Quotes About History

A great presidential address - Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Truman's Farewell Address, Kennedy's Inaugural Address - has the power to inspire.

The age of Lincoln and Jefferson memorials is over. It will be presidential libraries from now on.

I'm not sure Lincoln would fare well if he were a presidential candidate today.

I've always enjoyed reading history, particularly presidential biographies.

From the beginning of the presidential nominating conventions in the 1830's really through the 1950's, you had conventions that actually did real business.

Presidential biography is, by its nature, out of scale; no character is bigger, no action greater, than the person and the doings of the American president.

Every presidential candidate highlights patriotism, but Mr. Romney's is backed by the Mormon belief that the United States was chosen by God to play a special role in history, its Constitution divinely inspired.

If I could have anything - you know, and this is across the board for any presidential candidate - I would have a greater acknowledgment of history in our policy and in our affairs.

I've always been a person that thinks nonfiction is more interesting than fiction, I love to read presidential biographies.

Every four years in the presidential election, some new precedent is broken.

Bad presidents don't deserve holidays. They deserve scorn.

I've played golf with three U.S presidents.

I'm actually writing history. It isn't what you'd call big history. I don't write about presidents and generals... I write about the man who was ranching, the man who was mining, the man who was opening up the country.

In every era going back to Lincoln with Frederick Douglass, presidents talk to those that were leading at that time.

The greatest presidents have been those who demonstrated astute judgment in times of crisis - often despite the advice they were getting.

I have worked with Presidents since Eisenhower. We serve together.

It is a long revisionist road up from the bottom for George W. Bush. He is ranked toward the bottom rung of presidents.

I've met a handful of presidents, from Jimmy Carter to Bill Clinton to George Bush to Barack Obama.

Since 1775, when the first Continental Congress called for a national day of prayer, there have been such events called for by almost every President. I saw the figures - 34 out of 44 Presidents have called for a national day of prayer. Some of those who didn't have died in office.

Richard Nixon had a kind of Walter Mitty fantasy life. He was a man with a grandiose thoughts: dreams of not simply being president but maybe becoming one of the truly great presidents of American history.

The Cold War is over. The kind of authority that the presidents asserted during the Cold War has now been diminished.

Every year since 1990, the Gallup poll has asked Americans to assess all the presidents since John F. Kennedy. And every year, Kennedy comes out on top.

Too few presidents have steeped themselves not just in Lincoln's words but his deeds, which is why Obama's acquaintance with the great man is so compelling - especially since, like President-elect Lincoln, Obama will take office at a perilous time.

Frankly, Christians have not always made good presidents.