It takes a great man to be a good listener.
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Listening
Ultimately property rights and personal rights are the same thing.
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Property
I sometimes wish that people would put a little more emphasis on the observance of the law than they do upon its enforcement.
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Law, Lawyers
It is necessary to have party organization if we are to have effective and efficient government. The only difference between a mob and a trained army is organization, and the only difference between a disorganized country and one that has the advantage of a wise and sound government is fundamentally a question of organization.
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Organization
I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people. The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical form.
—Calvin Coolidge
No one every listened themselves out of a job.
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Listening
Patriotism is easy to understand in America; it means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country.
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Patriotism
Governments are necessarily continuing concerns. They have to keep going in good times and in bad. They therefore need a wide margin of safety. If taxes and debt are made all the people can bear when times are good, there will be certain disaster when times are bad.
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Government
Dream what you dare to dream. Go where you want to go. Be what you want to be.
—Calvin Coolidge
The appropriation of public money always is perfectly lovely until some one is asked to pay the bill. If we are to have a billion dollars of navy, half a billion of farm relief, etc. the people will have to furnish more revenue by paying more taxes. It is for them, through their Congress, to decide how far they wish to go.
—Calvin Coolidge
Nothing is easier than spending the public money. It does not appear to belong to anybody. The temptation is overwhelming to bestow it on somebody.
—Calvin Coolidge
We need not concern ourselves much about rights of property if we faithfully observe the rights of persons.
—Calvin Coolidge
All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work. Work is not a curse; it is the prerogative of intelligence, the only means to manhood, and the measure of civilization.
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Work, Growth
Prosperity cannot be divorced from humanity.
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Prosperity
Economy is the method by which we prepare today to afford the improvements of tomorrow
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Economy
Our doctrine of equality and liberty and humanity comes from our belief in the brotherhood of man, through the fatherhood of God.
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Humanity
Nothing in the 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.
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Talent, Education, Determination, Action, Perseverance, Success, Resolve, Endurance, Persistence
No nation ever had an army large enough to guarantee it against attack in time of peace or insure it victory in time of war.
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Nation
Advertising is the life of trade.
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Advertising
We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Contentment, Responsibility, One Step at a Time, Happiness, Action
The danger to America is not in the direction of the failure to maintain its economic position, but in the direction of the failure to maintain its ideals.
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Ideals
Education will not (take the place of persistence); 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.
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Determination
Little progress can be made by merely attempting to repress what is evil; our great hope lies in developing what is good.
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Goodness, Progress
I have never been hurt by what I have not said.
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Words
When a great many people are unable to find work, unemployment results.
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Work
Industry, thrift and self-control are not sought because they create wealth, but because they create character.
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Thrift
Parties do not maintain themselves. They are maintained by effort. The government is not self-existent. It is maintained by the effort of those who believe in it. The people of America believe in American institutions, the American form of government and the American method of transacting business.
—Calvin Coolidge
If there has been any crime, it must be prosecuted. If there has been any property of the United States illegally transferred or leased, it must be recovered. I propose to employ special counsel of high rank drawn from both political parties to bring such actions for the enforcement of the law. Counsel will be instructed to prosecute these cases in the courts so that if there is any guilt it will be punished; if there is any civil liability it will be enforced; if there is any fraud it will be revealed; and if there are any contracts which are illegal they will be canceled. Every law will be enforced. And every right of the people and the Government will be protected.
—Calvin Coolidge
Civilization and profits go hand in hand.
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Profit
Do the day’s work. If it be to protect the rights of the weak, whoever objects, do it. If it be to help a powerful corporation better to serve the people, whatever the opposition, do that. Expect to be called a stand-patter, but don’t be a stand-patter. Expect to be called a demagogue, but don’t be a demagogue. Don’t hesitate to be as revolutionary as science. Don’t hesitate to be as reactionary as the multiplication table. Don’t expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong. Don’t hurry to legislate. Give administration a chance to catch up with legislation.
—Calvin Coolidge
Topics: Strength, Expectations
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Herbert Hoover American Statesman
- Charles G. Dawes American Diplomat, Politician
- Richard Nixon American Head of State
- Theodore Roosevelt American Head of State
- Warren G. Harding American Head of State
- Lyndon B. Johnson American Head of State
- Franklin D. Roosevelt American Head of State
- George H. W. Bush American Head of State
- John Quincy Adams American Head of State
- John Adams American Head of State
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