Some of my Favorite Quotes

James Madison Quotes James Madison was the fourth president of the United States, co-author of the Federalist Papers, and a true Patriot!

"Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm."

"The legislative department is everywhere extending the sphere of its activity and drawing all power into its impetuous vortex."

"Philosophy is common sense with big words."

"The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted."

"No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."

"Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Government."

John F. Kennedy Quotes John F. Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States.

"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."

"There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction."

"Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly."

"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project...will be more exciting, or more impressive to mankind, or more important...and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish..."

"Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm."

"Our problems are man-made; therefore they may be solved by man."

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

"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."

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."

Ronald Reagan Quotes The 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan was instrumental in ending the cold war.

"The problem is not that people are taxed too little; the problem is that government spends too much."

"Let us resolve that we will stop spreading dependency and start spreading opportunity; that we will stop spreading bondage and start spreading freedom."

"Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States."

"The government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

"Our nation is indeed fortunate that we can still draw on an immense reservoir of courage, character, and fortitude, that we are still blessed with heroes like those of the space shuttle Challenger. Man will continue his conquest of space. To reach out for new goals and ever-greater achievements, that is the way we shall commemorate our seven Challenger heroes."

"Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem."

"It is time for us to realize that we're too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams."

Abraham Lincoln Quotes Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States. Considered by many to be one of the greatest American presidents, Lincoln was instrumental in ending slavery and winning the Civil War.

"The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just."

"I don't like that man. I must get to know him better."

"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves."

Franklin Roosevelt Quotes Elected President in 1932, Roosevelt guided America out of the Great Depression and led us to victory in World War II. Roosevelt became the longest serving American President.

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today"

"Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds."

Harry Truman Quotes Harry S.Truman was the thirty-third president of the United States.

"Intense feeling too often obscures the truth."

"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit."

"A statesman is a politician who's been dead 10 or 15 years."

Ulysses S. Grant Quotes Rising through the ranks during the American Civil War, Grant became one of the most important generals of the war. Grant later served two terms as President of the United States.

"Nations, like individuals, are punished for their transgressions."

"There never was a time when, in my opinion, some way could not be found to prevent the drawing of the sword."

"In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten, then he who continues the attack wins."

Theodore Roosevelt Quotes The 26th President of the United States, Roosevelt was instrumental in finishing the Panama Canal and establishing the United States as a super-power.

"The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything."

"Speak softly and carry a big stick."

"With self-discipline most anything is possible."

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."

"Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft."

"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed."

Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes Born in Boston, Massachusetts on May 25, 1803, Emerson became one of the most important American writers of the 19th Century.

"A man in dept is so far a slave."

"Every actual State is corrupt. Good men must not obey laws too well."

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."

"Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment."

"Every artist was first an amateur."

Henry David Thoreau Quotes Born in Concord, Massachusetts on July 12, 1817, Thoreau became one of the most important American writers of the 19th Century. Best known for his exploration of simple living in ‘Walden’, Thoreau also wrote such classic essays as ‘Civil Disobedience’ and ‘Life without Principle’.

Henry David Thoreau Quotes From 'Civil Disobedience'

"I heartily accept the motto, "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically."

"Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison."

"That government is best which governs not at all;" and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have."

"It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right."

"If I devote myself to other pursuits and contemplation's. I must first see, at least, that I do not pursue them sitting upon another man's shoulders."

"The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done somewhat more, if the government had not sometimes got in its way."

"Those who, while they disapprove of the character and measures of a government, yield to it their allegiance and support are undoubtedly its most conscientious supporters, and so frequently the most serious obstacles to reform."

Henry David Thoreau Quotes From 'Life Without Principle'

"Let us consider the way in which we spend our lives."

"There is no more fatal blunderer than he who consumes the greater part of his life getting his living."

"The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer."

"Most men would feel insulted if it were proposed to employ them in throwing stones over a wall, and then in throwing them back, merely that they might earn their wages. But many are no more worthily employed now."

"In my opinion, the sun was made to light worthier toil than this."

“They who have been bred in the school of politics fail now and always to face the facts. Their measures are half measures and make-shifts, merely. They put off the day of settlement indefinitely, and meanwhile, the debt accumulates."

Henry David Thoreau Quotes From 'Walden'

"I see young men, my townsmen, whose misfortune it is to have inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle, and farming tools; for these are more easily acquired than got rid of."

