Top quotes by Andrew Jackson

Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error. Votes: 26

The great constitutional corrective in the hands of the people against usurpation of power, or corruption by their agents is the right of suffrage; and this when used with calmness and deliberation will prove strong enough. Votes: 19

The planter, the farmer, the mechanic, and the laborer... form the great body of the people of the United States, they are the bone and sinew of the country men who love liberty and desire nothing but equal rights and equal laws. Votes: 19

Every diminution of the public burdens arising from taxation gives to individual enterprise increased power and furnishes to all the members of our happy confederacy new motives for patriotic affection and support. Votes: 18

The safety of the republic being the supreme law, and Texas having offered us the key to the safety of our country from all foreign intrigues and diplomacy, I say accept the key... and bolt the door at once. Votes: 18

There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is having lots to do and not doing it. Votes: 18

It was settled by the Constitution, the laws, and the whole practice of the government that the entire executive power is vested in the President of the United States. Votes: 16

The brave man, inattentive to his duty, is worth little more to his country than the coward who deserts her in the hour of danger. Votes: 15

Freemasonry is a moral order, instituted by virtuous men, with the praiseworthy design of recalling to our remembrance the most sublime truths, in the midst of the most innocent and social pleasures, founded on liberality, brotherly love and charity. Votes: 14

I cannot consent that my mortal body shall be laid in a repository prepared for an Emperor or a King my republican feelings and principles forbid it the simplicity of our system of government forbids it. Votes: 14

Money is power, and in that government which pays all the public officers of the states will all political power be substantially concentrated. Votes: 13

It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes. Votes: 13

We are beginning a new era in our government. I cannot too strongly urge the necessity of a rigid economy and an inflexible determination not to enlarge the income beyond the real necessities of the government. Votes: 12

Mr. Van Buren, your friends may be leaving you but my friends never leave me. Votes: 12

Peace, above all things, is to be desired, but blood must sometimes be spilled to obtain it on equable and lasting terms. Votes: 12

You must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing. Votes: 12

I do not forget that I am a mechanic. I am proud to own it. Neither do I forget that the apostle Paul was a tentmaker; Socrates was a sculptor; and Archimedes was a mechanic. Votes: 12

Our government is founded upon the intelligence of the people. I for one do not despair of the republic. I have great confidence in the virtue of the great majority of the people, and I cannot fear the result. Votes: 11

The duty of government is to leave commerce to its own capital and credit as well as all other branches of business, protecting all in their legal pursuits, granting exclusive privileges to none. Votes: 11

The wisdom of man never yet contrived a system of taxation that would operate with perfect equality. Votes: 10

The people are the government, administering it by their agents; they are the government, the sovereign power. Votes: 10

Hemans gallows ought to be the fate of all such ambitious men who would involve their country in civil wars, and all the evils in its train that they might reign & ride on its whirlwinds & direct the Storm The free people of these United States have spoken, and consigned these wicked demagogues to their proper doom. Votes: 10

I feel in the depths of my soul that it is the highest, most sacred, and most irreversible part of my obligation to preserve the union of these states, although it may cost me my life. Votes: 8

There is nothing that I shudder at more than the idea of a separation of the Union. Should such an event ever happen, which I fervently pray God to avert, from that date I view our liberty gone. Votes: 7

In England the judges should have independence to protect the people against the crown. Here the judges should not be independent of the people, but be appointed for not more than seven years. The people would always re-elect the good judges. Votes: 7

It is a damn poor mind indeed which can't think of at least two ways to spell any word. Votes: 7

There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. Votes: 4

I hope and trust to meet you in Heaven, both white and black-both white and black. Votes: 3

It is a well-settled principle of the international code that where one nation owes another a liquidated debt which it refuses or neglects to pay the aggrieved party may seize on the property belonging to the other, its citizens or subjects, sufficient to pay the debt without giving just cause of war. Votes: 3

I would sincerely regret, and which never shall happen whilst I am in office, a military guard around the President. Votes: 1

Unless you become more watchful in your states and check the spirit of monopoly and thirst for exclusive privileges you will in the end find that...the control over your dearest interests has passed into the hands of these corporations. Votes: 0

I find virtue to be found amongst the farmers of the country alone, not about courts, where courtiers dwell. Votes: 0

Mischief springs from the power which the moneyed interest derives from a paper currency which they are able to control, from the multitude of corporations with exclusive privileges... which are employed altogether for their benefit. Votes: 0

