Quotes from William Howard Taft

A man never knows exactly how the child of his brain will strike other people.

Enthusiasm for a cause sometimes warps judgement.

I would like to have an ample fund to spread the light of Republicanism, but I am willing to undergo the disadvantage to make certain that in the future we shall reduce the power of money in politics for unworthy purposes.

A National Government cannot create good times. It cannot make the rain to fall, the sun to shine, or the crops to grow, but it can, by pursuing a meddlesome policy, attempting to change economic conditions, and frightening the investment of capital, prevent a prosperity and a revival of business which might otherwise have taken place.

We are all imperfect. We can not expect perfect government.

We have a government of limited power under the Constitution, and we have got to work out our problems on the basis of law.

I am going to do what I think is best for the country, within my jurisdiction and power, and then let the rest take care of itself.

I am not in favor of having government do anything that private citizens can do as good or better

Next to the right of liberty, the right of property is the most important individual right guaranteed by the Constitution and the one which, united with that of personal liberty, has contributed more to the growth of civilization than any other institution established by the human race.

We are imperfect. We cannot expect perfect government.

We have a government of limited power under the Constitution, and we have got to work out our problems on the basis of law.

We must dare to be great; and we must realize that greatness is the fruit of toil and sacrifice and high courage.

Failure to accord credit to anyone for what he may have done is a great weakness in any man.

Anti-Semitism is a noxious weed that should be cut out. It has no place in America.

As the Republican platforms says, the welfare of the farmer is vital to that of the whole country.

The true Mason ever strives to cultivate Masonry in his/her life to the fullest degree possible.

The day is not far distant when three Stars and Stripes at three equidistant points will mark our territory: one at the North Pole, another at the Panama Canal, and the third at the South Pole. The whole hemisphere will be ours in fact as, by virtue of our superiority of race, it already is ours morally.

The world is not going to be saved by legislation.

A government is for the benefit of all the people.

I do not know much about politics, but I am trying to do the best I can with this administration until the time shall come for me to turn it over to somebody else.

I'll be damned if I am not getting tired of this. It seems to be the profession of a President simply to hear other people talk.

I am president now, and tired of being kicked around.

We have passed the time of ... the laisser-faire [sic] school which believes that the government ought to do nothing but run a police force.

Don't worry over what the newspapers say. I don't. Why should anyone else? I told the truth to the newspaper correspondents - but when you tell the truth to them they are at sea.