Quotes from Henry Clay

Let him who elevates himself above humanity . . . say, if he pleases, "I will never compromise"; but let no one who is not above the frailties of our common nature disdain compromise.

I have heard something said about allegiance to the South. I know no South, no North, no East, no West, to which I owe any allegiance.

I had rather be right than be President.

Political parties serve to keep each other in check, one keenly watching the other.

All religions united with government are more or less inimical to liberty. All, separated from government, are compatible with liberty.

Government is a trust and the officers of the government are trustees and both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people.

Honor and good faith and justice are equally due from this country toward the weak as toward the strong.

I'd rather be right than President.

There is no power like oratory. Caesar controlled men by exciting their fears, Cicero by . . . swaying their passions. The influence of the one perished; that of the other continues to this day.

I always have had, and always shall have, a profound regard for Christianity, the religion of my fathers, and for its rights, its usages and observances.

Of all human powers operating on the affairs of mankind, none is greater than that of competition.

An oppressed people are authorized whenever they can to rise and break their fetters.

Of all the properties which belong to honorable men, not one is so highly prized as that of character.

I have no commiseration for princes. My sympathies are reserved for the great mass of mankind ….

The time will come when winter will ask what you were doing all summer.

Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart.

I would rather be right than President.

Statistics are no substitute for judgement.

Sir, I would rather be right than be President.

A man must be a born fool who voluntarily engages in controversy with Mr. Adams on a question of fact. I doubt whether he was ever mistaken in his life.

The Constitution of the United States was made not merely for the generation that then existed, but for posterity- unlimited, undefined, endless, perpetual posterity.

If you wish to avoid foreign collision, you had better abandon the ocean.

It is much more important that we unite, harmonize and improve what we have than attempt to acquire more.

All religions united with government are more or less inimical to liberty. All, separated from government, are compatible with liberty.