Welcome to our collection of quotes by Grover Cleveland. We hope you enjoy pondering them and please share widely.
Wikipedia Summary for Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837 – June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American history to serve two nonconsecutive terms in office. He won the popular vote for three presidential elections—in 1884, 1888, and 1892—and was one of two Democrats (followed by Woodrow Wilson in 1912) to be elected president during the era of Republican presidential domination dating from 1861 to 1933.
In 1881, Cleveland was elected mayor of Buffalo and later, governor of New York. He was the leader of the pro-business Bourbon Democrats who opposed high tariffs; Free Silver; inflation; imperialism; and subsidies to business, farmers, or veterans. His crusade for political reform and fiscal conservatism made him an icon for American conservatives of the era. Cleveland won praise for his honesty, self-reliance, integrity, and commitment to the principles of classical liberalism. He fought political corruption, patronage, and bossism. As a reformer, Cleveland had such prestige that the like-minded wing of the Republican Party, called "Mugwumps", largely bolted the GOP presidential ticket and swung to his support in the 1884 election. As his second administration began, disaster hit the nation when the Panic of 1893 produced a severe national depression. It ruined his Democratic Party, opening the way for a Republican landslide in 1894 and for the agrarian and silverite seizure of the Democratic Party in 1896. The result was a political realignment that ended the Third Party System and launched the Fourth Party System and the Progressive Era.
Cleveland was a formidable policymaker, and he also drew corresponding criticism. His intervention in the Pullman Strike of 1894 to keep the railroads moving angered labor unions nationwide in addition to the party in Illinois; his support of the gold standard and opposition to Free Silver alienated the agrarian wing of the Democratic Party. Critics complained that Cleveland had little imagination and seemed overwhelmed by the nation's economic disasters—depressions and strikes—in his second term. Even so, his reputation for probity and good character survived the troubles of his second term. Biographer Allan Nevins wrote, "[I]n Grover Cleveland, the greatness lies in typical rather than unusual qualities. He had no endowments that thousands of men do not have. He possessed honesty, courage, firmness, independence, and common sense. But he possessed them to a degree other men do not." By the end of his second term, public perception showed him to be one of the most unpopular U.S. presidents, and he was by then rejected even by most Democrats. Today, Cleveland is considered by most historians to have been a successful leader, and has been praised for honesty, integrity, adherence to his morals and defying party boundaries, and effective leadership. He is generally ranked among the upper-mid tier of American presidents.
In calm water, every ship has a good captain.
It is the responsibility of the citizens to support their government. It is not the responsibility of the government to support its citizens.
Patriotism is no substitute for a sound currency.
These are days of special perplexity and depression, and the path of public duty is unusually rugged.
The appointing power of the Pope is treated as a public trust, and not as a personal perquisite.
The paramount duty of maintaining public order and defending the interests of our own people may require the adoption of measures of restriction, but they should not tolerate the oppression of individuals of a special race.
I mistake the American people if they favor the odious doctrine that there is no such thing as international morality; that there is one law for a strong nation and another for a weak one.
I can find no warrant for such appropriation in the Constitution.
There is no calamity which a great nation can invite which equals that which follows a supine submission to wrong and injustice.
Unswerving loyalty to duty, constant devotion to truth, and a clear conscience will overcome every discouragement and surely lead the way to usefulness and high achievement.
Loyalty to the principles upon which our Government rests positively demands that the equality before the law which it guarantees to every citizen should be justly and in good faith conceded in all parts of the land.
The friendliness and charity of our countrymen can always be relied upon to relieve their fellow citizens in misfortune.
Good ball players make good citizens.
In calm water every ship has a good captain.
In these sad and ominous days of mad fortune chasing, every patriotic, thoughtful citizen, whether he fishes or not, should lament that we have not among our countrymen more fishermen.
All must admit that the reception of the teachings of Christ results in the purest patriotism, in the most scrupulous fidelity to public trust, and in the best type of citizenship.
