They criticize me for harping on the obvious; if all the folks in the United States would do the few simple things they know they ought to do, most of our big problems would take care of themselves.
Calvin CoolidgeRead
Character is the only secure foundation of the state.
Interpretation
Character is essential for a stable and trustworthy government.
This quote by Calvin Coolidge emphasizes that the character of individuals is paramount for the integrity and security of a state. Without strong moral and ethical values, the foundation of governance becomes unstable, leading to potential chaos and mistrust among the citizens.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of ethical leadership in politics.
They criticize me for harping on the obvious; if all the folks in the United States would do the few simple things they know they ought to do, most of our big problems would take care of themselves.
It is difficult for men in high office to avoid the malady of self-delusion. They are always surrounded by worshipers. They are constantly, and for the most part sincerely, assured of their greatness.
America's present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration; not agitation, but adjustment; not surgery, but serenity; not the dramatic, but the dispassionate; not experiment, but equipoise; not submergence in internationality, but sustainment in triumphant nationality.
No method of procedure has ever been devised by which liberty could be divorced from local self-government. No plan of centralization has ever been adopted which did not result in bureaucracy, tyranny, inflexibility, reaction, and decline.
Whether one traces his Americanism back three centuries to the Mayflower, or three years to the steerage, is not half so important as whether his Americanism of today is real and genuine. No matter by what various crafts we came here, we are all now in the same boat.
The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country.
Men will be just to men when they are kind to animals.
The idea that murder victims' families are best served by continuing the cycle of violence is something that I consider to be not only a lie, but criminally negligent. You lie to victims' families when you tell them they're going to receive closure if they participate in the process and witness the execution of a human being.
War is very uncertain in its results, and often when affairs look most desperate they suddenly assume a more hopeful state.
Ever since then I have believed that God is not only a gentleman and a sport; he is a Kentuckian too.
Enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil before the worst amongst you are given authority over you and then when even the best of you make dua against them, their duas will not be accepted.
I do not believe that any man fears to be dead, but only the stroke of death.
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