Presidential Inspiration

-by Jaime Willis

Good morning and happy President's Day! For me and my colleagues, this is an (unpaid) holiday, but I'll take my three-day weekends any way I can get them! I had a different post in mind for today, but when I woke up this morning, I had a funny thought - I wonder if living Presidents celebrate themselves today? Do you think Hillary has a special dinner and President's Day cake for Bill? Do you think the Bushes are having a barbecue out on Crawford Ranch for their two Presidents? Does the White House serve Obama's favorite dishes today in his honor? Maybe they do, maybe they don't, but it made me chuckle this morning to think of this small subset of people having to go out and buy President's Day cards for their fathers, grandfathers, uncles, and spouses that have held the highest office in America.

On a more inspirational note, I have compiled one quote for each U.S. President in honor of President's Day. I know we don't usually look to politicians to inspire us, but the leadership of the U.S. has had some profound things to say.

"99% of the failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses."

- George Washington

"Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom."

-John Adams

"Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you."

-Thomas Jefferson

"The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries."

-James Madison

"A little flattery will support a man through great fatigue."

-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

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

-William Henry Harrison

"Wealth can only be accumulated by the earnings of industry and the savings of frugality."

-John Tyler

"One great object of the Constitution was to restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon their just rights."

-James K. Polk

"It would be judicious to act with magnanimity towards a prostrate foe."

-Zachary Taylor

"It is not strange...to mistake change for progress."

-Millard Fillmore

"Frequently the more trifling the subject, the more animated and protracted the discussion."

-Franklin Pierce

"What is right and what is practicable are two different things."

-James Buchanan

"I am a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn't have the heart to let him down."

-Abraham Lincoln

"We want to get it done as quickly and inexpensively with as much creativity and flexibility as we can have."

-Andrew Johnson

"Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves."

-Ulysses S. Grant

"An amazing invention - but who would ever want to use one?"

-Rutherford B. Hayes, speaking of Alexander Graham Bell's telephone

"If the power to do hard work is not a skill, it's the best possible substitute for it."
-James A. Garfield

"We are a people apt in mechanical pursuits and fertile in invention. ... The scale of living of our artisan classes is such as tends to secure their personal comfort and the development of those higher moral and intellectual qualities that go to the making of good citizens."

-Chester A. Arthur

"A truly American sentiment recognizes the dignity of labor and the fact that honor lies in honest toil."

-Grover Cleveland

"I don't think people ought to take the elevator if they (can) walk, because they don't get to see the stairway."

-Benjamin Harrison

"In the time of darkest defeat, victory may be nearest."

-William McKinley

"The only man who makes no mistakes is the man who never does anything."

-Theodore Roosevelt

"We are all imperfect. We cannot expect perfect government."

-William Howard Taft

"If you want to make enemies, try to change something."

-Woodrow Wilson

"Every student has the ability to be a successful learner."

-Warren G. Harding

"Don't expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong."

-Calvin Coolidge

"New discoveries in science will continue to create a thousand new frontiers for those who still would adventure."

-Herbert Hoover

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today."

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

"If I want to be great I have to win the victory over myself...self-discipline."

-Harry S. Truman

"You don't lead by hitting people over the head -- that's assault, not leadership."

-Dwight D. Eisenhower

"All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talents."

-John F. Kennedy

"Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose."

-Lyndon B. Johnson

"A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits."

-Richard Nixon

"It can go on and on, or someone must write "The End" to it. I have concluded that only I can do that. And if I can, I must."

-Gerald R. Ford

"There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect."

-Ronald Reagan

"From now on, any definition of a successful life must include serving others."

-George H.W. Bush

"Success is not the measure of a man but a triumph over those who choose to hold him back."

-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

"If you are walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress."

-Barack Obama