More from James Buchanan

  1. I have no regret for any public act of my life, and history will vindicate my memory.
  2. Prevent the American people from crossing the Rocky Mountains? You might as well command Niagara not to flow. We must fulfill our destiny.
  3. Abstract propositions should never be discussed by a legislative body.
  4. The ballot box is the surest arbiter of disputes among free men.
  5. What is right and what is practicable are two different things.
  6. The distribution of patronage of the Government is by far the most disagreeable duty of the President.
  7. Liberty must be allowed to work out its natural results; and these will, ere long, astonish the world.
  8. The test of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.

All James Buchanan quotes