79 quotes
If wrinkles must be written upon our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should not grow old.
Twenty-five years ago the Republican Party was married to liberty, and this is our silver wedding, fellow-citizens.
An Appeal to Young Men (1879)
It is not manly to lie even about Satan.
Garfield's Words (1882)
However, to grant suffrage to the black man in this country is not innovation, but restoration. It is a return to the ancient principles and practices of the fathers.
Oration at Ravenna, Ohio (1865)
Poverty is uncomfortable, as I can testify; but nine times out of ten the best thing that can happen to a young man is to be tossed overboard and compelled to sink or swim for himself.
I must do something to keep my thoughts fresh and growing. I dread nothing so much as falling into a rut and feeling myself becoming a fossil.
Garfield's Words (1882)
The elevation of the negro race from slavery to the full rights of citizenship is the most important political change we have known since the adoption of the Constitution of 1787. NO thoughtful man can fail to appreciate its beneficent effect upon our institutions and people.
Inaugural address (1881)
It has been said that unsettled questions have no pity for the repose of nations.
Inaugural address (1881)
We do not even inquire whether a black man is a rebel in arms, or not, if he is black, be he friend or foe, he is thought best kept at a distance. It is hardly possible God will let us succeed while such enormities are practiced.
Regarding slavery (1862)
There are times in the history of men and nations, when they stand so near the vail that separates mortals from the immortals, time from eternity, and men from their God, that they can almost hear the beatings, and feel the pulsations, of the heart of the Infinite.
I would rather be defeated than make capital out of my religion.
Garfield's Words (1882)
Be fit for more than the thing you are now doing. Let everyone know that you have a reserve in yourself,— that you have more power than you are now using. If you are not too large for the place you occupy, you are too small for it.
There never can be a convention... that shall bind my vote against my will on any question whatever.
Tortured for the Republic.
With the decrees of destiny, attempted to steal the box in which were kept the decrees of the Fates; but he found that it was fastened to 'the throne of Jupiter by a golden chain, and to remove it would pull down the pillars of heaven.
The colonists were struggling not only against the armies of a great nation, but against the settled opinions of mankind; for the world did not then believe that the supreme authority of government could be safely intrusted to the guardianship of the people themselves.
Inaugural address (1881)
If there be one thing upon this earth that mankind love and admire better than another, it is a brave man — it is a man who dares to look the devil in the face and tell him he is a devil.
Garfield's Words (1882)
It is the high privilege and sacred duty of those now living to educate their successors and fit them, by intelligence and virtue, for the inheritance which awaits them. In this beneficent work, sections and races should be forgotten and partisanship should be unknown.
Inaugural address (1881)
I affirm, therefore, that our present position is one of apostasy; and to give the ballot to the negro will be no innovation, but a return to the old paths, a restoration of that spirit of liberty to which the sufferings and sacrifices of the Revolution gave birth.
Oration at Ravenna, Ohio (1865)
There is something peculiar in the temper of the House. A clear strong statement of a case if made too soon or too late fails. If well made at the right time it is effective. It is a nice point to study the right time.