President’s Day Quotes
We usually celebrate President’s Day by attending a furniture sale. But reviewing this collection of quotes, captions, and FAQs is a wonderful way to begin the celebration.
In 1968, as part of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, it was moved to the third Monday in February. Originally a celebration for George Washington’s Birthday (February 22). Then, Abraham Lincoln’s (February 12) Birthday was added, and today we celebrate all 46 Presidents.
The holiday celebrates the service of all our presidents and their contributions to America. It has also been called “George Washington Day” and “Washington and Lincoln Day.”
Good President’s Day Quotes
1.) Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.
John F. Kennedy
2.) If our freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent, we may be led, like sheep, to the slaughter.
George Washington
3.) Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
Abraham Lincoln – See more famous Abraham Lincoln quotations.
4.) Patience and perseverance have a magical effect, before which difficulties disappear, and obstacles vanish.
John Quincy Adams
5.) Accomplishment will be a journey, not a destination.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
6.) Every good citizen makes his country’s honor his own and cherishes it not only as precious but as sacred. He is willing to risk his life in its defense and is conscious that he gains protection while he gives it.
Andrew Jackson
7.) The test of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity but to elicit it, for greatness is already there.
James Buchanan
8.) We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another – until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.
Gerald Ford
9.) Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for ’tis better to be alone than in bad company.
George Washington
Inspirational
10.) I would rather belong to a poor nation that was free than to a rich nation that had ceased to be in love with liberty.
Woodrow Wilson
11.) 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 J. Clinton
12.) No government is perfect. One of the chief virtues of a democracy, however, is that its defects are always visible and, under democratic processes, can be pointed out and corrected.
Harry S. Truman
13.) If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually, you’ll make progress.
Barack Obama
14.) The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of liberty.
James Monroe
15.) 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 R. Ford
16.) Peace. Plenty and contentment reign throughout our borders, and our beloved country presents a sublime moral spectacle to the world.
Zachary Taylor
Famous Presidential Quotations
These President’s Day quotes may be ones you recognize.
17.) As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but live by them.
John F. Kennedy
18.) The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.
James Madison
19.) Ninety-nine percent of failures come from people who make excuses.
George Washington
20.) In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.
Theodore Roosevelt
21.) Being a politician is a poor profession. Being a public servant is a noble one.
Herbert Hoover
22.) It is not the enactment, but the observance of laws, that creates the character of a nation.
Calvin Coolidge
23.) We’ve learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives that have no confidence or purpose.
Jimmy Carter
America’s Journey
24.) It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began. For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law – for if we truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.
Barack Obama
25.) For this is what America is all about: It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground.
Lyndon B. Johnson
26.) War should never be entered upon until every agency of peace has failed.
William McKinley
27.) There is something inherently wrong, something out of accord with the ideals of representative democracy, when one portion of our citizenship turns its activities to private gain amid defensive war while another is fighting, sacrificing, or dying for national preservation.
Warren G. Harding
Notable
28.) Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
29.) Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes is right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error.
William Henry Harrison
30.) No nation is fit to sit in judgment upon any other nation.
Woodrow Wilson
31.) The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
32.) America – a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose.
Herbert Hoover
33.) No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.
Calvin Coolidge
34.) What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
35.) If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, then you are a leader.
John Quincy Adams
36.) Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.
Theodore Roosevelt
37.) The American, by nature, is optimistic. He is an experimental inventor and builder who builds best when called upon to build greatly.
John F. Kennedy
Courage Insights
38.) The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.
Richard M. Nixon
39.) A brave man is a man who dares to look the devil in the face and tell him he is a devil.
James A. Garfield
40.) Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
Calvin Coolidge
41.) The bold enterprises are the successful ones. Take counsel of hopes rather than of fears to win in this business.
Rutherford B. Hayes
42.) We must work to bind up the wounds of a suffering world – to build an abiding peace rooted in justice and the law.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
43.) As powerful as our memories are, our dreams must be even stronger. For when our memories outweigh our dreams, we become old.
Barack Obama
44.) You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.
Abraham Lincoln
45.) 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
Power
46.) Failure at some point in your life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable.
Joe Biden
47.) You can do what you have to do, and sometimes you can do it even better than you think you can.
Jimmy Carter
48.) Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.
John F. Kennedy
49.) If I am shot at, I want no man to be in the way of the bullet.
Andrew Johnson
50.) In every battle, there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten, then he who continues the attack wins.
Ulysses S. Grant
51.) Right reason is stronger than force.
Chester A, Arthur
52.) One man with courage makes a majority.
Andrew Jackson
53.) The buck stops here.
Harry S. Truman
President’s Day Quotes Short
54.) It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.
Harry S. Truman
55.) Honesty is the first chapter of the book wisdom.
Thomas Jefferson
56.) Ideas control the world.
James A. Garfield
57.) An honorable defeat is better than a dishonorable Victory.
Millard Filmore
58.) The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people.
Woodrow Wilson
59.) Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.
Lyndon B. Johnson
60.) Every expert was once a beginner.
