“We have had good and bad Presidents, and it is a consoling reflection that the American Nation possesses such elements of prosperity that the bad Presidents cannot destroy it, and have been able to do no more than slightly to retard the public's advancement.”

— Henry Clay

Letter to David Mundell (12 October 1848) in which Clay reflects upon his failure to win the Presidency.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "We have had good and bad Presidents, and it is a consoling reflection that the American Nation possesses such elements …" by Henry Clay?

Henry Clay 23

American politician from Kentucky 1777–1852

Related quotes

“Well, I tell you again to get rid of your Constitution. But I suppose you won't do it. You have a good president and you have a bad Constitution, and the bad Constitution gets the better of the good President all the time. The end of it will be is that you might as well have an English Prime Minister.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

Newsreel interview by George Bernard Shaw entitled “Various Scenes with George Bernard Shaw,” Fox Movietone Newsreel (1931), referring to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency
1910s

“President Chavez, from here, on behalf of our people, I thank you for the good you may have done (…) and the bad and you have failed to do, the history will judge you.”

Henrique Capriles Radonski (1972) Venezuelan politician and lawyer an thot THICC

Capriles Radonski send a message to Chavez http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/121004/capriles-to-chavez-you-will-not-stop-the-advance-of-the-people (4 October 2012).

“It is better to have a retarded president who respects human values than a clever government without human values.”

Ai Weiwei (1957) Chinese concept artist

2000-09, Truth to Power, 2008

“I have to admit that I cannot lie to myself nor to anyone else. I cannot do what I am not able to do. I am not able to change the name of the country to the Republic of Taiwan during my presidency term, and the ex-president Lee Teng-hui also could not do it during his twelve-year as the president. I believe that even if he was the president now, he could still not be able to do it.”

Chen Shui-bian (1950) Taiwanese politician

During the video conference with some MPs of EU parliament, March 1, 2005
Pet Phrases, 2005

“The President must be greater than anyone else, but not better than anyone else. We subject him and his family to close and constant scrutiny and denounce them for things that we ourselves do every day. A Presidential slip of the tongue, a slight error in judgment — social, political, or ethical — can raise a storm of protest. We give the President more work than a man can do, more responsibility than a man should take, more pressure than a man can bear. We abuse him often and rarely praise him. We wear him out, use him up, eat him up. And with all this, Americans have a love for the President that goes beyond loyalty or party nationality; he is ours, and we exercise the right to destroy him.”

John Steinbeck book America and Americans

America and Americans (1966)

“In practice, a good deal of the outcomes produced by the market reflect nothing more than luck - good or bad.”

Robert Kuttner (1943) American journalist

Source: The Economic Illusion (1984), Chapter 1, Equality and Efficiency, p. 16

“I believe more in the goodness of bad people than i do in the badness of good people.”

Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul

Source: A Thousand & One Epigrams: Selected from the Writings of Elbert Hubbard (1911), p. 18.

“If I prove a bad president, I will also likely to prove the last president.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) 32nd President of the United States

Remark at the time of his first inauguration as quoted in The 168 days (1938) by Joseph Alsop and Turner Catledge, p. 15
1930s

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States

Kansas City Star (7 May 1918)
1910s
Context: The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else.

“Banks have done more injury to the religion, morality, tranquility, prosperity, and even wealth of the nation than they can have done or ever will do good.”

John Adams (1735–1826) 2nd President of the United States

John Adams letter to John Taylor, Of Caroline, Quincy, (12 March, 1819)
1810s, Letter to John Taylor (1819)

“We have had good and bad Presidents, and it is a consoling reflection that the American Nation possesses such elements of prosperity that the bad Presidents cannot destroy it, and have been able to do no more than slightly to retard the public's advancement.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Henry Clay 23

Related quotes

Related topics