"The twelve labors of Hercules were trifling in comparison with those which my neighbors have undertaken; for they were only twelve, and had an end; but I could never see that these men slew or captured any monster or finished any labor."

"Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind."

"When he has obtained those things which are necessary to life, there is another alternative than to obtain the superfluities; and that is, to adventure on life now, his vacation from humbler toil having commenced."

"I also have in my mind that seemingly wealthy, but most terribly impoverished class of all, who have accumulated dross, but know not how to use it, or get rid of it, and thus have forged their own golden or silver fetters."

"And when the farmer has got his house, he may not be the richer but the poorer for it, and it be the house that has got him."

"Men have become the tools of their tools."

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."

Benjamin Franklin Quotes

"He that speaks much, is much mistaken."

"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

"He does not possess Wealth, it possesses him."

"Wish not so much to live long as to live well."

"Without Freedom of Thought there can be no such thing as Wisdom; and no such thing as Public Liberty, without Freedom of Speech."

"They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Charles Darwin Quotes Charles Darwin was a 19th century English naturalist who studied natural selection and evolution. His works include ‘On the Origin of Species’, and ‘The Decent of Man’.

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change."

"Animals, whom we have made our slaves, we do not like to consider our equal."

"I am turned into a sort of machine for observing facts & grinding out conclusions."

"I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term Natural Selection."

"We will now discuss in a little more detail the Struggle for Existence."

Isaac Newton Quotes Isaac Newton was an English scientist known for his work in physics, astronomy and mathematics. Newton is perhaps best known for his investigations of gravity and motion.

"I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people."

"To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction."

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants."

Douglas Adams

"A common mistake people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."

"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."

Wernher von Braun Quotes

"One test result is worth one thousand expert opinions."

"A human being is the best computer available to place in a spacecraft. . . It is also the only one that can be mass produced with unskilled labor."

"Our two greatest problems are gravity and paper work. We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming."

"I only hope that we shall not wait to adopt the program until after our astronomers have reported a new and unsuspected aster[oid] moving across their fields of vision with menacing speed. At that point it will be too late!"

"Don't tell me that man doesn't belong out there. Man belongs wherever he wants to go - and he'll do plenty well when he gets there."

"It [the rocket] will free man from his remaining chains, the chains of gravity which still tie him to this planet. It will open to him the gates of heaven."

"My friends there was dancing here in the streets of Huntsville when our first satellite orbited the earth. There was dancing again when the first Americans landed on the moon. I'd like to ask you, don't hang up your dancing slippers."

"I have learned to use the word "impossible" with the greatest caution."

"Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing."

Alan Shepherd Quotes

"Unfortunately the suit is so stiff, I can't do that with two hands, but I'm going to try a little sand trap shot here." Alan Shepard, Apollo 14, golfing on the Moon, 6 February 1971.

"It's a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one's safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract."

"Why don't you fix your little problem and light this candle?"

Robert A. Heinlein Quotes

"Remember this: once the human race is established on more than one planet and especially, in more than one solar system, there is no way now imaginable to kill off the human race."

"Earth is too small a basket for mankind to keep all its eggs in."

"Once you get to earth orbit, you're halfway to anywhere in the solar system."

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

Isaac Asimov Quotes

"The world is being Americanized and technologized to its limits, and that makes it dull for some people. Reaching the Moon restores the frontier and gives us the lands beyond."

"There are so many benefits to be derived from space exploration and exploitation; why not take what seems to me the only chance of escaping what is otherwise the sure destruction of all that humanity has struggled to achieve for 50,000 years?"

"Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do."

Miscellaneous Quotes

"Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering." Arthur C. Clarke

"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." Archimedes

"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." Arthur Carlson, famous broadcasting executive

"There are three types of people in the world; people who can count, and people who can't." Unknown

"There are two kinds of people in the world, Those who divide people into two groups and those who do not." Unknown

"We shall not cease our explorations, and the end of our exploring will be to arrive back where we started and know the place for the first time." T.S. Eliot

"I had the ambition to not only go farther than man had gone before, but to go as far as it was possible to go." Captain Cook

"A religion old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the universe as revealed by modern science, might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths. Sooner or later, such a religion will emerge." Carl Sagan