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James A. Garfield Quotes
1831–1881 United States
James Abram Garfield (19 November 1831 – 19 September 1881) was the 20th president of the United States of America in 1881, and the second U.S. president to be assassinated. His term was the second shortest in U.S. history, after William Henry Harrison's.
United States Academics Lawyers Mathematicians Military leaders Also known as: Garfield, James A., J.A. Garfield, JA Garfield, James Abram Garfield, James Garfield
Random James A. Garfield quote
79 quotes
The world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto, and every man a word.
The Province of History (1856)
All free governments are managed by the combined wisdom and folly of the people.
Things don't turn up in this world until somebody turns them up.
Nobody but radicals have ever accomplished anything in a great crisis. Conservatives have their place in the piping times of peace; but in emergencies only rugged issue men amount to much.
I am oppressed with a sense of the impropriety of uttering words on this occasion.
I mean to make myself a man, and if I succeed in that, I shall succeed in everything else.
I love to deal with doctrines and events. The contests of men about men I greatly dislike.
The possession of great powers, no doubt, carries with it a contempt for mere external show.
The civil service can never be placed on a satisfactory basis until it is regulated by law.
Inaugural address (1881)
The President is the last person in the world to know what the people really want and think.
Garfield of Ohio : The Available Man (1970)
Tell her I am seriously hurt; how seriously I cannot yet say. I am myself, and hope she will come to me soon. I send my love to her.
I am inclined to believe that the sin of slavery is one of which it may be said that without the shedding of blood there is no remission.
Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained.
I am glad to have the opportunity of standing up against a rabble of men who hasten to make weathercocks of themselves.
Garfield's Words (1882)
If any theories or opinions of mine can be damaged by facts, so much the worse for my theories.
Few men in our history have ever obtained the Presidency by planning to obtain it.
The worst days of darkness through which I have ever passed have been greatly alleviated by throwing myself with all my energy into some work relating to others.
No American has carried greater fame out of the White House than this silent man who leaves it today.
The sin of slavery is one of which it may be said that without the shedding of blood there is no remission.
If hard work is not another name for talent, it is the best possible substitute for it.
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