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Quotes about the presidency

66 quotes from 43 people

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I had a dream the other night. I dreamed that Jimmy Carter came to me and asked why I wanted his job. I told him I didn’t want his job. I want to be President.
Ronald Reagan1911–2004
- Clever Jabs
Democracy means that anyone can grow up to be president, and anyone who doesn’t grow up can be vice president.
Johnny Carson1925–2005
- Democracy
You may think the President is all-powerful, but he is not. He needs a lot of guidance from the Lord.
Barbara Bush1925–2018
- God
Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don’t want them to become politicians in the process.
John F. Kennedy1917–1963
- Politics
When the president does it that means that it is not illegal.
Richard Nixon1913–1994Interview with David Frost (May 19, 1977); printed in The New York Times (May 20, 1977), p. A16
- Laws
Under the doctrine of the separation of powers, the manner in which the president personally exercises his assigned executive powers is not subject to questioning by another branch of government.
Richard Nixon1913–1994
Always be on time. Do as little talking as humanly possible. Remember to lean back in the parade so everybody can see the president. Be sure not to get too fat, because you’ll have to sit three in the back.
Eleanor Roosevelt1884–1962
Somewhere out in this audience may even be someone who will one day follow my footsteps, and preside over the White House as the president’s spouse. I wish him well!
Barbara Bush1925–2018
No man will ever bring out of the Presidency the reputation which carries him into it. To myself, personally, it brings nothing but increasing drudgery and daily loss of friends.
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826
PRESIDENT, n. The leading figure in a small group of men of whom — and of whom only — it is positively known that immense numbers of their countrymen did not want any of them for President.
Ambrose Bierce1842–1914The Devil’s Dictionary, p. 266 (1948). Originally published in 1906 as The Cynic’s Word Book.
No one who has not had the responsibility can really understand what it is like to be President, not even his closest aides or members of his immediate family. There is no end to the chain of responsibility that binds him, and he is never allowed to forget that he is President.
Harry S. Truman1884–1972
A President either is constantly on top of events or, if he hesitates, events will soon be on top of him. I never felt that I could let up for a single moment.
Harry S. Truman1884–1972
I’ve worked for four presidents and watched two others up close, and I know that there’s no such thing as a routine day in the Oval Office.
Dick Cheney1941–2025
When you get to be President, there are all those things, the honors, the twenty-one gun salutes, all those things. You have to remember it isn’t for you. It’s for the Presidency.
Harry S. Truman1884–1972
There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don’t know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president.
Kurt Vonnegut1922–2007Cold Turkey (2004)