to Congress the right to pass any law without his approval.

James Knox Polk - I prefer to supervise the whole operations of the government myself rather than entrust the public business to subordinates and this makes my duties very great.

Zachary Taylor - Rotation in office, provided good men are appointed, is sound republican doctrine.

Millard Fillmore - God knows that I detest slavery, but it is an existing evil, for which we are not responsible, and we must endure it and give it such protection as is guaranteed by the Constitution, till we can get rid of it without destroying the last hope of free government in the world.

Franklin Pierce - If a man who has attained this high office cannot free himself from cliques and act independently, our Constitution is valueless.

James Buchanan - What is right and what is practicable are two different things.

Abraham Lincoln - With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in: to bind up the nation's wounds.

Andrew Johnson - Away with slavery, the breed of aristocrats. Up with the Stars and Stripes, symbol of free labor and free men.

Ulysses Simpson Grant - [on the surrender of General Robert E. Lee] I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and so valiantly.

Rutherford Birchard Hayes - It is now true that this is God's country, if equal rights - a fair start and an equal chance in the race of life - are everywhere secured to all.

James Abram Garfield - Assassination can be no more guarded against than death by lightning, and it is best not to worry about either.

Chester Alan Arthur - No higher or more assuring proof could exist of the strength and permanence of popular government than the fact that though the chosed of the people be struck down, his constitutional successor is peacefully installed without shock or strain expect the sorrow which mourns the bereavement.

Grover Cleveland - Men and times change -- but principles -- never.

Benjamin Harrison - The law, the will of the majority expressed in orderly, constitutional methods, is the only king to which we bow.

William McKinley - Our differences are politics. Our agreements are principles.

Theodore Roosevelt - A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy.

William Howard Taft - We live in a stage of politics, where legislators seem to regard the passage of laws as much more important than the results of their enforcement.

Woodrow Wilson - We are citizens of the world; and the tragedy of our times is that we do not know this.

Warren Harding - Stabilize America first, prosper America first, think of America first and exalt America first.

Calvin Coolidge - The chief business of America is business.

Herbert Hoover - Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.

Harry S. Truman - Three things ruin a man. Power, money and women. I never wanted power. I never had any money, and the only woman in my life is up at the house right now.

Dwight D. Eisenhower - A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

John F. Kennedy - We stand today at the edge of a new frontier -- the frontier of the 1960s -- a frontier of unknown opportunities and perils -- a frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats.

Lyndon B. Johnson - If government is to serve any purpose it is to do for others what they are unable to do for themselves.

Richard Nixon - When the President does it, that means it is not illegal.

Gerald Ford - I'm a Ford, not a Lincoln

Jimmy Carter - My esteem in this country has gone up substantially. It is very nice now when people wave at me, they use all their fingers.

Ronald Reagan - Whoever would understand in his heart the meaning of America will find it in the life of Abraham Lincoln.

George H.W. Bush - My opponent won't rule out raising taxes. But I will. And the Congress will push me to raise taxes, and I'll say no, and they'll push again and I'll say to them, read my lips, no new taxes.

Bill Clinton - I do not believe we can repair the basic fabric of society until people who are willing to work have work. Work organizes life. It gives structure and discipline to life. It gives meaning and self-esteem to people who are parents. It gives a role model to children.

George W. Bush - Mission Accomplished.

If you got thru this, you'll notice that I like the ironic quotes, as I inserted on the current one. :)

Thanks for reading. And leave a comment so I know people are actually reading.

200