Quotes about the presidency
66 quotes from 43 people
PRESIDENCY, n. The greased pig in the field game of American politics.
Ambrose Bierce1842–1914The Devil’s Dictionary.Most of the problems a President has to face have their roots in the past.
I can be President of the United States, or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do both.
Theodore Roosevelt1858–1919Response when a dignitary asked if he could better control his daughter, as quoted in Hail to the Chiefs : My Life and Times with Six Presidents (1970) by Ruth Shick Montgomery, and TIME magazine (3 March 1980)
Jesse Owens1913–1980About Franklin D. Roosevelt, as quoted in Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler’s Olympics (2007), by Jeremy Schaap, New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, p. 211
Stephen Colbertborn 1964“A Mock Columnist, Amok”, in The New York Times (14 October 2007)In my country we go to prison first and then become President.
Nelson Mandela1918–2013Long Walk to Freedom (1995)If you want to see your plays performed the way you wrote them, become President.
Václav Havel1936–2011Address to the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London quoted in The Independent, London (24 March 1990)
John Adams1735–1826On the White House, in a letter to Abigail Adams (2 November 1800)- Václav Havel1936–2011New Year’s Address to the Nation (1991)
- Stephen Colbertborn 1964White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner (April 2006)
The Executive, except for recommendation and veto, has no legislative power.
Robert H. Jackson1892–1954Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579 (1952) (concurring), at 654-655.No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant.
John McCain1936–2018Official statement: “SASC Chairman John Mccain on Trump-Putin Meeting” (16 July 2018)The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants.
Theodore Roosevelt1858–1919Kansas City Star (7 May 1918)