War is a blessing compared with national degradation. Votes: 0

I am fearful that the paper system will ruin the state. Its demoralizing effects are already seen and spoken of everywhere. I therefore protest against receiving any of that trash. Votes: 0

You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the eternal God, I will rout you out. Votes: 0

You are a den of vipers. I intend to rout you out and by the Eternal God I will rout you out. If the people only understood the rank injustice of our money and banking system, there would be a revolution before morning. Votes: 0

The safety of the republic being the supreme law, and Texas having offered us the key to the safety of our country from all foreign intrigues and diplomacy, I say accept the key and bolt the door at once. Votes: 0

From his proceedings in Congress, he appears demented, and his actings and doings inspire my pity more than anger. Votes: 0

There never was a woman like her. She was gentle as a dove and brave as a lioness... The memory of my mother and her teachings were, after all, the only capital I had to start life with, and on that capital I have made my way. Votes: 0

I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its successful experiment that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives, and the rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office. Votes: 0

Freemasonry is an institution calculated to benefit mankind. Votes: 0

Freemasonry is an establishment founded on the benevolent intention of extending and conferring mutual happiness upon the best and truest principles of moral life and social virtue. Votes: 0

Freemasonry is an ancient and respectable institution, embracing individuals of every nation, of every religion, and of every condition in life. Wealth, power and talents are not necessary to the person of a Freemason. An unblemished character and a virtuous conduct are the only qualifications for admission into the Order. Votes: 0

Every good citizen makes his country's honor his own, and cherishes it not only as precious but as sacred. He is willing to risk his life in its defense and its conscious that he gains protection while he gives it. Votes: 0

Finally, it is my most fervent prayer to that Almighty Being before whom I now stand, and who has kept us in His hands from the infancy of our Republic to the present day, that He will so overrule all my intentions and actions and inspire the hearts of my fellow-citizens that we may be preserved from dangers of all kinds and continue forever a united and happy people. Votes: 0

The hydra of corruption is only scotched, not dead. An investigation kills and it and its supporters dead. Let this be had. Votes: 0

It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe toward the Indian tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to give that humane and considerate attention to their rights and their wants which is consistent with the habits of our Government and the feelings of our people. Votes: 0

All the rights secured to the citizens under the Constitution are worth nothing, and a mere bubble, except guaranteed to them by an independent and virtuous Judiciary. Votes: 0

I have never in my life seen a Kentuckian who didn't have a gun, a pack of cards, and a jug of whiskey. Votes: 0

The planter, the farmer, the mechanic, and the laborer...form the great body of the people of the United States they are the bone and sinew of the country men who love liberty and desire nothing but equal rights and equal laws. Votes: 0

One man with courage makes a majority. Votes: 0

Heaven will be no heaven to me if I do not meet my wife there. Votes: 0

I am one of those who do not believe that a national debt is a national blessing, but rather a curse to a republic; inasmuch as it is calculated to raise around the administration a moneyed aristocracy dangerous to the liberties of the country. Votes: 0

There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing. Votes: 0

Thomas Paine needs no monument made with hands; he has erected a monument in the hearts of all lovers of liberty. Votes: 0

If congress has the right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given them to use themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations. Votes: 0

I trust in due time to lay the perfidy, meanness, and wickedness of [Henry] Clay naked before the American people. I have lately got an intimation of some of his secret movements, which, if I can reach with positive and responsible proof, I will wield to his political, and perhaps his actual, destruction. Votes: 0

The bold effort the present (central) bank had made to control the government ... are but premonitions of the fate that await the American people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution or the establishment of another like it. Votes: 0

It was settled by the Constitution, the laws, and the whole practice of the government that the entire executive power is vested in the President of the United States Votes: 0

Every good citizen makes his country's honor his own, and cherishes it not only as precious but as sacred. He is willing to risk his life in its defence and is conscious that he gains protection while he gives it Votes: 0

Disunion by force is treason. Votes: 0

I am a Senator against my wishes and feelings, which I regret more than any other of my life. Votes: 0

...secession, like any other REVOLUTIONARY ACT, may be morally justified by the extremity of oppression; but to call it a constitutional right is confounding the meaning of terms... Votes: 0

I could not do otherwise without transcending the limits prescribed by the Constitution for the President and without feeling that I might in some degree disturb the security which religion nowadays enjoys in this country in its complete separation from the political concerns of the General Government. Votes: 0

That those tribes [the Sac and Fox Indians] cannot exist surrounded by our settlements and in continual contact with our citizensis certain. They have neither the intelligence, the industry, the moral habits, nor the desire of improvement which are essential to any favorable change in their condition. Votes: 0

