William Howard Taft Quotes (32 Quotes)


    Well, I have one consolation, No candidate was ever elected ex-president by such a large majority.


    Action for which I become responsible, or for which my administration becomes responsible, shall be within the law.


    Failure to accord credit to anyone for what he may have done is a great weakness in any man.


    I think I might as well give up being a candidate. There are so many people in the country who don't like me.

    No tendency is quite so strong in human nature as the desire to lay down rules of conduct for other people.

    No, the only things which do not bother me are the elements. I can overcome them without a fight. All one has to do to get the best of the elements is to stand pat and one will win.


    Don't worry over what the newspapers say. I don't. Why should anyone else? I told the truth to the newspaper correspondents - but when you tell the truth to them they are at sea.

    If this humor be the safety of our race, then it is due largely to the infusion into the American people of the Irish brain.


    A system in which we may have an enforced rest from legislation for two years is not bad.

    I do not know much about politics, but I am trying to do the best I can with this administration until the time shall come for me to turn it over to somebody else.

    One cannot always be sure of the truth of what one hears if he happens to be President of the United States.

    Socialism proposes no adequate substitute for the motive of enlightened selfishness that today is at the basis of all human labor and effort, enterprise and new activity.

    Substantial progress toward better things can rarely be taken without developing new evils requiring new remedies.

    I am afraid I am a constant disappointment to my party. The fact of the matter is, the longer I am president the less of a party man I seem to become.

    I love judges, and I love courts. They are my ideals, that typify on earth what we shall meet hereafter in heaven under a just God.

    As the Republican platforms says, the welfare of the farmer is vital to that of the whole country.


    Next to the right of liberty, the right of property is the most important individual right guaranteed by the Constitution and the one which, united with that of personal liberty, has contributed more to the growth of civilization than any other institution established by the human race.

    I have come to the conclusion that the major part of the work of a President is to increase the gate receipts of expositions and fairs and bring tourists to town.

    I do not believe in the divinity of Christ, and there are many other of the postulates of the orthodox creed to which I cannot subscribe.

    We live in a stage of politics, where legislators seem to regard the passage of laws as much more important than the results of their enforcement.

    I'll be damned if I am not getting tired of this. It seems to be the profession of a President simply to hear other people talk.

    Don't write so that you can be understood, write so that you can't be misunderstood.

    I am in favor of helping the prosperity of all countries because, when we are all prosperous, the trade with each becomes more valuable to the other.




    Anti-Semitism is a noxious weed that should be cut out. It has no place in America.


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