Honoring Presidents Day 2026 With 47 Quotes From 47 American Presidents
Presidents Day started in 1971 as part of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which was created to give American workers more three-day weekends. Over time, it’s become a day to recognize and appreciate all U.S. presidents and the impact they’ve had on our country.
Since George Washington became our first president in 1789, 47 men have served in the role. Each brought his own voice, leadership style, and words of wisdom. No matter how long ago those words were spoken, many of them still ring true today. And regardless of political views, there’s something meaningful we can take from the messages they shared—lessons that still apply in 2026 and beyond.
47 Presidential Quotes/Words To Live By From 47 Presidents
"Every post is honorable in which a man can serve his country."
-- George Washington
"Liberty once lost is lost forever."
-- John Adams
"When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry a hundred."
--Thomas Jefferson
"The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty."
-- James Madison
"Our country may be likened to a new house. We lack many things, but we possess the most precious of all -- liberty!"
-- James Monroe
"The more you meditate on the laws of Moses, the more striking and brighter does their wisdom appear."
-- John Quincy Adams
"One man with courage makes a majority."
-- Andrew Jackson
"The less government interferes with private pursuits, the better for general prosperity."
-- Martin Van Buren
"There is nothing more corrupting, nothing more destructive of the noblest and finest feelings of our nature, than the exercise of unlimited power."
-- William Henry Harrison
"Popularity, I have always thought, may aptly be compared to a coquette -- the more you woo her, the more apt she is to elude your embrace."
-- John Tyler
"There is more selfishness and less principle among members of Congress...than I had any conception of, before I became President of the U.S."
-- James K Polk
"If elected, I would not be the mere president of a party - I would endeavor to act independent of party domination and should feel bound to administer the government untrammeled by party schemes."
-- Zachary Taylor
"It is not strange to mistake change for progress."
-- Millard Fillmore
“You don’t know what you can miss before you try.”
-- Franklin Pierce
"I like the noise of democracy."
-- James Buchanan
"Whatever you are, be a good one."
― Abraham Lincoln
"The goal to strive for is a poor government, but a rich people."
-- Andrew Johnson
"Everyone has his superstitions. One of mine has always been when I started to go anywhere, or to do anything, never to turn back or to stop until the thing intended was accomplished."
-- Ulysses S Grant
"To vote is like the payment of a debt, a duty never to be neglected, if its performance is possible."
-- Rutherford B Hayes
"If wrinkles must be written on our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should never grow old."
-- James A Garfield
"The extravagant expenditure of public money is an evil not to be measured by the value of that money to the people who are taxed for it."
-- Chester A Arthur
"A truly American sentiment recognizes the dignity of labor and the fact that honor lies in honest toil."
-- Grover Cleveland
"The bud of victory is always in the truth."
-- Benjamin Harrison
"That's all a man can hope for during his lifetime - to set an example - and when he is dead, to be an inspiration for history."
-- William McKinley
"Believe you can and you're halfway there."
-- Theodore Roosevelt
"Failure to accord credit to anyone for what he may have done is a great weakness in any man."
-- William Howard Taft
"I would rather belong to a poor nation that was free than to a rich nation that had ceased to be in love with liberty."
-- Woodrow Wilson
"America's present need is not heroics but healing; not nostrums but normalcy; not revolution but restoration."
-- Warren G Harding
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."
--Calvin Coolidge
“Words without action are the assassins of idealism."
-- Herbert Hoover
"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today."
-- Franklin D Roosevelt
"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit."
-- Harry S Truman
“Never waste a minute thinking about people you don’t like.”
-- Dwight D. Eisenhower
“One person can make a difference and everyone should try."
-- John F Kennedy
"There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves."
-- Lyndon B Johnson
"If you take no risks, you will suffer no defeats. But if you take no risks, you win no victories."
-- Richard Nixon
"A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have."
-- Gerald Ford
"Let your voice be heard. Whenever you have a chance, say something good about our country."
-- Jimmy Carter
“Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, leave the rest to God.”
-- Ronald Reagan
"In crucial things, unity. In important things, diversity. In all things, generosity."
-- George H W Bush
"If you live long enough, you'll make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you'll be a better person. It's how you handle adversity, not how it affects you. The main thing is never quit, never quit, never quit."
-- William Jefferson Clinton
"Use power to help people. For we are given power not to advance our own purposes nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power and it is to serve people."
-- George W Bush
"If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress."
-- Barack Obama
"What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate."
-- Donald Trump
"Failure at some point in your life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable."
-- Joseph R Biden
"You have to think anyway. So why not think big?"
-- Donald Trump
And then, there's my favorite from Kid President:
"Sure there's bad stuff in the world, but there's also you. You can be anything that you want today, so be bold, be kind, be awesome, repeat. It's like shampoo, but with your life."
Not familiar with Kid President? Check out his "20 Things We Should Say More Often" video. Perfect words to live by on President's Day and every day, whether you're a kid or an adult! As they say.... "from the mouths of babes..."
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