"Do the day's work. If it be to protect the rights of the weak, whoever objects, do it. If it be to help a powerful corporation better to serve the people, whatever the opposition, do that. Expect to be called a stand-patter, but don't be a stand-patter. Expect to be called a demagogue, but don't be a demagogue. Don't hesitate to be as revolutionary as science. Don't hesitate to be as reactionary as the multiplication table. Don't expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong. Don't hurry to legislate. Give administration a chance to catch up with legislation."
"Four-fifths of all our troubles in this life would disappear if we would only sit down and keep still."
"Let the guilty be punished." (Commenting on the revelation that several members of of his predecessor's cabinet were implicated in the Teapot Dome scandal.)
"I thought I could swing it." (When asked what he was thinking when told that Warren Harding had died and that, consequently, he was now automatically the new President of the United States.)
"There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, any time, anywhere." (When justifying his decision as Governor of Massachusetts to fire striking members of the Boston Police.)
"I do not choose to run for president in 1928."
"Patriotism is easy to understand in America. It means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country."
"Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery."
"I have noticed that nothing I never said ever did me any harm."
"If you don't say anything, you won't be called on to repeat it."
Nothing in the 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. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
In a republic the first rule for the guidance of the citizen is obedience of the law.
Prosperity is only an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshipped.
Never go out to meet trouble. If you will just sit still, nine cases out of ten someone will intercept it before it reaches you.
The chief business of the American people is business.
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