We insist on producing a farm surplus, but think the government should find a profitable market for it. We overindulge in speculation, but ask the government to prevent panics. Now the only way to hold the government entirely responsible for conditions is to give up our liberty for a dictatorship. If we continue the more reasonable practice of managing our own affairs we must bear the burdens of our own mistakes. A free people cannot shift their responsibility for them to the government. Self-government means self-reliance.

Calvin Coolidge

Categorized in : Mistake Responsibility Giving Up

Nothing in this 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.

Calvin Coolidge

strength motivational inspirational

Don't expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong.

Calvin Coolidge

strength strong peace

Unless the people, through unified action, arise and take charge of their government, they will find that their government has taken charge of them. Independence and liberty will be gone, and the general public will find itself in a condition of servitude to an aggregation of organized and selfish interest.

Calvin Coolidge

selfish government taken

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.

Calvin Coolidge

government race america

We do not need more material development, we need more spiritual development. We do not need more intellectual power, we need more moral power. We do not need more knowledge, we need more character. We do not need more government, we need more culture. We do not need more law, we need more religion. We do not need more of the things that are seen, we need more of the things that are unseen. It is on that side of life that it is desirable to put the emphasis at the present time. If that side be strengthened, the other side will take care of itself.

Calvin Coolidge

government spiritual character

The nation which forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten.

Calvin Coolidge

navy army military

It is difficult for men in high office to avoid the malady of self-delusion. They are always surrounded by worshipers. They are constantly, and for the most part sincerely, assured of their greatness.

Calvin Coolidge

greatness self men

There are always those who are willing to surrender local self-government and turn over their affairs to some national authority in exchange for a payment of money out of the Federal Treasury. Whenever they find some abuse needs correction in their neighborhood, instead of applying the remedy themselves they seek to have a tribunal sent on from Washington to discharge their duties for them, regardless of the fact that in accepting such supervision they are bartering away their freedom.

Calvin Coolidge

freedom government self

You can't increase prosperity by taxing success.

Calvin Coolidge

increase prosperity

One of the first lessons a president has to learn is that every word he says weighs a ton.

Calvin Coolidge

lessons president firsts

In life there is nothing more common than talent and intelligence. What is missing is passion, persistence, commitment, and dedication.

Calvin Coolidge

persistence passion commitment

Your ability to face setbacks and disappointments without giving up will be the measure of your ability to succeed.

Calvin Coolidge

giving-up disappointment faces

You can't know too much, but you can say too much.

Calvin Coolidge

too-much knows knowledge

In its main features the Declaration of Independence is a great spiritual document. It is a declaration not of material but of 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 the 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

religious spiritual men

Prosperity is only an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshipped.

Calvin Coolidge

deities wealth patriotic

Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery.

Calvin Coolidge

presidential taxation liberty

We are too solicitous for government intervention, on the theory, first, that the people themselves are helpless, and second, that the Government has superior capacity for action. Often times both of these conclusions are wrong.

Calvin Coolidge

government people firsts

Life is one darn thing after another.

Calvin Coolidge

life-is

The words of the President have an enormous weight and ought not to be used indiscriminately.

Calvin Coolidge

used weight president

There is no surer road to destruction than prosperity without character.

Calvin Coolidge

prosperity destruction character