Inspirational Quotes by William Howard Taft (American President)

William Howard Taft (1857–1930) was an American jurist and politician, uniquely serving as both U.S. president (1909–13) and chief justice of the Supreme Court (1921–30.)

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, he came from a politically influential family—his father, Alphonso Taft, was a former U.S. Attorney General and Secretary of War. Taft graduated from Yale University (1878) and earned his law degree from the University of Cincinnati (1880.) His early career included judicial appointments, serving as a judge on the Superior Court of Ohio and U.S. Solicitor General. In 1900, he was appointed Governor of the Philippines, overseeing legal and economic reforms. He later served as Secretary of War under Theodore Roosevelt before succeeding him in the 1908 election.

As president, Taft advocated antitrust enforcement, expanded civil service protections, and oversaw the Sixteenth Amendment’s passage. His conservative stance divided the Republican Party, leading to his defeat in 1912. He later taught law at Yale University before his Supreme Court appointment in 1921, where he championed judicial efficiency, notably through the Judges’ Act of 1925.

His works include Present Day Problems (1908,) Popular Government (1913,) The Anti-Trust Act and the Supreme Court (1914,) Our Chief Magistrate and His Powers (1916,) and Liberty Under Law (1922.) Biographies include Lewis L. Gould’s The William Howard Taft Presidency (2010,) Henry F. Pringle’s The Life and Times of William Howard Taft (1939, reissued 1986,) and Judith Icke Anderson’s William Howard Taft: An Intimate History (1989.)

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by William Howard Taft

The trouble with me is that I like to talk too much.
—William Howard Taft
Topics: Speakers, Speaking

The difficulty about arguing is that when you get before an audience everybody is in favor of peace… . But when it comes to an election the issue as to international peace does not play any part at all.
—William Howard Taft
Topics: War

There is not the slightest ground for anti-Semitism among us.
—William Howard Taft
Topics: Jews

If we can develop a class of educated men with nothing else to do but to better government, we ought to use them; and we ought to use them by having the profession of the politician recognized as essential to the welfare of the Republic.
—William Howard Taft
Topics: Government

The President can exercise no power which cannot be fairly and reasonably traced to some specific grant of power in the Federal Constitution or in an act of Congress passed in pursuance thereof. There is no undefined residuum of power which he can exercise because it seems to him to be in the public interest.
—William Howard Taft

Next to the right of liberty, the right of property is the most important individual right guaranteed by the Constitution and the one which, united with that of personal liberty, has contributed more to the growth of civilization than any other institution established by the human race.
—William Howard Taft
Topics: Property

Socialism proposes no adequate substitute for the motive of enlightened selfishness that to-day is at the basis of all human labor and effort, enterprise and new activity.
—William Howard Taft
Topics: Socialism, Communism

Politics, when I am in it, it makes me sick.
—William Howard Taft
Topics: Politicians, Politics

We are all dependent upon the investment of capital.
—William Howard Taft
Topics: Money

In the public interest, therefore, it is better that we lose the services of the exceptions who are good Judges after they are seventy and avoid the presence on the Bench of men who are not able to keep up with the work, or to perform it satisfactorily.
—William Howard Taft

We are all imperfect. We cannot expect perfect government.
—William Howard Taft
Topics: Government

As the Republican platforms says, the welfare of the farmer is vital to that of the whole country.
—William Howard Taft
Topics: Welfare

Enthusiasm for a cause sometimes warps judgment
—William Howard Taft
Topics: Judgement

Inspirational Quotes by William Howard Taft (American President)

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