Rutherford B. Hayes
61.) The harder the conflict. The greater the triumph.
George Washington
62.) We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.
Ronald Reagan
63.) Words without actions are the assassins of idealism.
Herbert Hoover
64.) If conscience disapproves. The loudest applauses of the world are of little value.
Thomas Jefferson
65.) Times change, and we change with them.
John Tyler
To the Point
66.) Right reason is stronger than force.
Chester A. Arthur
67.) A people that values their privileges above its principles soon lose both.
John F. Kennedy
68.) We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.
Abraham Lincoln
69.) The American dream does not come to those who fall asleep.
Richard M. Nixon
70.) Officeholders are the agents of the people, not their masters.
Grover Cleveland
71.) The only legitimate right to govern is an express grant of power from the governed.
William Henry Harrison
72.) We must teach our children to resolve their conflicts with words, not weapons.
Bill Clinton
73.) The truth will set you free, but first, it will make you miserable.
James A. Garfield
74.) Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.
Thomas Jefferson
75.) You don’t know what you can miss before you try.
Franklin Pierce
76.) It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.
William Howard Taft
77.) In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
Thomas Jefferson
Presidential Challenges
78.) It is easier to do the job right than to explain why you didn’t.
Martin Van Buren
79.) Think about every problem. Every challenge we face. The solution to each starts with education.
George H.W. Bush
80.) As government expands, liberty contracts.
Ronald Reagan
81.) Labor disgraces no man, but occasionally men disgrace labor.
Ulysses S. Grant
82.) One of the tests of the civilization of people is the treatment of its criminals.
Rutherford B. Hayes
83.) Aggression, unopposed, becomes a contagious disease.
Jimmy Carter
84.) The circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money.
James Madison
85.) Men are not prisoners of fate but only prisoners of their own minds.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
86.) Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and cold.
Thomas Jefferson
87.) Be sure to put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.
Abraham Lincoln
Captions
Leadership is a Virtue.
Keep Cool and Keep Coolidge.
Dream Big and Fight the Good Fight.
A Change for All People.
Together We Have What It Takes.
Building a World Together.
Join the Revolution.
Leaders for America.
People First.
The Future Looks Bright.
Us Is Always Better Than Me.
Dream Big, the Future’s Bright.
A Change is Coming.
Peace and Prosperity to All.
Our Best Days Are Yet to Come.
A President for the People.
America is the Greatest.
Stand With Us.
Live Free.
I Like Ike.
Slogans
Together We Can.
Put Our Country First.
We Rise.
Change for the Better.
Hope Lives in Each of Us.
America First.
My Voice Will Be Heard.
One Nation Under God.
Will to Win.
Americans Deserve Better.
Act and Make a Difference.
Made to be Free.
A Chicken in Every Pot and a Car in Every Garage.
Leader for a Change.
A Brighter Future Together.
Building Better Bridges.
We Can Move Forward.
Together, We Can.
Lead by Example.
Stand By Your Country.
Everyone is a Patriot.
Let’s Get Started.
The Future Starts Today.
Better Together.
Commitment Makes a Difference.
Keep the Faith.
Get in the Game.
Strength in Numbers.
Headed for a Happy Ending.
Make it Happen Together.
President’s Day Background
Let’s learn more about this holiday.
When is President’s Day Celebrated?
President’s Day is celebrated on the third Monday of February every year. Let’s take a look at where that falls for the next few years.
2023, February 20, Monday.
2024, February 19, Monday.
2025, February 17, Monday.
2026, February 16, Monday.
2027, February 15, Monday.
Why do We Celebrate President’s Day?
The holiday is a way to honor the memory of our past and present Presidents of the United States. The efforts of these famous men have made our country what it is today.
By honoring their memory, we honor all civil servants and the sacrifices they have made on our behalf. It is a way to thank the people who shaped America.
What is the Evolution of Presidents Day?
George Washington died on December 14, 1799. People began celebrating his remarkable life in 1800 on his birthday, February 22. His birthday became a federal holiday in 1879.
People began celebrating Lincoln’s birthday on February 12th, and the days were combined in 1968 with the passage of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, honoring all presidents.
How Do We Celebrate President’s Day?
In addition to shopping, especially for furniture and appliances, there are many ways to celebrate President’s Day. Reading Washington’s Farewell Address or Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation are excellent ways to commemorate the day.
FAQ
Here are some frequently asked questions about President’s Day.
“My fellow Americans, wishing you the best President’s Day,” “While saluting our country’s leaders, I also salute you,” and “Have a great President’s Day!”
Harry Truman: “It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” Teddy Roosevelt: “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”
“The only thing to fear is fear itself.”
Final Thoughts on President’s Day
We have had great leaders as presidents of the United States. President’s Day gives us a chance to celebrate the lives of these incredible men.
It gives us a chance to remember all the contributions made by this collection of unique and influential individuals.
Have a great President’s Day!
By Tim Moodie
Tim Moodie is a writer, inventor, and creative director based in Minneapolis, MN.
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