Home / Quotes / Quote by James Monroe

Quote by James Monroe

“Peace is the best time for improvement and preparation of every kind; it is in peace that our commerce flourishes most, that taxes are most easily paid, and that the revenue is most productive.”

Book:The Writings of James Monroe: 1817-1823

Work

The Writings of James Monroe: 1817-1823

This volume includes letters, speeches, and other writings by James Monroe, covering the period from 1817 to 1823. It offers insights into his presidency, foreign policy, and personal reflections during a critical time in American history. more

Author

James Monroe

James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States, serving from 1817 to 1825. He was a significant figure in American politics and diplomacy, particularly for his role in shaping U.S. foreign policy, including the formulation of the Monroe Doctrine. During his presidency, Monroe pushed for the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory and promoted the expansion of the United States westward. more

“Governments do not make ideals, but ideals make governments. This is both historically and logically true. Of course the government can help to sustain ideals and can create institutions through which they can be the better observed, but their source by their very nature is in the people. The people have to bear their own responsibilities. There is no method by which that burden can be shifted to the government. It is not the enactment, but the observance of laws, that creates the character of a nation.”

People Character Helping Government Law Courses Nations President Responsibility Source Bears Ideals Method Institutions Burden Observance

Author:Calvin Coolidge

“We the people tell the government what to do, it doesn't tell us.”

People Government President Presidential Us President

Author:Ronald Reagan

“The national will is the supreme law of the Republic, and on all subjects within the limits of his constitutional powers should be faithfully obeyed by the public servant.”

Should Law President Subjects Limits Supreme Servant Republic Public Servants

Book:Martin Van Buren, 1782-1862: chronology-documents-bibliographical aids

Source: Martin Van Buren, 1782-1862: chronology-documents-bibliographical aids

“I can imagine no greater disservice to the country than to establish a system of censorship that would deny to the people of a free republic like our own their indisputable right to criticize their own public officials. While exercising the great powers of the office I hold, I would regret in a crisis like the one through which we are now passing to lose the benefit of patriotic and intelligent criticism.”

Source: The papers of Woodrow Wilson

“It has been said that one bad general is better than two good ones, and the saying is true if taken to mean no more than that an army is better directed by a single mind, though inferior, than by two superior ones at variance and cross-purposes with each other. And the same is true in all joint operations wherein those engaged can have none but a common end in view and can differ only as to the choice of means. In a storm at sea no one on board can wish the ship to sink, and yet not unfrequently all go down together because too many will direct and no single mind can be allowed to control.”

Source: CIVIL WAR – Complete History of the War, Documents, Memoirs & Biographies of the Lead Commanders: Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant & William T. Sherman, Biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis & Robert E. Lee, The Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg Address, Presidential Orders & Actions

“There is something inherently wrong, something out of accord with the ideals of representative democracy, when one portion of our citizenship turns its activities to private gain amid defensive war while another is fighting, sacrificing, or dying for national preservation.”

War Turns Fighting President Democracy Sacrifice Dying Activity Gains Ideals Portions Representatives Citizenship Preservation Accord

Book:Inaugural Speeches from the Presidents of the United States - Complete Edition

Source: Inaugural Speeches from the Presidents of the United States - Complete Edition

“America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens.”