The great can protect themselves, but the poor and humble require the arm and shield of the law. Votes: 0

The Bible is the rock on which this Republic rests. Votes: 0

To the victors belong the spoils. Votes: 0

But you must remember, my fellow-citizens, that eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing. Votes: 0

Americans are not a perfect people, but we are called to a perfect mission. Votes: 0

If a warden sees cigarette litter being thrown from a car, they will take the number and trace the owner to send them a fine. Votes: 0

I have always been afraid of banks. Votes: 0

I've got big shoes to fill. This is my chance to do something. I have to seize the moment. Votes: 0

No one need think that the world can be ruled without blood. The civil sword shall and must be red and bloody. Votes: 0

The brave man inattentive to his duty, is worth little more to his country than the coward who deserts in the hour of danger. Votes: 0

Nullification means insurrection and war; and the other states have a right to put it down. Votes: 0

If the Union is once severed, the line of separation will grow wider and wider, and the controversies which are now debated and settled in the halls of legislation will then be tried in fields of battle and determined by the sword. Votes: 0

Fear not, the people may be deluded for a moment, but cannot be corrupted. Votes: 0

As long as our government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of persons and of property, liberty of conscience and of the press, it will be worth defending. Votes: 0

Elevate those guns a little lower. Votes: 0

Democracy shows not only its power in reforming governments, but in regenerating a race of men and this is the greatest blessing of free governments. Votes: 0

Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in. Votes: 0

The Constitution and the laws are supreme and the Union indissoluble. Votes: 0

From the earliest ages of history to the present day there have never been thirteen millions of people associated in one political body who enjoyed so much freedom and happiness as the people of these United States. You have no longer any cause to fear dangers from abroad ... It is from within, among yourselves - from cupidity, from corruption, from disappointed ambition and inordinate thirst for power - that factions will be formed and liberty endangered ... Votes: 0

When you get in debt you become a slave. Votes: 0

The mischief springs from the power which the monied interest derives from a paper currency which they are able to control, from the multitude of corporations with exclusive privileges which they have succeeded in obtaining, and unless you become more watchful in your states and check this spirit of monopoly and thirst for exclusive privileges you will in the end find that the most important powers of government have been given or bartered away. Votes: 0

After eight years as President I have only two regrets: that I have not shot Henry Clay or hanged John C. Calhoun. Votes: 0

John Calhoun, if you secede from my nation I will secede your head from the rest of your body. Votes: 0

I was born for a storm and a calm does not suit me. Votes: 0

Go to the Scriptures... the joyful promises it contains will be a balsam to all your troubles. Votes: 0

The Supreme Court has made its decision, now let them enforce it. Votes: 0

Live within your means, never be in debt, and by husbanding your money you can always lay it out well. Votes: 0

Every man is equally entitled to protection by law. But when the laws undertake to add... artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges—to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful— the humble members of society—the farmers, mechanics, and laborers, who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their government. Votes: 0

You must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessings. Votes: 0

There are only two things I can't give up; one is coffee and the other is tobacco. Votes: 0

This spirit of mob-law is becoming as great an evil as a servile war. Votes: 0

Do they think that I am such a damned fool as to think myself fit for President of the United States? No, sir; I know what I am fit for. I can command a body of men in a rough way, but I am not fit to be President. Votes: 0

Live within your means, never be in debt, and by husbanding your money you can always lay it out well. But when you get in debt you become a slave. Therefore I say to you never involve yourself in debt, and become no man's surety. Votes: 0

Heaven will be heaven only if my wife is there. Votes: 0

The Judas of the West has closed the contract and will receive the thirty pieces of silver. . . . Was there ever witnessed such a bare faced corruption in any country before? Votes: 0

It is pleasing to reflect that results so beneficial, not only to the States immediately concerned, but to the harmony of the Union, will have been accomplished by measures equally advantageous to the Indians. What the native savages become when surrounded by a dense population and by mixing with the whites may be seen in the miserable remnants of a few Eastern tribes, deprived of political and civil rights, forbidden to make contracts, and subjected to guardians, dragging out a wretched existence, without excitement, without hope, and almost without thought. Votes: 0

