William Henry Harrison Quotes

William Henry Harrison shares plain-spoken critiques of power, freedom and politics, great for those seeking clear, direct insight.

21 quotes

1. I believe and I say it is true Democratic feeling, that all the measures of the Government are directed to the purpose of making the rich richer and the poor poorer.

2. I contend that the strongest of all governments is that which is most free

3. Sir, I wish you to understand the true principles of the Government. I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more.

4. The American backwoodsman -- clad in his hunting shirt, the product of his domestic industry, and fighting for the country he loves, he is more than a match for the vile but splendid mercenary of a European despot.

5. The chains of military despotism once fastened upon a nation, ages might pass away before they could be shaken off.

6. The only legitimate right to govern is an express grant of power from the governed

7. The people are the best guardians of their own rights and it is the duty of their executive to abstain from interfering in or thwarting the sacred exercise of the lawmaking functions of their government.

8. The prudent capitalist will never adventure his capital . . . if there exists a state of uncertainty as to whether the Government will repeal tomorrow what it has enacted today.

9. There is nothing more corrupting, nothing more destructive of the noblest and finest feelings of our nature, than the exercise of unlimited power.

10. To Englishmen, life is a topic, not an activity.

11. The plea of necessity, that eternal argument of all conspirators.

12. I believe that all the measures of the Government are directed to the purpose of making the rich richer and the poor poorer.

13. A decent and manly examination of the acts of government should not only be tolerated, but encouraged.

14. Sound morals, religious liberty, and a just sense of religious responsibility are essentially connected with all true and lasting happiness.

15. Times change, and we change with them.

16. We admit of no government by divine right, believing that so far as power is concerned the Beneficent Creator has made no distinction amongst men; that all are upon an equality, and that the only legitimate right to govern is an express grant of power from the governed.

17. The liberties of a people depend on their own constant attention to its preservation.

18. 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.

19. All the measures of the Government are directed to the purpose of making the rich richer and the poor poorer.

20. Conscience, that vicegerent of God in the human heart, whose "still small voice" the loudest revelry cannot drown.

21. Is one of the fairest portions of the globe to remain in a state of nature, the haunt of a few wretched savages, when it seems destined by the Creator to give support to a large population and to be the seat of civilization?