If you are still in school, do not neglect your grades. Internships and other activities are fine, but when legal employers have to decide who to interview, grades play a big role in determining who makes that cut and who doesn't.
I have tried so hard to do the right.
The wage earner relies upon the ventures of confident and contented capital. This failing him, his condition is without alleviation, for he can neither prey on the misfortune of others nor hoard his labor.
William McKinley has left us a priceless gift in the example of a useful and pure life, in his fidelity to public trusts and in his demonstration of the value of kindly virtues that not only ennoble but lead to success.
The lessons of paternalism ought to be unlearned and the better lesson taught that while the people should patriotically and cheerfully support their government, its functions do not include the support of the people.
I know that human prejudice -- especially that growing out of race and religion -- is cruelly inveterate and lasting.
What do you imagine the American people would think of me if I wasted my time going to the ball game?
I feel obliged to withhold my approval of the plan to indulge in benevolent and charitable sentiment through the appropriation of public funds ... I find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution.
Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote.
A cause worth fighting for is worth fighting for to the end.
I cannot help but think it perilous to suffer these lands or the sources of their irrigation to fall into the hands of monopolies, which by such means may exercise lordship over the areas dependent on their treatment for productiveness.
Above all, tell the truth.
Under our scheme of government the waste of public money is a crime against the citizen.
Every citizen owes to the country a vigilant watch and close scrutiny of its public servants and a fair and reasonable estimate of their fidelity.
What is the use of being elected or re-elected unless you stand for something?
If it takes the entire army and navy to deliver a postal card in Chicago, that card will be delivered.
The admitted right of a government to prevent the influx of elements hostile to its internal peace and security may not be questioned, even where there is not treaty stipulation on the subject.
The ship of Democracy, which has weathered all storms, may sink through the mutiny of those aboard.
It is said that the quality of recent immigration is undesirable. The time is quite within recent memory when the same thing was said of immigrants who, with their descendants, are now numbered among our best citizens.
Well, my dear fellow what did you expect, champagne?
The laws should be rigidly enforced which prohibit the immigration of a servile class to compete with American labor, with no intention of acquiring citizenship, and bringing with them and retaining habits and customs repugnant to our civilization.
Though the people support the government; the government should not support the people.
In the scheme of our national government, the presidency is preeminently the people's office.
Some day I will be better remembered.
I know there is a Supreme Being who rules the affairs of men and whose goodness and mercy have always followed the American people, and I know He will not turn from us now if we humbly and reverently seek His powerful aid.
After an existence of nearly 20 years of almost innocuous desuetude, these laws are brought forth.
A government for the people must depend for its success on the intelligence, the morality, the justice, and the interest of the people themselves.
Your every voter, as surely as your chief magistrate, exercises a public trust.
I have considered the pension list of the republic a roll of honor.
Public officers are the servants and agents of the people, to execute the laws which the people have made.
A truly American sentiment recognizes the dignity of labor and the fact that honor lies in honest toil.
The United States is not a nation to which peace is a necessity.
No man has ever yet been hanged for breaking the spirit of a law.
Communism is a hateful thing, and a menace to peace and organized government.
Honor lies in honest toil.
Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote. The relative positions to be assumed by man and woman in the working out of our civilization were assigned long ago by a higher intelligence than ours.
Though the people support the government, the government should not support the people.
I have tried so hard to do right.
It is better to be defeated standing for a high principle than to run by committing subterfuge.
The ship of democracy, which has weathered all storms, may sink through the mutiny of those on board.
He mocks the people who proposes that the government shall protect the rich and that they in turn will care for the laboring poor.
Party honesty is party expediency.
I would rather the man who presents something for my consideration subject me to a zephyr of truth and a gentle breeze of responsibility rather than blow me down with a curtain of hot wind.
Minds do not act together in public; they simply stick together; and when their private activities are resumed, they fly apart again.
Officeholders are the agents of the people, not their masters.
What is the use of being elected or re-elected, unless you stand for something?
Sometimes I wake at night in the White House and rub my eyes and wonder if it is not all a dream.