[The Bible] is the rock on which our Republic rests. Votes: 0

Without union our independence and liberty would never have been achieved; without union they can never be maintained. Divided into twenty-four, or even a smaller number, of separate communities, we shall see our internal trade burdened with numberless restraints and exactions; communications between distant points and sections obstructed or cut off; our sons made soldiers to deluge with blood the fields they now till in peace...The loss of liberty, of all good government, of peace, plenty, and happiness, must inevitably follow a dissolution of the Union. Votes: 0

Temporize not! It is always injurious. Votes: 0

Toward the aborigines of the country no one can indulge a more friendly feeling than myself, or would go further in attempting to reclaim them from their wandering habits and make them a happy, prosperous people. Votes: 0

Give me a thousand Tennesseans, and I'll whip any other thousand men on the globe! Votes: 0

When death comes, he respects neither age nor merit. He sweeps from the earthly existence the sick and the strong, the rich and the poor, and should teach us to live to be prepared for death. Votes: 0

Who are we? And for what are we going to fight? Are we the titled slaves of George the Third? The military conscripts of Napoleon the Great? Or the frozen peasants of the Russian Czar? No -- we are the free born sons of America; the citizens of the only republic now existing in the world; and the only people on earth who possess rights, liberties, and property which they dare call their own. Votes: 0

Being the dependents of the general government, and looking to its treasury as the source of all their emoluments, the state officers, under whatever names they might pass and by whatever forms their duties might be prescribed, would in effect be the mere stipendiaries and instruments of the central power. Votes: 0

Free from public debt, at peace with all the world, and with no complicated interests to consult in our intercourse with foreign powers, the present may be hailed as the epoch in our history the most favorable for the settlement of those principles in our domestic policy which shall be best calculated to give stability to our Republic and secure the blessings of freedom to our citizens. Votes: 0

Desperate courage makes One a majority. Votes: 0

Men do not get up and do mischief, without there is someone in the head of it. Votes: 0

Their object is disunion. Votes: 0

The bank...is trying to kill me, but I will kill it! Votes: 0

I am now eased in my finances and replenished in my wardrobe. Votes: 0

In this point of the case the question is distinctly presented whether the people of the United States are to govern through representatives chosen by their unbiased suffrages or whether the money and power of a great corporation are to be secretly exerted to influence their judgment and control their decisions. Votes: 0

Private property is held sacred in all good governments, and particularly in our own. Yet shall the fear of invading it prevent a general from marching his army over a cornfield or burning a house which protects the enemy? A thousand other instances might be cited to show that laws must sometimes be silent when necessity speaks. Votes: 0

I carried $5000 when I went to Washington. I returned with barely $90 in our pockets. Votes: 0

Perpetuity is stamped upon the Constitution by the blood of our fathers. Votes: 0

What good man would prefer a country covered with forests and ranged by a few thousand savages to our extensive Republic, studded with cities, towns, and prosperous farms, embellished with all the improvements which art can devise or industry execute. Votes: 0

Were all the worshippers of the gold calf to memorialize me and request a restoration of the deposits I would cut my right hand from my body before I would do such an act. The gold calf may be worshipped by others but as for myself I serve the Lord. Votes: 0

We must regain Texas, peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must. Votes: 0

I consider, then, the power to annul a law of the United States, assumed by one state, incompatible with the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was formed. Votes: 0

You are uneasy; you never sailed with me before, I see. Votes: 0

In a free government the demand for moral qualities should be made superior to that of talents. Votes: 0

Internal improvement and the diffusion of knowledge, so far as they can be promoted by the constitutional acts of the Federal Government, are of high importance. Votes: 0

Democracy shows not only its power in reforming governments, but in regenerating a race of men and this is the greatest blessing of free governments Votes: 0

The individual who refuses to defend his rights when called by his government deserves to be a slave, and must be punished as an enemy of his country and a friend to her foe Votes: 0

Corporations have neither bodies to kick, nor souls to damn. Votes: 0

No free government can stand without virtue in the people, and a lofty spirit of partiotism. Votes: 0

As long as our government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of person and property, liberty of conscience, and of the press, it will be worth defending. Votes: 0

Oh, do not cry - be good children and we will all meet in heaven. Votes: 0

I have only two regrets: I didn't shoot Henry Clay and I didn't hang John C. Calhoun. Votes: 0

After a harassing warfare, prolonged by the nature of the country and by the difficulty of procuring subsistence, the Indians were entirely defeated, and the disaffected band dispersed or destroyed. The result has been creditable to the troops engaged in the service. Severe as is the lesson to the Indians, it was rendered necessary by their unprovoked aggressions, and it is to be hoped that its impression will be permanent and salutary. Votes: 0

