Presidents Day quotes: 75 real quotes from US presidents

Short presidential quotes

Ten words or so each: right for a slide title, a sign or the channel topic.

1. 1

   It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.

   George Washington, 1st US president · Letter to his niece Harriet, 1791

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2. 2

   You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket.

   John Adams, 2nd US president · Letter to his son John Quincy, 1781

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3. 3

   I cannot live without books.

   Thomas Jefferson, 3rd US president · Letter to John Adams, 1815

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4. 4

   Knowledge will forever govern ignorance.

   James Madison, 4th US president · Letter to W. T. Barry, 1822

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5. 5

   National honor is the national property of the highest value.

   James Monroe, 5th US president · First Inaugural Address, 1817

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6. 6

   An honorable defeat is better than a dishonorable victory.

   Millard Fillmore, 13th US president · Speech in Buffalo, 1844

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7. 7

   A pound of pluck is worth a ton of luck.

   James A. Garfield, 20th US president · Speech to a business college, 1869

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8. 8

   Honor lies in honest toil.

   Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th president · Letter accepting the nomination, 1884

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9. 9

   We are all imperfect. We can not expect perfect government.

   William Howard Taft, 27th US president · Board of Trade dinner, 1909

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10. 10

    It is not industry, but idleness, that is degrading.

    Calvin Coolidge, 30th US president · His autobiography, 1929

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Famous presidential quotes

The lines most people know, from the Declaration to the Kennedy inaugural, with where each was said.

11. 11

    I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy.

    George Washington, 1st US president · Farewell Address, 1796

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12. 12

    Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.

    John Adams, 2nd US president · Boston Massacre trial, 1770

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13. 13

    We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

    Thomas Jefferson, 3rd US president · Declaration of Independence, 1776

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14. 14

    Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.

    James Madison, 4th US president · Federalist No. 51, 1788

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15. 15

    We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.

    Abraham Lincoln, 16th US president · First Inaugural Address, 1861

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16. 16

    Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

    Abraham Lincoln, 16th US president · Gettysburg Address, 1863

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17. 17

    With malice toward none, with charity for all.

    Abraham Lincoln, 16th US president · Second Inaugural Address, 1865

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18. 18

    It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.

    Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US president · "Citizenship in a Republic", Paris, 1910

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19. 19

    The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

    Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd US president · First Inaugural Address, 1933

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20. 20

    The President, whoever he is, has to decide. He can't pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him.

    Harry S. Truman, 33rd US president · Farewell Address, 1953

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21. 21

    Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

    John F. Kennedy, 35th US president · Inaugural Address, 1961

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22. 22

    Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

    John F. Kennedy, 35th US president · Inaugural Address, 1961

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Inspirational quotes from presidents on work, leadership and courage

Lines for a team that's working hard, a manager who wants a better one than the usual, and anyone facing a hard call.

For more on working together, our teamwork quotes and success quotes are sourced the same way.

Quotes from presidents on service and unity, and a few funny ones

On public service and what holds people together, then seven lines that are funny on purpose.

Famous presidential quotes they never said

These top most lists of presidential quotes, but none is on record from the president it's credited to. We left all 10 off, and here is where each one really comes from.

• “I cannot tell a lie.” (credited to George Washington)

  The cherry tree story first appears in the 1806 edition of Mason Locke Weems's biography of Washington, which historians don't treat as a reliable source.

• “The harder the conflict, the greater the triumph.” (credited to George Washington)

  It's Thomas Paine, in The American Crisis (December 1776): "the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

• “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.” (credited to Abraham Lincoln)

  Robert Ingersoll wrote a version of it about Lincoln in 1883, praising how Lincoln used power. It describes him; it isn't his.

• “In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.” (credited to Abraham Lincoln)

  Quote Investigator's earliest version is a 1947 advertisement for a book on aging, 82 years after Lincoln died.

• “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” (credited to John Quincy Adams)

  Quote Investigator found no evidence he said or wrote it. The earliest version is a 1997 book quoting Dolly Parton; Adams's name was on it by 2002.

