James K. Polk Quotations

It becomes us in humility to make our devout acknowledgments to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for the inestimable civil and religious blessings with which we are favored.

Peace, plenty, and contentment reign throughout our borders, and our beloved country presents a sublime moral spectacle to the world.

Foreign powers do not seem to appreciate the true character of our government.

There is more selfishness and less principle among members of Congress than I had any conception of, before I became President of the U.S.

With me it is exceptionally true that the Presidency is no bed of roses.

Well may the boldest fear and the wisest tremble when incurring responsibilities on which may depend our country's peace and prosperity, and in some degree the hopes and happiness of the whole human family.

Under the benignant providence of Almighty God the representatives of the States and of the people are again brought together to deliberate for the public good.

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

Although... the Chief Magistrate must almost of necessity be chosen by a party and stand pledged to its principles and measures, yet in his official action he should not be the President of a party only, but of the whole people of the United States.

The passion for office among members of Congress is very great, if not absolutely disreputable, and greatly embarrasses the operations of the Government. They create offices by their own votes and then seek to fill them themselves.

No president who performs his duties faithfully and conscientiously can have any leisure.

The world has nothing to fear from military ambition in our Government.

I am heartily rejoiced that my term is so near its close. I will soon cease to be a servant and will become a sovereign.

Minorities have a right to appeal to the Constitution as a shield against such oppression.

The Presidency is not a bed of roses.

If a man . . . would shake and not be shaken, grip and not be gripped, taking care always to squeeze the hand of his adversary as hard as it squeezed him, then he suffered no inconvenience from it.

It is confidently believed that our system may be safely extended to the utmost bounds of our territorial limits...

No union exists between church and state, and perfect freedom of opinion is guaranteed to all sects and creeds.

I love you Sarah. For all eternity, I love you.

General Taylor is, I have no doubt, a well-meaning old man. He is, however, uneducated, exceedingly ignorant of public affairs, and I should judge, of very ordinary capacity.

The Constitution itself, plainly written as it is, the safeguard of our federative compact, the offspring of concession and compromise, binding together in the bonds of peace and union this great and increasing family of free and independent States, will be the chart by which I shall be directed.

When I observed a strong man approaching I generally took advantage of him by being a little quicker than he was and seizing him by the tip of the fingers, giving him a hearty shake, and thus preventing him from getting a full grip upon me.

Public opinion: May it always perform one of its appropriate offices, by teaching the public functionaries of the State and of the Federal Government, that neither shall assume the exercise of powers entrusted by the Constitution to the other.

I cannot, whilst President of the United States, descend to enter into a newspaper controversy.

There are four great measures for my administration - a reduction of tariff, an independent treasury, settlement of the Oregon boundary and acquisition of California.

We must ever mandate the principle that the people of this continent alone have the right to decide their own destiny.

The gratitude ... should be commensurate with the boundless blessings which we enjoy.

All distinctions of birth or of rank have been abolished. All citizens, whether native or adopted, are placed upon terms of precise equality. All are entitled to equal rights and equal protection.

Under the blessings of Divine Providence ... It becomes us in humility to make our devout acknowledgments to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for the inestimable civil and religious blessings with which we are favored.

Thank God, under our Constitution there was no connection between church and state.