42 James K. Polk Quotes

James K. Polk quotes

1. Well may the boldest fear and the wisest tremble when incurring responsibilities on which may depend our country's peace and prosperity, and in some degree the hopes and happiness of the whole human family.

2. By the theory of our Government majorities rule, but this right is not an arbitrary or unlimited one. It is a right to be exercised in subordination to the Constitution and in conformity to it. One great object of the Constitution was to restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon their just rights. Minorities have a right to appeal to the Constitution as a shield against such oppression.

3. Foreign powers do not seem to appreciate the true character of our Government.

4. The world has nothing to fear from military ambition in our Government.

5. Although in our country the Chief Magistrate must almost of necessity be chosen by a party and stand pledged to its principles and measures, yet in his official action he should not be the President of a part only, but of the whole people of the United States. While he executes the laws with an impartial hand, shrinks from no proper responsibility, and faithfully carries out in the executive department of the Government the principles and policy of those who have chosen him, he should not be unmindful that our fellow-citizens who have differed with him in opinion are entitled to the full and free exercise of their opinions and judgments, and that the rights of all are entitled to respect and regard.

6. It becomes us, in humility, to make our devout acknowledgments to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, for the inestimable civil and religious blessings with which we are favored.

7. The passion for office among members of Congress is very great, if not absolutely disreputable, and greatly embarrasses the operations of the government. They create offices by their own votes and then seek to fill them themselves.

8. Thank God, under our Constitution there was no connection between church and state.

9. There is more selfishness and less principle among members of Congress, as well as others, than I had any conception [of], before I became President of the U.S.

10. With me it is emphatically true that the presidency is 'no bed of roses.'

11. Under the benignant providence of Almighty God the representatives of the States and of the people are again brought together to deliberate for the public good. The gratitude of the nation to the sovereign arbiter of all human events should be commensurate with the boundless blessings which we enjoy. Peace, plenty, and contentment reign throughout our borders, and our beloved country presents a sublime moral spectacle to the world.

12. No president who performs his duties faithfully and conscientiously can have any leisure. If he entrusts the details and smaller matters to subordinates constant errors will occur. I prefer to supervise the whole operations of the government myself rather than entrust the public business to subordinates, and this makes my duties very great.

13. I am heartily rejoiced that my term is so near its close. I will soon cease to be a servant and will become a sovereign.

14. I love you Sarah. For all eternity, I love you.

1. The gratitude ... should be commensurate with the boundless blessings which we enjoy.

2. Our relations with the various Indian tribes continue to be of a pacific character.

3. I would bring the government back to what it was intended to be - a plain economical government.

4. The Constitution itself, plainly written as it is, the safeguard of our federative compact, the offspring of concession and compromise, binding together in the bonds of peace and union this great and increasing family of free and independent States, will be the chart by which I shall be directed.

5. Under the blessings of Divine Providence ... It becomes us in humility to make our devout acknowledgments to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for the inestimable civil and religious blessings with which we are favored.

6. The Presidency is not a bed of roses.

7. The whole frame of the Federal Constitution proves that the government which it creates was intended to be one of limited and specified powers.

8. All distinctions of birth or of rank have been abolished. All citizens, whether native or adopted, are placed upon terms of precise equality. All are entitled to equal rights and equal protection.

9. Senator Badger did not call. During the whole of the last session of Congress, he did not call on me. He is a bitter partisan and is no doubt sensible that during the presidential canvass of 1844, he did me gross injustice.

10. Public opinion: May it always perform one of its appropriate offices, by teaching the public functionaries of the State and of the Federal Government, that neither shall assume the exercise of powers entrusted by the Constitution to the other.

11. It is confidently believed that our system may be safely extended to the utmost bounds of our territorial limits.

12. When I observed a strong man approaching I generally took advantage of him by being a little quicker than he was and seizing him by the tip of the fingers, giving him a hearty shake, and thus preventing him from getting a full grip upon me.

13. Although... the Chief Magistrate must almost of necessity be chosen by a party and stand pledged to its principles and measures, yet in his official action he should not be the President of a party only, but of the whole people of the United States.

14. A crowd of persons came in as soon as my office was opened. Among them were several ladies who called to pay their respects. None who called had any business of more importance than an ardent desire to serve their country, provided they could be appointed to a good office. As I has none of these to dispose of, they were, of course, disappointed.

15. There are four great measures for my administration - a reduction of tariff, an independent treasury, settlement of the Oregon boundary and acquisition of California.

16. I cannot adequately express the horror I feel for a man who can be so base as to veil his hypocrisy under the cloak of religion, and state the base falsehood he has done.

17. No person can be more deeply sensible than myself of the danger of entangling alliances with any foreign nation. That we should avoid such alliances has become a maxim of our policy consecrated by the most venerated names which adorn our history and sanctioned by the unanimous voice of the American people.

18. It is not questioned that the Federal Government is one of limited powers. Its powers are such, and such only, as are expressly granted in the Constitution or are properly incident to the expressly granted powers and necessary to their execution.

19. General Taylor is, I have no doubt, a well-meaning old man. He is, however, uneducated, exceedingly ignorant of public affairs, and I should judge, of very ordinary capacity.

20. With me it is exceptionally true that the Presidency is no bed of roses.

21. Under the benignant providence of Almighty God the representatives of the States and of the people are again brought together to deliberate for the public good.

22. Thank God, under our Constitution there was no connection between Church and State, and that in my action as President of the United States I recognized no distinction of creeds in my appointments office.

23. Peace, plenty, and contentment reign throughout our borders, and our beloved country presents a sublime moral spectacle to the world.

24. We must ever mandate the principle that the people of this continent alone have the right to decide their own destiny.

25. I cannot, whilst President of the United States, descend to enter into a newspaper controversy.

26. It is of great importance to our country generally, and especially to our navigating and whaling interests, that the Pacific Coast and, indeed, the whole of our territory west of the Rocky Mountains, should speedily be filled up by a hardy and patriotic population.

27. If a man . . . would shake and not be shaken, grip and not be gripped, taking care always to squeeze the hand of his adversary as hard as it squeezed him, then he suffered no inconvenience from it.

28. No president who performs his duties faithfully and conscientiously can have any leisure.