All quotes

You have summoned me in my weakness; you must sustain me by your strength.

One must subject oneself to one's own tests that one is destined for independence and command, and do so at the right time.

A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position.

The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism.

it has been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just appreciation of every circumstance by which it might be affected

I have not sought this enormous responsibility, but I will not shirk it.

I have learned already in this office that the difficult decisions always come to this desk.

Fully impressed with the gravity of the duties that confront me and mindful of my weakness, I should be appalled if it were my lot to bear unaided the responsibilities which await me.

I accept with humility the honor which the American people have conferred upon me.

In this time of doubt, they look to the United States as never before for good will, strength, and wise leadership.

Well may the boldest fear and the wisest tremble when incurring responsibilities on which may depend our country's peace and prosperity, and in some degree the hopes and happiness of the whole human family.

Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place.

If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.

Conscious of my own deficiency, I cannot enter on these duties without great anxiety for the result.

A President may sense and proclaim that new spirit, but only a people can provide it.

Your strength can compensate for my weakness, and your wisdom can help to minimize my mistakes.

Less possessed of your confidence in advance than any of my predecessors, I am deeply conscious of the prospect that I shall stand more and oftener in need of your indulgence.

Responsibility is null when nobody knows who is responsible; nor, even when real, can it be divided without being weakened.

There is no act which more imperatively requires to be performed under a strong sense of individual responsibility than the nomination to employments.

This has become more difficult in a world where change and growth seem to tower beyond the control and even the judgment of men.

Surely the United States Senate is big enough to take self-criticism and self-appraisal.

All the lessons of history and experience must be lost upon us if we are content to trust alone to the peculiar advantages we happen to possess.

With tireless energy and eager zeal, colored women have, since their emancipation, been continuously prosecuting the work of educating and elevating their race, as though upon themselves alone devolved the accomplishment of this great task.

Here we see how hurtful it is for a prince or commonwealth to keep the minds of their subjects in constant alarm and suspense by continually renewed punishments and violence.

The prince, therefore, who would guard himself against plots, ought more to fear those men to whom he has been too indulgent, than those to whom he has done great wrongs.