The chief business of the American people is business.
– Calvin Coolidge
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more
common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a
proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and
determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “Press on” has solved and always will solve
the problems of the human race.
– Calvin Coolidge
Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to
be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. If we think on these things,
there will be born in us a savior and over us will shine a star sending its gleam of hope to the
world.
– Calvin Coolidge
Never go out to meet trouble. If you will just sit still, nine cases out of ten someone will
intercept it before it reaches you.
– Calvin Coolidge
I have found it advisable not to give too much heed to what people say when I am trying to
accomplish something of consequence. Invariably they proclaim it can’t be done. I deem that
the very best time to make the effort.
– Calvin Coolidge
Prosperity is only an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshipped.
– Calvin Coolidge
I have found out in the course of a long public life that the things I did not say never hurt
me.
– Calvin Coolidge
It takes a great man to be a good listener.
– Calvin Coolidge
No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he
gave.
– Calvin Coolidge
The only difference between a mob and a trained army is organization.
– Calvin Coolidge
Any reward that is worth having only comes to the industrious. The success which is made in
any walk of life is measured almost exactly by the amount of hard work that is put into it.
– Calvin Coolidge
I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to
save people.
– Calvin Coolidge
The nation which forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten.
– Calvin Coolidge
A government must govern, must prescribe and enforce laws within its sphere or cease to be
a government. Moreover, the individual must be independent and free within his own sphere or
cease to be an individual. The fundamental question is now, and always will be through what
adjustments, by what actions, these principles may be applied.
– Calvin Coolidge
We need more of the Office Desk and less of the Show Window in politics. Let men in office
substitute the midnight oil for the limelight.
– Calvin Coolidge
Those who trust to chance must abide by the rules of chance.
– Calvin Coolidge
Don’t you know that four fifths of all our troubles in this life would disappear if we would
just sit down and keep still?
– Calvin Coolidge
Education should be the handmaid of citizenship.
– Calvin Coolidge
Advertising is the most potent influence in adapting and changing the habits and modes of
life affecting what we eat, what we wear, and the work and play of a whole nation.
– Calvin Coolidge
All growth depends upon activity. There is no developement physically or intellectually
without effort, and effort means work.
– Calvin Coolidge
If I had permitted my failures, or what seemed to me at the time a lack of success, to
discourage me I cannot see any way in which I would ever have made progress.
– Calvin Coolidge
Heroism is not only in the man, but in the occasion.
– Calvin Coolidge
Little progress can be made by merely attempting to repress what is evil. Our great hope lies
in developing what is good.
– Calvin Coolidge
There is no force so democratic as the force of an ideal.
– Calvin Coolidge
Industry, thrift and self-control are not sought because they create wealth, but because they
create character.
– Calvin Coolidge
I sometimes wish that people would put a little more emphasis upon the observance of the law
than they do upon its enforcement.
– Calvin Coolidge
We identify the flag with almost everything we hold dear on earth, peace, security, liberty,
our family, our friends, our home… But when we look at our flag and behold it emblazoned with
all our rights we must remember that it is equally a symbol of our duties. Every glory that we
associate with it is the result of duty done.
– Calvin Coolidge
We do not need more intellectual power, we need more spiritual power. We do not need more
of the things that are seen, we need more of the things that are unseen.
– Calvin Coolidge
The man who builds a factory builds a temple, that the man who works there worships
there, and to each is due, not scorn and blame, but reverence and praise.
– Calvin Coolidge
Wherever despotism abounds, the sources of public information are the first to be brought
under its control. Where ever the cause of liberty is making its way, one of its highest
accomplishments is the guarantee of the freedom of the press.
– Calvin Coolidge
Patriotism is easy to understand…. It means looking out for yourself by looking out for
your country.
– Calvin Coolidge
Don’t expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong.
– Calvin Coolidge
Teaching is one of the noblest of professions. It requires an adequate preparation and
training, patience, devotion, and a deep sense of responsibility. Those who mold the human
mind have wrought not for time, but for eternity.
– Calvin Coolidge
One of the greatest perils to an extensive republic is the disregard of individual rights.
– Calvin Coolidge
We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.
– Calvin Coolidge
This country would not be a land of opportunity, America could not be America, if the people
were shackled with government monopolies.
– Calvin Coolidge