Originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington’s birthday, the U.S. celebrates President’s Day on the third Monday of February each year (his actual birthday isn’t until February 22). The holiday was moved as part of 1971’s Uniform Monday Holiday Act, an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers – and we’re not complaining!
While several states still have individual holidays honoring the birthdays of Washington, Abraham Lincoln and others, Presidents’ Day is now popularly viewed as a day to celebrate all U.S. presidents past and present… or to take advantage of some great sales to buy some new shoes or bedding! We kid. We kid.
However you celebrate this Monday, here is a little presidential inspiration – a quote from each of the 44 Presidents in U.S. history from George Washington to Barack Obama.
George Washington
“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”
John Adams
“The Revolution was effected before the War commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations. This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution.”
Thomas Jefferson
“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.”
James Madison
“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”
James Monroe
“National honor is the national property of the highest value.”
John Quincy Adams
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
Andrew Jackson
“Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error”
Martin Van Buren
“It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t.”
William Henry Harrison
“There is nothing more corrupting, nothing more destructive of the noblest and finest feelings of our nature, than the exercise of unlimited power.”
John Tyler
“Popularity, I have always thought, may aptly be compared to a coquette—the more you woo her, the more apt is she to elude your embrace.”
James K. Polk
“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. ”
Zachary Taylor
“I have always done my duty. I am ready to die. My only regret is for the friends I leave behind me.”
Millard Fillmore
“May God save the country, for it is evident that the people will not.”
Franklin Pierce
“Frequently the more trifling the subject, the more animated and protracted the discussion.”
James Buchanan
“The test of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there”
Abraham Lincoln
“Things may come to those who wait…but only the things left by those who hustle.”
Andrew Johnson
“If the rabble were lopped off at one end and the aristocrats at the other, all would be well with the country.”
Ulysses S. Grant
“There never was a time when, in my opinion, some way could not be found to prevent the drawing of the sword.”
Rutherford B. Hayes
“Fighting battles is like courting girls: those who make the most pretensions and are boldest usually win.”
James Garfield
“If the power to do hard work is not a skill, it’s the best possible substitute for it.”
Chester A. Arthur
“Men may die, but the fabric of our free institutions remains unshaken.”
Grover Cleveland
“A government for the people must depend for its success on the intelligence, the morality, the justice, and the interest of the people themselves.”
Benjamin Harrison
“The bud of victory is always in the truth.”
William McKinley
“That’s all a man can hope for during his lifetime – to set an example – and when he is dead, to be an inspiration for history.”
Theodore Roosevelt
“The only man who makes no mistakes is the man who never does anything.”
William Howard Taft
“The world is not going to be saved by legislation.”
Woodrow Wilson
“We are citizens of the world. The tragedy of our times is that we do not know this.”
Warren G. Harding
“I have no trouble with my enemies. I can take care of my enemies in a fight. But my friends, my goddamned friends, they’re the ones who keep me walking the floor at nights!”
Calvin Coolidge
“We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.”
Herbert Hoover
“Words without actions are the assassins of idealism.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.”
Harry S. Truman
“I learned that a great leader is a man who has the ability to get other people to do what they don’t want to do and like it”
Dwight D. Eisenhower
“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”
John F. Kennedy
“One person can make a difference and every person should try.”
Lyndon B. Johnson
“Doing what’s right isn’t the problem. It is knowing what’s right.”
Richard Nixon
“A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.”
Gerald Ford
“A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.”
Jimmy Carter
“The best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of emulation.”
Ronald Reagan
“There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.”
George Bush
“Any definition of a successful life must include serving others.”
Bill Clinton
“Sometimes when people are under stress, they hate to think, and it’s the time when they most need to think.”
George W. Bush
“You never know what your history is going to be like until long after you’re gone.”
Barack Obama
“What Washington needs is adult supervision.”
These quotes were spotted at AllAmericanBlogger.com.
Head here to read 44 Facts You Didn’t Know About U.S. Presidents.
Mount Rushmore graffiti mural is in Los Angeles and done by Brazilian street artist Eduardo Kobra.
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