By America is a land filled with leaders who can instill greatness into every single person using nothing but the power of words. And this President’s Day, we have rounded up the 50 best presidential quotes filled with hope, honor and dignity that perfectly illustrate what it means to be a member of the melting pot that is the United States of America. Read on for more.
Over the decades, many Hollywood productions have featured real presidents on film, and this is a look at 10 of the best portrayals.
- “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”—Franklin D. Roosevelt
- “No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.”—Calvin Coolidge
- “When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.”—Herbert Hoover
- “The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.”—Barack Obama
- “I believe the declaration that ‘all men are created equal’ is the great fundamental principle upon which our free institutions rest.”—Abraham Lincoln
- “Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence; true friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.”—George Washington
- “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”—John F. Kennedy
- “If we do not want to die together in war, we must learn to live together in peace.”—Harry S. Truman
- “Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.”—Franklin D. Roosevelt
- “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”—Abraham Lincoln
Aerial Footage/Getty - “No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his body, to risk his well-being, to risk his life, in a great cause.”—Theodore Roosevelt
- “We must support our rights or lose our character, and with it, perhaps, our liberties.”—James Monroe
- “Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”—John F. Kennedy
- “National character cannot be built by law. It is the sum of the moral fiber of its individuals.”—Herbert Hoover
- “The strongest of all governments is that which is most free.”—William Henry Harrison
- “We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.”—Jimmy Carter
- “The nation which forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten.”—Calvin Coolidge
- “Peace is more than just an absence of war. True peace is justice, true peace is freedom, and true peace dictates the recognition of human rights.” — Ronald Reagan
- “Free speech exercised both individually and through a free press, is a necessity in any country where people are themselves free.” — Theodore Roosevelt
- “Whatever America hopes to bring to pass in the world must first come to pass in the heart of America.”—Dwight D. Eisenhower
Jackie Kennedy wasn’t just the first lady, she was a true cultural icon who inspired multiple generations with her style, intelligence and advocacy. Kennedy came from a privileged upbringing and brought tastefulness to every area of her personal and professional life—and after the harrowing experience of her husband’s 1963 assassination, she became an icon of […] - “Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.”—John F. Kennedy
- “When one of us falters, we all falter. When one of us rises, we all rise.”—Barack Obama
- “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”—Theodore Roosevelt
- “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorns have roses.”—Abraham Lincoln
- “It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t.”—Martin Van Buren
- “We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience.”—George Washington
- “If we love our country, we should also love our countrymen.”—Ronald Reagan
- “I feel sorry for people who don’t have a deep sense of compassion for their fellow man.”—Harry S. Truman
- “Democracy is not the building of a house, but the building of a nation.”–Lyndon B. Johnson
- “Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths. Americans have ever been a relentless, questioning, hopeful people.”—Bill Clinton
MarkHatfield/Getty - “Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”—Abraham Lincoln
- “Our nation is shaped by the constant battle between our better angels and our darkest impulses. It is time for our better angels to prevail.”—Joe Biden
- “I would rather belong to a poor nation that was free than to a rich nation that had ceased to be in love with liberty.”—Woodrow Wilson
- “We must not then depend alone upon the love of liberty in the soul of man for its preservation.”—John Adams
- “I leave comparisons to history, claiming only that I have acted in every instance from a conscientious desire to do what was right, constitutional, within the law, and for the very best interests of the whole people. Failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent.”—Ulysses S. Grant
- “Strong hearts and helpful hands are needed, and, fortunately, we have them in every part of our beloved country.”—William McKinley
- “Too old to plant trees for my own gratification, I shall do it for my posterity.”—Thomas Jefferson
- “If we want to invest in the prosperity of our nation, we must invest in the education of our children so that their talents may be fully employed.”—Bill Clinton
- “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”—Barack Obama
- “Light itself is a great corrective. A thousand wrongs and abuses that are grown in darkness disappear, like owls and bats, before the light of day.”—James A. Garfield
Jimmy Carter was in office from 1977 until 1981, but it was his life outside the White House that has continued to speak volumes - “The law is the only sure protection of the weak, and the only efficient restraint upon the strong.”—Millard Fillmore
- “America is a great force for freedom and prosperity. Yet our greatness is not measured in power or luxuries, but by who we are and how we treat one another. So we strive to be a compassionate, decent, hopeful society.”—George W. Bush
- “Men may die, but the fabric of our free institutions remains unshaken.”—Chester A. Arthur
- “History teaches, perhaps, very few clear lessons. But surely one such lesson learned by the world at great cost is that aggression, unopposed, becomes a contagious disease.”—Jimmy Carter
- “A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.”—Dwight D. Eisenhower
- “The life of a republic lies certainly in the energy, virtue, and intelligence of its citizens.”—Andrew Johnson
- “We are bound together by the most powerful of all ties, our fervent love for freedom and independence, which knows no homeland but the human heart.”—Gerald Ford
- “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”—Theodore Roosevelt
- “It is the American sound. It is hopeful, big-hearted, idealistic, daring, decent, and fair. That’s our heritage, that’s our song. We sing it still.”—Ronald Reagan
- “If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter”—George Washington.
