Quotessence
Home / Authors / Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge Quotes

30th U.S. President

Filter quotes by topic

AllGovernmentPeopleMenIfsPresidentLibertyAmericaLawCountryHas BeensRightsNationsStatesMeanNeedsPoliticsPresidentialWantCharacterPolitical

Famous Calvin Coolidge Quotes

“If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people.”

GovernmentLibertyUnited StatesRightsProgressEqualityInalienable
Author:Calvin Coolidge
Create image

“When each citizen submits himself to the authority of law he does not thereby decrease his independence or freedom, but rather increases it. By recognizing that he is a part of a larger body which is banded together for a common purpose, he becomes more than an individual, he rises to a new dignity of citizenship. Instead of finding himself restricted and confined by rendering obedience to public law, he finds himself protected and defended and in the exercise of increased and increasing rights.”

DoeBodyTogetherLawPurposeIndividualCommonRightsCitizensExerciseAuthorityFindingsDignityIncreaseIndependenceObedienceProtectedSubmitCitizenshipRecognizingConfinedDecreaseRenderingCommon Purpose
Author:Calvin Coolidge
Create image

“The doctrine of the Declaration of Independence predicated upon the glory of man and the corresponding duty to society that the rights of citizens ought to be protected with every power and resource of the state, and a government that does any less is false to the teachings of that great document - false to the name American.”

MenDoeStatesGovernmentNamesRightsTeachingDutyOughtCitizensGloryResourcesIndependenceDoctrineProtectedDocumentsDeclarationDeclaration Of IndependenceCorresponding
Author:Calvin Coolidge
Create image

“The suggestion of denying any measure of their full political rights to such a great group of our population as the colored people is one which, however it might be received in some other quarters, could not possibly be permitted by one who feels a responsibility for living up to the traditions and maintaining the principles of the Republican Party. Our Constitution guarantees equal rights to all our citizens, without discrimination on account of race or color. I have taken my oath to support that Constitution.”

FeelsMightPoliticalPartyRaceResponsibilityPrinciplesSupportTakenRightsGroupsColorCitizensRepublicanEqualTraditionAccountsConstitutionPopulationDiscriminationCivil RightsAfrican AmericanGuaranteesQuartersSuggestionsRepublican PartyMaintainingEqual RightsOathPolitical Rights
Author:Calvin Coolidge
Create image

“July 4, 1776 was the historic day on which the representatives of three millions of people vocalized Concord, and Lexington, and Bunker Hill, which gave notice to the world that they proposed to establish an independent nation on the theory that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

PeopleMenWorldCertainThreeNationsLibertyMillionsRightsTheoryEqualIndependentCreatorPursuitHillsRepresentativesHistoricPursuit Of HappinessJulyInalienable RightsBunkersLife Liberty And The Pursuit Of HappinessJuly 4LexingtonBunker Hill
Author:Calvin Coolidge
Create image

“Numbered among our population are some 12,000,000 colored people. Under our Constitution their rights are just as sacred as those of any other citizen. It is both a public and a private duty to protect those rights. The Congress ought to exercise all its powers of prevention and punishment against the hideous crime of lynching, of which the negroes are by no means the sole sufferers, but for which they furnish a majority of the victims.”

PeopleMeanRightsCrimeDutyOughtCitizensExerciseProtectConstitutionVictimSacredMajorityCongressPopulationPunishmentSoleHideousPreventionSufferersLynching
Author:Calvin Coolidge
Create image

“Those who want their rights respected under the Constitution and the law ought to set the example themselves of observing the Constitution and the law. While there may be those of high intelligence who violate the law at times, the barbarian and the defective always violate it. Those who disregard the rules of society are not exhibiting a superior intelligence, are not promoting freedom and independence, are not following the path of civilization, but are displaying the traits of ignorance, of servitude, of savagery, and treading the way that leads back to the jungle.”

WayWantMayLawPathRightsExampleIgnoranceOughtCivilizationConstitutionIndependenceFollowingSuperiorsTraitsJunglePromotingObservingDisregardBarbariansServitudeDefectiveSavageryTreadingSuperior Intelligence
Author:Calvin Coolidge
Create image

“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.”

LooksDoneHomeEarthRememberResultsLibertyRightsSecurityDutyGloryDearSymbolsOur FamilyPatriotismPatrioticFlagsAssociates4th Of JulyAmerican Patriotic
Author:Calvin Coolidge
Create image

“Do the day's work. If it be to protect the rights of the weak, whoever objects, do it. If it be to help a powerful corporation better to serve the people, whatever the opposition, do that. Expect to be called a stand-patter, but don't be a stand-patter. Expect to be called a demagogue, but don't be a demagogue. Don't hesitate to be as revolutionary as science. Don't hesitate to be as reactionary as the multiplication table. Don't expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong. Don't hurry to legislate. Give administration a chance to catch up with legislation.”

PeopleIfsGivingHelpingScienceStrongChancePowerfulRightsObjectsHard WorkProtectWeakAccountsTablesAdministrationCorporationsRevolutionaryOppositionPullingLegislationReactionariesMultiplication
Book:Calvin Coolidge, His Ideals of Citizenship as Revealed Through His Speeches and Writings
Create image

“Men speak of natural rights, but I challenge any one to show where in nature any rights existed or were recognized until there was established for their declaration and protection a duly promulgated body of corresponding laws.”

MenShowsBodyLawSpeakNaturalChallengesRightsProtectionPatrioticDeclarationCorrespondingNatural Rights
Book:The Quotable Calvin Coolidge: Sensible Words for a New Century
Create image

“Our government rests upon religion. It is from that source that we derive our reverance for truth and justice, for equality and liberty, and for the rights of mankind. Unless the people believe in these principles they cannot believe in our government.”

PeopleBelieveGovernmentJusticeLibertyPrinciplesRightsMankindSourceTruth And Justice
Book:The Quotable Calvin Coolidge: Sensible Words for a New Century
Create image

“In its main features the Declaration of Independence is a great spiritual document. It is a declaration not of material but of spiritual conceptions. Equality, liberty, popular sovereignty, the rights of man - these are not elements which we can see and touch. They are ideals. They have their source and their roots in the religious convictions. They belong to the unseen world. Unless the faith of the American people in these religious convictions is to endure, the principles of our Declaration will perish. We can not continue to enjoy the result if we neglect and abandon the cause.”

PeopleIfsMenWorldSpiritualCausesEnjoyReligiousResultsLibertyPrinciplesRightsMaterialsSourceElementsIdealsRootsIndependenceEndureConvictionFeaturesAbandonNeglectConceptionDocumentsCan NotDeclarationUnseenSovereigntyDeclaration Of IndependenceGreat SpiritualPopular Sovereignty
Author:Calvin Coolidge
Create image

“No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward a time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction cannot lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient than those of our Revolutionary ancestors.”

PeopleIfsMadeIdeasIndividualWishRightsProgressModernClaimsLaysAncientEqualityDenyRevolutionaryAncestorPropositionsDeclaration Of IndependenceReactionariesSoundness
Author:Calvin Coolidge
Create image

“If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions.”

IfsMenMadeGovernmentRightsProgressEqualFinalsConsentPropositionsDeclaration Of IndependenceInalienable RightsConsent Of The Governed
Book:The Quotable Calvin Coolidge: Sensible Words for a New Century
Create image