Presidency Quotes

I beg leave to assure the Congress that no pecuniary consideration could have tempted me to accept this arduous employment at the expense of my domestic ease and happiness. I do not wish to make any profit from it.

George Washington

Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.

Don't let it be forgot That once there was a spot -For one brief shining moment That was known as Camelot.

The buck stops here.

Harry S. Truman

Trying to make the presidency work these days is like trying to sew buttons on a custard pie.

James David Barber

Th' prisidincy is th' highest office in th' gift iv th people. Th' vice-prisidincy is th' next highest an' the lowest. It isn't a crime exactly. Ye can't be sint to jail f r it but it's a kind iv a disgrace.

Finley Peter Dunne

Seriously I do not think I am fit for the presidency.

Abraham Lincoln

An eminent American is reported to have said to friends who wished to put him forward 'Gentlemen let there be no mistake. I should make a good president but a very bad candidate.'

Well I wouldn't say that I was in the 'great' class but I had a great time while I was trying to be great.

Harry S. Truman

The presidency does not yield to definition. Like the glory of a morning sunrise it can be experienced - it can not be told.

Calvin Coolidge

When the president does it that means it is not illegal.

A president's hardest task is not to do what's right but to know what's right.

Lyndon B. Johnson

Had I been chosen president again I am certain I could not have lived another year.

The four most miserable years of my life . . .

If you are as happy my dear sir on entering this house as I am in leaving it and returning home you are the happiest man in the country.

I feel like the man who was tarred and feathered and ridden out of town on a rail. To the man who asked how he liked it he said: 'If it wasn't for the honour of the thing I'd rather walk.'

Abraham Lincoln

The office of president requires the constitution of an athlete the patience of a mother the endurance of an early Christian.

Within the first few months I discovered that being a president is like riding a tiger. A man has to keep riding or be swallowed.

Harry S. Truman

Harricum! Harricum! Give 'em hell Harricum!

Harry S. Truman

In America any boy may become president and I suppose it's just one of the risks he takes.

Adlai Stevenson

I have no expectation of making a hit every time I come to bat.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

I think the American public wants a solemn ass as a president and I think I'll go along with them.

Calvin Coolidge

I desire to so conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end ... I have lost every friend on earth I shall have one friend left and that friend shall be down inside me.

Abraham Lincoln

The final greatness of the presidency lies in the truth that it is not just an office of incredible power but a breeding ground of indestructible myth.

Clinton Rossiter

The president is the representative of the whole nation and he's the only lobbyist that all the one hundred and sixty million people in this country have.

Harry S. Truman

If forced to choose between the penitentiary and the White House for four years I would say the penitentiary thank you.

William Tecumseh Sherman

They pick a President and then for four years they pick on him.

Adlai Stevenson

My movements to the chair of government will be accompanied by feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution.

George Washington

If you are as happy my dear sir on entering this house as I am in leaving it and returning home you are the happiest man in this country.

George Buchanan

I would rather be right than President.

No man will ever bring out of the Presidency the reputation which carries him into it.

Thomas Jefferson

If forced to choose between the penitentiary and the White House for four years I would say the penitentiary thank you.

William Tecumseh Sherman

They pick a President and then for four years they pick on him.

Adlai Stevenson

My movements to the chair of government will be accompanied by feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution.

George Washington

If you are as happy my dear sir on entering this house as I am in leaving it and returning home you are the happiest man in this country.

George Buchanan

I would rather be right than President.

No man will ever bring out of the Presidency the reputation which carries him into it.

Thomas Jefferson

Not every President is a great speaker. Not every President is a great thinker. But in the modern era, every single President is a master of one thing: eye contact.

I'll be damned if I am not getting tired of this. It seems to be the profession of a President simply to hear other people talk.

William Howard Taft

I hear of a convention to be held at Baltimore, or elsewhere, for the selection of a candidate for the Presidency, made up chiefly of editors, and men who are politicians by profession; but I think, what is it to any independent, intellegent, and respectable man what decision they may come to? Shall we not have the advantage of his wisdom and honesty, nevertheless? Can we not count upon some independent votes? Are there not many individuals in the country who do not attend conventions? But no: I find that the respectable man, so called, has immediately drifted from his position, and despairs of his country, when his country has more reason to despair of him. He forthwith adopts one of the candidates thus selected as his only AVAILABLE one, thus proving that he is himself AVAILABLE for any purposes of the demagogue. His vote is of no more worth than that of any unprincipled foreigner or hireling native, who may have been bought.

Henry David Thoreau

Selling the presidency like cereal! How can you talk seriously about issues with half-minute spots?

Adlai Ewing Stevenson

The worst president is closer by nature to the best then either is to anyone who has not gone through what it requires to become president.

George Friedman

... When Princes devote themselves rather to pleasure than to arms, they lose their dominions.

Niccolò Machiavelli

The Nazis are not justified by s

No man will ever bring out of that office the reputation which carries him into it. The honeymoon would be as short in that case as in any other, and its moments of ecstasy would be ransomed by years of torment and hatred.

Thomas Jefferson

I believe in (the American) people. I believe that people are more good than bad. I believe tragic things happen. I think there's evil in the world. But I think that at the end of the day, if we work hard, and if we're true to those things in us that feel true and feel right, that, the world gets a little better each time. That's what this presidency is trying to be about. And I see that in the young people i work with. This is not just drama-obama. This is what I really believe.

To vastly improve your country and truly make it great again, start by choosing a better leader. Do not let the media or the establishment make you pick from the people they choose, but instead choose from those they do not pick.

It's not doing what is right that's hard for a President. It's knowing what is right.

There should be no bitterness or hate where the sole thought is the welfare of the United States of America. No man can occupy the office of President without realizing that he is President of all the people.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

The most important thing you need to do [in this job] is to have big chunks of time during the day when all you’re doing is thinking.

It’s clearly a budget. It’s got lots of numbers in it.

Bigotry against any group should be disqualifying for high office.

Alan Dershowitz

A president who has incited violence inspires citizens towards hate and violence.

DaShanne Stokes

But, in the Trump aftermath, I've measured the costsAnd benefits of loving those who don't loveStrangers. After all, I'm often the odd one—The strangest stranger—in any field or room."He was weird" will be carved into my tomb.

For nearly four years you have had an Administration which instead of twirling its thumbs has rolled up its sleeves. We will keep our sleeves rolled up. We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace--business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Presidents are selected, not elected.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.