# Most Famous Quotes of the Presidents **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 26, 2013, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385 "2013-01-26T01:06:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385/41 "2013-01-31T18:22:11Z")
**Nixon:** [Sock it to _me?_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qRZvlZZ0DY) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385/42 "2013-02-10T01:58:15Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > “You lose.” - Calvin Coolidge > [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Good one. His other famous quote “Tell that to Mrs. Coolidge”, maybe embellished, involves the [Coolidge effect](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolidge_effect). Coolidge’s most important quote was probably _“There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time.”_ Coolidge said that when he was Governor of Massachusetts in response to a strike by the Boston Police Department in 1919. The quote was widely publicized and brought Coolidge to national attention. As a result, he was nominated as the Republican Vice Presidential candidate a year later and he subsequently became President when Harding died in office. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385/43 "2013-02-10T23:43:17Z")
Good one, although important != famous. As in, people today mostly don’t know about it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385/44 "2013-02-12T19:24:15Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Kennedy’s most famous might be “Ask not…”, but only slightly behind that is the Moon speech. And I think that, centuries from now, it’s the one that just might last… We went to the JFK Library and Museum in Boston this spring - well worth a visit - and something about JFK’s broad accent tickled my 9-year-old son’s funnybone. For weeks afterwards he would say, "I’m going to do [whatever], not because it’s easy, but because it’s _hahhhhd."_ > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [More gems from Nixon: …](http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon) > > “Well, when the President does it, that means that it is not illegal.” … That’s the quintessential Nixon comment for me (from his post-resignation interviews with David Frost). Pretty much sums up his warped view of power right there. Some other noteworthy Presidential quotations: “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it.” - Andrew Jackson (apocryphal) “Whenever I hear someone defending slavery, I feel a strong desire to see it imposed on him personally.” - Abraham Lincoln “Let us have peace.” - U.S. Grant “Public office is a public trust.” - Grover Cleveland “It’s a shame to come to office under these tragic circumstances, but it would be worse to be morbid about it.” - Theodore Roosevelt (after the death of President McKinley put him in the White House) “America must be an arsenal of democracy.” - Woodrow Wilson “I choose not to run.” - Calvin Coolidge “I’m paying for this microphone!” - Ronald Reagan “There’s nothing wrong with America that can’t be fixed by what’s right with America.” - Bill Clinton ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385/45 "2013-02-13T18:15:43Z")
> [@George Bush](#): > > We gave that regime a choice, Turn over the terrorists or face your ruin. > > They chose - unwisely. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385/46 "2013-02-13T18:19:46Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > > [@George Bush](#): > > > > We gave that regime a choice, Turn over the terrorists or face your ruin. > > > > They chose - unwisely. > > Regards, > Shodan Sounds like Bush quoting Worf. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385/47 "2013-02-13T18:44:58Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Sounds like Bush quoting Worf. Or the Knight Templar from _Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade._ ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385/48 "2013-02-14T15:39:00Z")
In order: George Bush’s most famous quote is “Read my lips”. Clinton’s most famous quote is a tie between “I didn’t have sex with that woman” and “Depends on what the definition of the word ‘is’ is”. GWBush’s most famous quote is “Weapons of Mass Destruction”. It’s not an exact quote of any one particular time, but he said it and said it often and he was wrong. Obama’s most famous quote thus far is “You didn’t build that.” ---
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385/49 "2013-02-14T15:45:22Z")
W’s infamous line: “we’re going to smoke them out” (in reference to Islamic terroists) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385/50 "2013-02-14T15:52:58Z")
“We must be the great arsenal of democracy.” - FDR, not Woodrow Wilson. “The world must be made safe for democracy.” - THAT’S Woodrow Wilson! ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385/51 "2013-02-14T18:17:05Z")
It may be apocryphal, but one of my favorites quotes is by Eisenhower who wanted to collect as much proof of the Holocaust as possible "because the day will come when some son of a bitch will say this never happened.” ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385/52 "2013-02-14T18:35:38Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > In order: > > George Bush’s most famous quote is “Read my lips”. > > Clinton’s most famous quote is a tie between “I didn’t have sex with that woman” and “Depends on what the definition of the word ‘is’ is”. > > GWBush’s most famous quote is “Weapons of Mass Destruction”. It’s not an exact quote of any one particular time, but he said it and said it often and he was wrong. > > Obama’s most famous quote thus far is “You didn’t build that.” I don’t agree on Obama. “They deserve a vote” is already a bigger deal than the out of context RNC talking point. I’d nominate one of these: > [@](#): > > Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. > [@](#): > > There is not a liberal America and a conservative America - there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and latino America and asian America - there’s the United States of America. > [@](#): > > Why can’t I just eat my waffle? ---
**Author:** ![silverkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@silverkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silverkitty)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385/53 "2013-02-14T19:13:13Z")
> [@](#): > > Nixon: You won’t have Richard Nixon to kick around anymore. Nixon didn’t say that as president, he said it right after he lost the Gubernatorial race in California. I always like “The buck stops here” Harry Truman. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385/54 "2013-02-14T19:18:12Z")
> [@silverkitty](#): > > Nixon didn’t say that as president, he said it right after he lost the Gubernatorial race in California. He also referred to himself as “Dick” Nixon. And Eisenhower, IIRC, made the above comment in '45, when the first Nazi concentration camp (Belsen?) was liberated under his command. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385/55 "2013-02-14T20:31:27Z")
Richard M. Nixon’s head, President of Earth: “Arooo” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385/56 "2013-02-14T21:32:32Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > Obama’s most famous quote thus far is “You didn’t build that.” And he was right. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385/57 "2013-02-19T18:36:55Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > It may be apocryphal, but one of my favorites quotes is by Eisenhower who wanted to collect as much proof of the Holocaust as possible "because the day will come when some son of a bitch will say this never happened.” _“I made the visit deliberately in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to ‘propaganda.’”_ - General Eisenhower, in a letter to George C. Marshall, April, 1945. (The quote appears on one of the walls of the National Holocaust Museum in Washington.) ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385/58 "2013-02-20T16:18:36Z")
It is _not_ a tax!!! - Obama ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385/59 "2013-02-20T16:19:38Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > And he was right. No he wasn’t. Whew. Glad that’s straightened out. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385/60 "2013-02-20T16:32:57Z")
If you really want it straightened out, here goes: **BrainGlutton** thinks that Obama was saying that small business owners didn’t build the infrastructure that small businesses use like roads and bridges. His focus is narrowed like a laser on that alone and thus the thinks Obama is right: Small business owners didn’t build the roads and bridges personally. However, when you look at Obama’s comments in context it was clear that he was making a broader statement that revealed some deeply flawed assumptions: That small business owners aren’t successful primarily because of their own hard work and intelligence, but rather because of the community they depend on. It’s generally insulting to small business owners. By saying this Obama was very much wrong and he deserves the flak he gets for it. But Obama’s defenders have proven not to be capable of understanding that rather than a snippet taken out of context the entire statement was poorly worded and insulting. They can’t see fault in it because they agree with the underlying and flawed assumptions that Obama is coming from. Thus they think it’s all about an out of context sound bite. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-quotes-of-the-presidents/648385.md?page=4)