Posted on 09/10/2008 5:11:58 AM PDT by Loud Mime
note: after a bicycle crash my typing is at 5wpm. MANY thanks to yhaos for providing our quotes this week
America seeks no empire built on blood and forces . . . she cherishes no purpose save to merit the favor of Almighty God. . . . . . Calvin Coolidge, inaugural address, March 4, 1925
It is probable that a press which maintains an intimate touch with the business currents of the nation is likely to be more reliable than it would be if it were a stranger to these influences. After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world. . . . . . Calvin Coolidge, remarks to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, DC, January 17, 1925. [The italicized phrase has frequently been misquoted]
The people know the difference between pretense and reality. They want to be told the truth. They want to be trusted. They want a chance to work out their own material and spiritual salvation. . . . . . Calvin Coolidge, nomination acceptance speech, DC, August 14, 1924.
In its main features the Declaration of Independence is a spiritual document. It is a declaration not of material but 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 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, The Quotable Calvin Coolidge, pg 54
If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth and soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the 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. . . . . . Calvin Coolidge, Philadelphia, speech commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 5, 1926 [note: Coolidge uses “inalienable” in preference to “unalienable.”]
There can be no political independence without economic independence. . . . . . Calvin Coolidge, Northampton, Massachusetts, accepting the vice-presidential nomination, July 27, 1920
Without the sustaining influence of faith in a divine power we could have little faith in ourselves. We need to feel that behind us is intelligence and love. Doubters do not achieve; skeptics do not contribute; cynics do not create. Faith is the great motive power, and no man reaches his full possibilities unless he has the deep conviction that life is eternally important, and that his work, well done, is part of an unending plan. . . . . . Calvin Coolidge, July 25, 1924, address by telephone to a New York delegation of Boy Scouts about to sail for an international meeting in Denmark.
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, dedication of a monument to Bishop Francis Asbury, Washington, DC, October 15, 1924
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 religious convictions. They belong to the unseen world. Unless the faith of the American people on these religious convictions is to endure, the principles of our Declaration will perish. We cannot continue to enjoy the result if we neglect and abandon the cause. Governments do not make ideals, but ideals make governments. . . . . . Calvin Coolidge, Philadelphia, 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 5, 1926
Peace will come when there is realization that only under a reign of law, based on righteousness and supported by the religious conviction of the brotherhood of man, can there be any hope of a complete and satisfying life. Parchment will fail, the sword will fail. It is only the spiritual nature of man that can be triumphant. . . . . . Calvin Coolidge, inaugural address, Washington, DC, March 4, 1925
We draw our Presidents from the people. It is a wholesome thing for them to return to the people. I came from them. I wish to be one of them again. . . . . . Calvin Coolidge, Autobiography, 1929
What the public has, the public must pay for. From this there is no escape. . . . . . Calvin Coolidge, October 4, 1919, Republican State Convention, Tremont Temple, Boston
We demand entire freedom of action and then expect the government in some miraculous way to save us from the consequences of our own acts . . . Self-government means self-reliance. . . . . . Calvin Coolidge, Newspaper column, October 17, 1930
Nine-tenths of them want something they ought not to have. . . . . . Calvin Coolidge, on visitors to the White House. advice to President-elect Herbert Hoover, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Cabinet and the Presidency, 1920-1933, published in 1952
[Speaking of Washington, DC] Its official circles never accept any one gladly. There is always a certain unexpressed sentiment that a new arrival is appropriating the power that should rightfully belong to them. He is always regarded as in the nature of a usurper. . . . . . Calvin Coolidge, Autobiography, 1929
ping
I didn’t know Silent Cal had so many great quotes :)
There can be no political independence without economic independence
pithy
Calvin Coolidge (1872 - 1933), in a telegram, 1919
The chief business of the American people is business.
Calvin Coolidge (1872 - 1933), Speech in Washington,
Jan. 17, 1925
- More quotations on: [Business]
Don't expect to build up the weak by pulling down the
strong.
Calvin Coolidge (1872 - 1933)
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 (1872 - 1933)
Another one that ought to be a favorite of every conservative is “to tax the people more than is absolutely necessary is robbery.” How true.
Coolidge is often underestimated. His “business of America is business” quote has been taken out of context for decades. In reality he wanted economic freedom for Americans so more and more of them could have prosperity through their own hard work.
Coolidge was also governor for only two years before he was elected vice president.
He was lieutenant governor for three years before that, after being mayor of Northampton for two years and state legislator for two years.
UNQUALIFIED!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have long regarded Calvin Coolidge as the greatest President of the 20th Century (yes, even above Reagan), and one of our best overall. We could use another Calvin
Coolidge now.
I think Barry Goldwater would have been a President in the same mold.
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people 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.
CC
Thanks again!
Thanks! I’m getting that book!
Silent Cal on immigration:
“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.”
“We ought to have no prejudice against an alien because he is an alien. The standard which we apply to our inhabitants is that of manhood, not place of birth. Restrictive immigration is to a large degree for economic purposes. It is applied in order that we may not have a larger annual increment of good people within our borders that we can weave into our economic fabric in such a way as to supply their needs without undue injury to ourselves.”
“Those who do not want to be partakers of the American spirit out not to settle in America.”
“We are all agreed, whether we be Americans of the first or of the seventh generation on this soil, that is not desirable to receive more immigrants than can reasonably be assured of bettering their condition by coming here. For the sake both of those who would come and more especially of those already here, it has been thought wise to avoid the danger of increasing our numbers too fast. It is not a reflection on any race or creed. We might not be able to support them if their numbers were too great. In such event, the first sufferers would be the most recent immigrants, unaccustomed to our life and language and industrial methods. We want to keep wages and living conditions good for everyone who is now here or who may come here.
“As a nation, our first duty must be those who are already our inhabitants, whether native or immigrants.”
“We have certain standards of life that we believe are best for us. We do not ask other nations to discard theirs, but we do wish to preserve ours. Standards, government and culture under our free institutions are not so much a matter of constitutions and laws as of public opinion, ways of thought and methods of life of the people. We reflect on no one in wanting immigrants who will be assimilated into our ways of thinking and living. Believing we can best serve the world in that way, we restrict immigration.”
Coolidge was probably the second greatest President of the 20th Century.
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