Quote #2

All the lessons of history and experience must be lost upon us if we are content to trust alone to the peculiar advantages we happen to possess.

Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

More from Martin Van Buren

  1. I tread in the footsteps of illustrious men... in receiving from the people the sacred trust confided to my illustrious predecessor.
  2. As to the presidency, the two happiest days of my life were those of my entrance upon the office and my surrender of it.
  3. For myself, therefore, I desire to declare that the principle that will govern me in the high duty to which my country calls me is a strict…
  4. All communities are apt to look to government for too much. Even in our own country, where its powers and duties are so strictly limited, w…
  5. It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't.
  6. No evil can result from its inhibition more pernicious than its toleration.
  7. On receiving from the people the sacred trust twice confided on my illustrious predecessor, and which he has discharged so faithfully and s…
  8. The less government interferes with private pursuits, the better for general prosperity.

All Martin Van Buren quotes