John Tyler

President

1790-03-29

Quotes by John Tyler

• It is by these, the people, that I have been clothed with the high powers which they have seen fit to confide to their Chief Executive, and been charged with the solemn responsibility under which those powers are to be exercised.

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• Liberty and equality are captivating sounds, but they often captivate to destroy.

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• A republican government can only be supported by virtue; and the end of all our legislation should be to encourage our fellow citizens in its daily practice.

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• Pleasure has ever more been represented by poets and by painters as clothed in perpetual smiles and adorned with the richest jewels; and in real life, we have known many who, allured by her deceptions, blandishments, and hollow but showy temptations, have followed as she pointed until ruin has befallen them.

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• My own personal popularity can have no influence over me when the dictates of my best judgment and the obligations of an oath require of me a particular course. Under such circumstances, whether I sink or swim on the tide of popular favor is, to me, a matter of inferior consideration.

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• The tolling of yon dismal bell and the loud but solemn discharge of artillery hath announced to the nation the melancholy tidings - Thomas Jefferson no longer lives!

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• We direct the destinies of a mighty continent. Our resources are unlimited: our means unbounded. If we be true to ourselves, the glory of other nations, in comparison to ours, shall resemble but a tale from the days of chivalry.

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• I am charged with violating pledges which I never gave; and because I execute what I believe to be the law, with usurping powers not conferred by law; and above all, with using the powers conferred upon the President by the Constitution, from corrupt motives and for unwarrantable ends.

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• This Constitution was not made for a day, nor is it composed of such flexible materials as to be warped to the purposes of a casually ascendant influence.

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• Wealth can only be accumulated by the earnings of industry and the savings of frugality.

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• Our wise men flattered us into the adoption of the banking system under the idea that boundless wealth would result from the adoption.

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• Popularity, I have always thought, may aptly be compared to a coquette - the more you woo her, the more apt is she to elude your embrace.

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• Parties are continually changing. The men of today give place to the men of tomorrow, and the idols which one set worship, the next destroy.

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