Who is Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge was a politician and lawyer in the United States of America who was born on the 4th July 1872 and died on the 5th January 1933. His crowning achievement was becoming the president from 1923 to 1929, the 30th person to hold the position. Originally a lawyer from New England, he entered the Massachusetts political system and worked his way up the system until he reached the position of Governor of Massachusetts.
It was during this time that he truly built his reputation and gained widespread publicity, dealing with issues including the Boston Police Strike of 1919. He then became Vice President to Warren Harding, taking over the role following Harding’s untimely death in 1923, being reelected in 1924. He was a republican who believed in small government conservatism, who spoke little but when he did, it mattered.
Whilst many academics rank him low in the list of presidents, he won praise for building confidence in the office of the president and supporting the fight for racial equality. His critics tend to focus on his belief in a laissez-faire approach to economics, as opposed to a more controlling and involved central government.
Calvin Coolidge Quotes
1. 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. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
2. It takes a great man to be a good listener.
3. Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.
4. Don’t expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong.
5. It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.
6. If we judge ourselves only by our aspirations and everyone else only their conduct we shall soon reach a very false conclusion.
7. We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.
8. I have noticed that nothing I have never said ever did me any harm.
9. To the American People: Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. If we think on these things, there will be born in us a Savior and over us will shine a star sending its gleam of hope to the world.
10. No person was ever honored for what he recieved. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.
11. It is hard to see how a great man can be an atheist. 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 realizes his full possibilities unless he has the deep conviction that life is eternally important, and that his work, well done, is a part of an unending plan.
12. Prosperity is only an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshipped.
13. We do not need more intellectual power, we need more spiritual power. We do not need more of the things that are seen, we need more of the things that are unseen.
14. Don’t you know that four fifths of all our troubles in this life would disappear if we would just sit down and keep still?
15. Patriotism is easy to understand in America; it means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country.
16. They criticize me for harping on the obvious; if all the folks in the United States would do the few simple things they know they ought to do, most of our big problems would take care of themselves.
17. The nation which forgets it defenders will be itself forgotten.
18. The only way I know to drive out evil from the country is by the constructive method of filling it with good.
19. This country would not be a land of opportunity, America could not be America, if the people were shackled with government monopolies.
20. Wealth comes from industry and from the hard experience of human toil. To dissipate it in waste and extravagance is disloyalty to humanity.
21. When a man begins to feel that he is the only one who can lead in this republic, he is guilty of treason to the spirit of our institutions.
22. I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people.
23. The people cannot look to legislation generally for success. Industry, thrift, character, are not conferred by act or resolve. Government cannot relieve from toil. It can provide no substitute for the rewards of service. It can, of course, care for the defective and recognize distinguished merit. The normal must care for themselves. Self-government means self-support.
24. If you don’t say anything, you won’t be called on to repeat it.
25. 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.
26. There is only one form of political strategy in which I have any confidence, and that is to try to do the right thing and sometimes be able to succeed.
27. After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world. I am strongly of the opinion that the great majority of people will always find these are the moving impulses of our life. But it is only those who do not understand our people, who believe that our national life is entirely absorbed by material motives. We make no concealment of the fact that we want wealth, but there are many other things that we want much more. We want peace and honor, and that charity which is so strong an element of all civilization. The chief ideal of the American people is idealism.
28. 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. They live in an artificial atmosphere of adulation and exaltation which sooner or later impairs their judgment. They are in grave danger of becoming careless and arrogant.
29. Any reward that is worth having only comes to the industrious. The success which is made in any walk of life is measured almost exactly by the amout of hard work that is put into it.
30. 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
31. All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work.
32. The government of the United States is a device for maintaining in perpetuity the rights of the people, with the ultimate extinction of all privileged classes.
33. The business of America is business.
34. Democracy is not a tearing down; it is a building up. It does not denial of the divine right of kings; it asserts the divine right of all men.
35. It is our theory that the people own the government, not that the government should own the people.
36. Civilization and profits go hand in hand
37. 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.
38. You don’t have to explain something you haven’t said.
39. She was practically an invalid ever after I could remember her, but used what strength she had in lavish care upon me and my sister, who was three years younger. There was a touch of mysticism and poetry in her nature which made her love to gaze at the purple sunsets and watch the evening stars. Whatever was grand and beautiful in form and color attracted her. It seemed as though the rich green tints of the foliage and the blossoms of the flowers came for her in the springtime, and in the autumn it was for her that the mountain sides were struck with crimson and with gold.
40. When a man begins to feel that he is the only one whou can lead in this republic, he is guilty of treason to the spirit of our institutions.
41. Economy is idealism in its most practical form.
42. Well, they’re going to elect that Superman Hoover, and he’s going to have some trouble. He’s going to have to spend money, but it won’t be enough. Then the Democrats will come in. But they don’t know anything about money.
43. It has been my observation in life that, if one will only exercise the patience to wait, his wants are likely to be filled.
44. The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten.
45. The collection of taxes which are not absolutely required, which do not beyond reasonable doubt contribute to the public welfare, is only a species of legalized larceny.
46. Those who trust to chance must abide by the results of chance.
47. The words of the President have an enormous weight and ought not to be used indiscriminately. It would be exceedingly easy to set the country all by the ears and foment hatreds and jealousies, which, by destroying faith and confidence, would help nobody and harm everybody. The end would be the destruction of all progress.
48. It is a great advantage to a President, and a major source of safety to the country, for him to know that he is not a great man. When a man begins to feel that he is the only one who can lead in this republic, he is guilty of treason to the spirit of our institutions.
49. 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.
50. Knowledge comes, but Wisdom lingers. It may not be difficult to store up in the mind a vast quantity of facts within a comparatively short time, but the ability to form judgments requires the severe discipline of hard work and the tempering heat of experience and maturity.
51. IT is a very old saying that you never can tell what you can do until you try. The more I see of life the more I am convinced of the wisdom of that observation.
52. I have never been hurt by what I have not said.
53. Heroism is not only in the man, but in the occasion.
54. It seems impossible that any man could adequately describe his mother. I cannot describe mine.
55. The college of that day had a very laudable desire to get students, and having admitted them, it was equally alert in striving to keep them and help them get an education, with the result that very few left of their own volition and almost none were dropped for failure in their work. There was no marked exodus at the first examination period, which was due not only to the attitude of the college but to the attitude of the students, who did not go there because they wished to experiment for a few months with college life and be able to say thereafter they had been in college, but went because they felt they had need of an education, and expected to work hard for that purpose until the course was finished. There were few triflers.
56. Wherever we look, the work of the chemist has raised the level of our civilization and has increased the productive capacity of our nation.
57. It is characteristic of the unlearned that they are forever proposing something which is old, and because it has recently come to their own attention, supposing it to be new.
58. But this does not detract from the wisdom of his faith in the people and his constant insistence that they be left to manage their own affairs. His opposition to bureaucracy will bear careful analysis, and the country could stand a great deal more of its application. The trouble with us is that we talk about Jefferson but do not follow him. In his theory that the people should manage their government, and not be managed by it, he was everlastingly right.
59. Any man who has been placed in the White House cannot feel that it is the result of his own exertions or his own merit. Some power outside and beyond him becomes manifest through him. As he contemplates the workings of his office, he comes to realize with an increasing sense of humility that he is but an instrument in the hands of God.
60. 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; un-rewarded genius is almost a proverb.