I do not promise to believe tomorrow exactly what I believe today, and I do not believe today exactly what I believed yesterday. I expect to make, as I have made, some honest progress within every succeeding twenty-four hours. Votes: 0

The authority of the Supreme Court must not be permitted to control the Congress or the Executive when acting in their legislative capacities, but to have only such influence as the force of their reasoning may deserve. Votes: 0

Mere precedent is a dangerous source of authority. Votes: 0

I say to you never involve yourself in debt, and become no man's surety. Votes: 0

Too much praise cannot be bestowed on those who managed my artillery. Votes: 0

People are my religion/Because I believe in them. Votes: 0

You must, to get through life well, practice industry with economy, never create a debt for anything that is not absolutely necessary, and if you make a promise to pay money at a day certain, be sure to comply with it. If you do not, you lay yourself liable to have your feelings injured and your reputation destroyed with the just imputation of violating your word. Votes: 0

Trusting as we did to the virtue of the people, the real people, not the politicians and demagogues, we passed through the most responsible and trying scenes, sustained by the bone and sinew of the nation, the laborers of the land, where alone, in these days of Bank rule, and ragocrat corruption, real virtue and love of liberty is to be found. Votes: 0

His [the President's] earnest desire is, that you may perpetuated and preserved as a nation; and this he believes can only be doneand secured by your consent to remove to a country beyond the Mississippi.... Where you are, it is not possible you can live contented and happy. Votes: 0

Although I could lament in the language and feelings of David for Absalom, I am constrained to say, peace to his manes. Let us weep for the living, and not for the dead. Votes: 0

This season has been full of rewards. The dinners and banquets just keep on coming. It's great. We want to carry it on as long as we can. Votes: 0

Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth can not be produced by human institutions. Votes: 0

To extraordinary powers of labor, both mental and physical, he unites that tact and judgement which are requisite to the successful direction of such an office as that of Chief Magistrate of a free people. Votes: 0

When the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in. Votes: 0

All who wish to hand down to their children that happy republican system bequeathed to them by their revolutionary fathers, must now take their stand against this consolidating, corrupting money power, and put it down, or their children will become hewers of wood and drawers of water to this aristocratic ragocracy. Votes: 0

In a country where offices are created solely for the benefit of the people no one man has any more intrinsic right to official station than another. Votes: 0

If in madness of delusion, anyone shall lift his parricidal hand against this blessed union, the arms of thousands will be raised to save it, and the curse of millions will fall upon the head which may have plotted its destruction. Votes: 0

If they [Mexicans] touch the hair of the head of one of our citizens, tell him [Commodore Dallas] to batter down and destroy their town and exterminate the inhabitants from the face of the earth! Votes: 0

My political enemies I can freely forgive; but as for who abused me when I was serving my country in the field, and those who attacked me for serving my country -- Doctor, that is a different case. Votes: 0

The murderer only takes the life of the parent and leaves his character as a goodly heritage to his children, whilst the slanderer takes away his goodly reputation and leaves him a living monument to his children's disgrace. Votes: 0

The President is the direct representative of the American people and is elected by the people and responsible to them. Votes: 0

There are, perhaps, few men who can for any length of time enjoy office and power without being more or less under the influence of feelings unfavorable to the faithful discharge of their political duties. Votes: 0

Be good children, and we shall all meet in Heaven. I want to meet you all, white and black, in Heaven. Our Federal Union! It must be preserved! [Toast at a celebration of Thomas Jefferson's birthday, April 13 1830] Votes: 0

Being satisfied, from observation and experience, as well as from medical testimony, that ardent spirit as a drink is not only needless but hurtful; and that the entire disuse of it would tend to promote the health, the virtue, and the happiness of the community, we hereby express our convention that should the citizens of the United States, and especially ALL YOUNG MEN, discontinue entirely the use of it, they would not only promote their own personal benefit, but the good of our country and the world. Votes: 0

There goes a man made by the Lord Almighty and not by his tailor. Votes: 0

Never for a moment believe that the great body of the citizens of any State or States can deliberately intend to do wrong. They may, under the influence of temporary excitement or misguided opinions, commit mistakes; they may be misled for a time by the suggestions of self-interest; but in a community so enlightened and patriotic as the people of the United States argument will soon make them sensible of their errors, and when convinced they will be ready to repair them. Votes: 0

I not only rejoice, but congratulate my beloved country Texas is reannexed, and the safety, prosperity, and the greatest interest of the whole Union is secured by this great and important national act. Votes: 0