• “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe.” (credited to Abraham Lincoln)

  Quote Investigator found no evidence he said it. A 1944 sermon credits an unnamed lumberjack, and Lincoln's name first appears on it in a 1960 trade magazine ad.

• “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” (credited to Theodore Roosevelt)

  There's no record of him saying it. The earliest print found is a 1995 Senate hearing, and it seems to grow out of a 1910 ad for articles about him.

• “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence.” (credited to Calvin Coolidge)

  Quote Investigator found no evidence he wrote it. The passage grew from an 1881 guidance book and a 1902 insurance speech, and was first credited to him in 1929.

• “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” (credited to Harry S. Truman)

  A Jesuit priest said much the same in 1863, before Truman was born. Quote Investigator first finds Truman's name on it in 1988.

• “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” (credited to Harry S. Truman)

  It traces to the 1975 play Give 'Em Hell, Harry!, written after his death: "You want a friend in life, get a dog!"

When is Presidents Day 2027?

Presidents Day 2027 is Monday, February 15, 2027. The federal holiday's legal name is Washington's Birthday, and it is always the third Monday in February, so it falls between February 15 and 21 and never on Washington's birthday itself, February 22. Presidents Day is the name many states and calendars use. February is also Black History Month: our Black History Month quotes are sourced the same way, and the diversity calendar has the rest of the month's dates.

How to use Presidents Day quotes at work

Four places a quote fits, with wording you can borrow, six meeting openers and four rules.

1. In the team channel ahead of the holiday. One quote in the team channel, the president and where he said it, and a line wishing people a good weekend.“One from Garfield, 1874: ‘Things don't turn up in this world until somebody turns them up.’ Thanks for turning up a lot of things this month. Enjoy Monday off.”
2. On the all-hands slide. One line, the name, the year, and thirty seconds from the presenter on why it fits the quarter.“I picked Wilson's line from 1914, ‘I not only use all the brains I have, but all I can borrow’, because every win on this slide came from someone lending theirs.”
3. In the February newsletter. Three quotes from three centuries, the date of the holiday, and one sentence on the myths below.“This month's three: Washington in 1780, Lincoln in 1861 and Kennedy in 1963. One more thing: Lincoln never said the line about the life in your years.”
4. As a meeting opener. Read the quote, say who said it and when, ask one question, one answer each. Six ready to use are below.“Truman, 1953: ‘He can't pass the buck to anybody.’ What's one decision you'd like to own this month?”

Six quote-and-question meeting openers

1. “It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.” (George Washington) What's one thing you'd own up to faster next time?
2. “The more a subject is understood, the more briefly it may be explained.” (Thomas Jefferson) Explain your current project in one sentence.
3. “I dread nothing so much as falling into a rut and feeling myself becoming a fossil.” (James A. Garfield) What's one thing you want to learn this quarter?
4. “I have a perfect horror of words that are not backed up by deeds.” (Theodore Roosevelt) What did you promise last month that you've now delivered?
5. “There are no problems which we cannot solve together.” (Lyndon B. Johnson) Which problem on your plate would go faster with one more person on it?
6. “We must use time as a tool, not as a couch.” (John F. Kennedy) What's one meeting we could cut or shorten?

Four rules for sharing them

• Name the speech or letter and the year. It's what makes a quote worth reading, and it proves the quote is real.
• Spread the picks across eras, not only Lincoln and Kennedy.
• Keep to character, work and unity. A line about a current fight reads as an endorsement.
• Skip quote cards with the presidential seal; plain text with the name looks better and is safer.

Leading the meeting yourself? Our leadership icebreakers pair well with the leadership quotes above.

Run a February team hour with a host

Want someone to run the fun part? Quiz Showdown! is a 60-minute hosted quiz where teams race the clock and each other, and Black History Trivia & Games is the hosted hour for the same month. Both run on your video call, on Zoom by default (Teams, Google Meet or Webex on request), and can run as two sessions for teams split across time zones. Book about 2 weeks ahead. See every format on our virtual trivia page, or leadership team building for managers.