19th-century Politician Quotes

We have a great objective—the light on the hill—which we aim to reach by working for the betterment of mankind not only here but anywhere we may give a helping hand.

These are the rules of big business. They have superseded the teachings of our parents and are reducible to a simple maxim: Get a monopoly; let Society work for you; and remember that the best of all business is politics, for a legislative grant, franchise, subsidy or tax exemption is worth more than a Kim-berly or Comstock lode, since it does not require any labor, either mental or physical, for its exploitation.

Frederic C. Howe

'God save Ireland!' said the heroes;
'God save Ireland', say they all:
Whether on the scaffold high
Or the battlefield we die,
Oh, what matter when for Erin dear we fall.

Timothy Daniel Sullivan

When the spring comes, we will manure the plains of Kosova with the bones of Serbs, for we Albanians have suffered too much to forget.

You, gentlemen, are in need of great upheavals; we are in need of Great Russia.

No man's life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session.

When Theodore Roosevelt asked for a legal justification for the acquisition of the Panama Canal project:

Oh, Mr President, do not let so great an achievement suffer from any taint of legality.

Philander C. Knox

They love him most for the enemies he has made.

Edward S. Bragg

Lisbeth was his — she was his... the words became a beautiful and tender hymn glorifying a love which triumphed over all worldly vicissitudes. The hymn resounded over all the plains, over the ice and snows. In the name of Christ Jesus, he raised the chalice to Bjorn's mouth. In the name of Christ Jesus!

Johan Falkberget

Parties are not built up by deportment, or by ladies' magazines, or gush.

Roscoe Conkling

The socialist believes that it is better to be rich than poor, the Christian that it is better to be poor than rich.

Lord Hugh Cecil

We know that the organised workers of the country are our friends. As for the rest, they don't matter a tinker's cuss.

The savages set up gods to which they pray, and which they punish if one of their prayers is not answered... That is what is happening at this moment... Yesterday Kerensky; today Lenin and Trotsky; another tomorrow...

Whatever happens, the US Navy is not going to be caught napping.

On 4 December 1941, few days before attack on Pearl Harbor

All around us there are tangible evidences of the industrial activity of our people and the growth and development of our State, and with national legislation not unfavorable to us, the future of Oregon is full of promise of a rich inheritance to its inhabitants.

William Paine Lord

In the first stone which he [the savage] flings at the wild animals he pursues, in the first stick that he seizes to strike down the fruit which hangs above his reach, we see the appropriation of one article for the purpose of aiding in the acquisition of another, and thus discover the origin of capital.

There is never a duel with truth; the truth always wins, and we are not afraid of it!

Dudley Field Malone

We must proceed with a full realization that no statute enacted by man can repeal the inexorable laws of nature.

Warren G. Harding

My own message to the NATO governments never varied — I hammered it home everywhere. If we could make a go of a practical pact permitting common military plans, procurement, organization, and control of the forces of NATO, the security of Western Europe would be assured. The region would then become a complex which would be, militarily, economically, and politically, as powerful as any other in the world.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

One of the reforms to be carried out during the incoming administration is a change in our monetary and banking laws, so as to secure greater elasticity in the forms of currency available for trade and to prevent the limitations of law from operating to increase the embarrassment of a financial panic.

William Howard Taft

The Latin American people believed and feel that we Filipinos form past of that vast family, the children of Spain. Thus, although Spain ceased to govern those countries many years ago and although another nation is sovereign in the Philippines, those Latin-American peoples feel themselves as brothers to the people of the Philippines. It is the Spanish language that still binds us to those peoples, and the Spanish language will bind us to those peoples eternally if we have the wisdom and patriotism of preserving it.

Manuel L. Quezon

I got very well acquainted with Joe Stalin, and I like old Joe! He is a decent fellow. But Joe is a prisoner of the Politburo.

Harry S. Truman

If you are as happy in entering the White House as I shall feel on returning to Wheatland, you are a happy man indeed.

A noble life crowned with heroic death, rises above and outlives the pride and pomp and glory of the mightiest empire of the earth.

James A. Garfield

Will it not be wise to allow the friendship between nations to rest upon deep and permanent things? Irritations of the cuticle must not be confounded with heart failure.

Benjamin Harrison