Presidents Day is celebrated on the third Monday of February and honors our nation's presidents, past and present. To celebrate, we've gathered some inspiring quotes from every U.S. President, in order of their terms of office. From George Washington to Joe Biden, we honor those who have led our country throughout the years.

45 Inspiring Quotes From Every U.S. President:

  • "Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today." -George Washington
  • "To be good, and to do good, is all we have to do." -John Adams
  • "When angry, count ten, before you speak; if very angry, a hundred." -Thomas Jefferson
  • "The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty." -James Madison
  • "We must support our rights or lose our character, and with it, perhaps, our liberties." -James Monroe

  • "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader." -John Quincy Adams
  • "One man with courage makes a majority." -Andrew Jackson
  • "It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't." -Martin Van Buren
  • "Times change, and we change with them." -William Henry Harrison
  • "I contend that the strongest of all governments is that which is most free." -John Tyler
  • "We must ever mandate the principle that the people of this continent alone have the right to decide their own destiny." -James K. Polk
  • "I have always done my duty. I am ready to die. My only regret is for the friends I leave behind me." -Zachary Taylor   
  • "The man who can look upon a crisis without being willing to offer himself upon the altar of his country is not for public trust." -Millard Fillmore  
  • "If your past is limited, your future is boundless." -Franklin Pierce 
  • "I like the noise of democracy." -James Buchanan 
  • "The most reliable way to predict the future is to create it." -Abraham Lincoln 
  • "If you always support the correct principles then you will never get the wrong results!" -Andrew Johnson 
  • "In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten, then he who continues the attack wins." -Ulysses S. Grant 
  • "Every expert was once a beginner." -Rutherford B. Hayes 
  • "The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable." -James Garfield 
  • "Where you stand depends where you sit." -Chester A. Arthur 

  • "In calm water, every ship has a good captain." -Grover Cleveland 
  • "Great lives never go out; they go on." -Benjamin Harrison 
  • "That's all a man can hope for during his lifetime—to set an example—and when he is dead, to be an inspiration for history." -William McKinley 
  • "Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president." -Theodore Roosevelt 
  • "Too many people don't care what happens so long as it doesn't happen to them." -William Howard Taft 
  • "You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand." -Woodrow Wilson 
  • "Treat your friend as if he will one day be your enemy, and your enemy as if he will one day be your friend." -Warren G. Harding 
  • "Don't expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong." -Calvin Coolidge 
  • "Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity." -Herbert Hoover
  • "We are a nation of many nationalities, many races, many religions-bound together by a single unity, the unity of freedom and equality. Whoever seeks to set one nationality against another, seeks to degrade all nationalities." -Franklin D. Roosevelt 
  • "It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." -Harry S. Truman 
  • "Teachers need our active support and encouragement. They are doing one of the most necessary and exacting jobs in the land. They are developing our most precious national resource: our children, our future citizens." -Dwight D. Eisenhower 
  • "One person can make a difference, and everyone should try." -John F. Kennedy 
  • "Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose." -Lyndon B. Johnson 
  • "Defeat doesn't finish a man, quit does. A man is not finished when he's defeated. He's finished when he quits." -Richard Nixon 
  • "Never be satisfied with less than your very best effort. If you strive for the top and miss, you'll still 'beat the pack.'" -Gerald Ford 
  • "I have one life and one chance to make it count for something... My faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference." -Jimmy Carter 

  • "Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, leave the rest to God." -Ronald Reagan 
  • "Any definition of a successful life must include service to others." -George H.W. Bush 
  • "If you live long enough, you'll make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you'll be a better person. It's how you handle adversity, not how it affects you. The main thing is never quit, never quit, never quit." -William "Bill" Clinton 
  • "Use power to help people. For we are given power not to advance our own purposes nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power and it is to serve people." -George W. Bush 
  • "We are reminded that, in the fleeting time we have on this Earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame, but rather how well we have loved and what small part we have played in making the lives of other people better." -Barack Obama 
  • "Leaders, true leaders, take responsibility for the success of the team, and understand that they must also take responsibility for the failure." -Donald Trump 
  • "Failure at some point in your life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable." -Joe Biden 
Kristina Shriver
Associate Director of Our Community Now. When not writing or reading, Kristina likes to dance like no one is watching and enjoys speaking in vague movie references/quotes, which only a select few in her circle truly understand. A huge nerd, she loves attending comic book conventions (in costume, of course!) and engaging in geek-fueled conversations with anyone who is willing to listen to her ramble. She also dedicates her spare time to supporting various mental health organizations.
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