Rutherford B. Hayes Quotes

51 quotes in 715 categories

• It will be the duty of the Executive, with sufficient appropriations for the purpose, to prosecute unsparingly all who have been engaged in depriving citizens…
• It is the desire of the good people of the whole country that sectionalism as a factor in our politics should disappear...
• Perhaps the happiest moment of my life was then, when I saw that our line didn't break and that the enemy's did.
• Personally I do not resort to force- not even the force of law- to advance moral reforms. I prefer education, argument, persuasion, and above all…
• It is the debtor that is ruined by hard times.
• One of the tests of the civilization of people is the treatment of its criminals.
• It is now true that this is God's Country, if equal rights-a fair start and an equal chance in the race of life are everywhere…
• Fighting battles is like courting girls: those who make the most pretensions and are boldest usually win.
• I see no reason why Indians who can give satisfactory proof of having by their own labor supported their families for a number of years,…
• We all agree that neither the Government nor political parties ought to interfere with religious sects. It is equally true that religious sects ought not…
• The unrestricted competition so commonly advocated does not leave us the survival of the fittest. The unscrupulous succeed best in accumulating wealth.
• The real difficulty is with the vast wealth and power in the hands of the few and the unscrupulous who represent or control capital. Hundreds…
• Free government cannot long endure if property is largely in a few hands, and large masses of people are unable to earn homes, education, and…
• I am not liked as a President by the politicians in office, in the press, or in Congress. But I am content to abide the…
• Nothing brings out the lower traits of human nature like office-seeking. Men of good character and impulses are betrayed by it into all sorts of…
• Abolish plutocracy if you would abolish poverty.
• The melancholy thing in our public life is the insane desire to get higher.
• All appointments hurt. Five friends are made cold or hostile for every appointment; no new friends are made. All patronage is perilous to men of…
• As friends go it is less important to live.
• I am a radical in thought (and principle) and a conservative in method (and conduct).

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