The day is not far distant when three Stars and Stripes at three equidistant points will mark our territory: one at the North Pole, another at the Panama Canal, and the third at the South Pole. The whole hemisphere will be ours in fact as, by virtue of our superiority of race, it already is ours morally.
— William Howard Taft
We live in a stage of politics, where legislators seem to regard the passage of laws as much more important than the results of their enforcement.
Action for which I become responsible, or for which my administration becomes responsible, shall be within the law.
As the Republican platforms says, the welfare of the farmer is vital to that of the whole country.
I'll be damned if I am not getting tired of this. It seems to be the profession of a President simply to hear other people talk.
Failure to accord credit to anyone for what he may have done is a great weakness in any man.
Presidents come and go, but the Supreme Court goes on forever.
I am president now, and tired of being kicked around.
The trouble with me is that I like to talk too much.
I have come to the conclusion that the major part of the work of a President is to increase the gate receipts of expositions and fairs and bring tourists to town.
No, the only things which do not bother me are the elements. I can overcome them without a fight. All one has to do to get the best of the elements is to stand pat and one will win.
I am in favor of helping the prosperity of all countries because, when we are all prosperous, the trade with each becomes more valuable to the other.
I do not believe in the divinity of Christ, and there are many other of the postulates of the orthodox creed to which I cannot subscribe.
A system in which we may have an enforced rest from legislation for two years is not bad.
If this humor be the safety of our race, then it is due largely to the infusion into the American people of the Irish brain.
Don't write so that you can be understood, write so that you can't be misunderstood.
We are all imperfect. We can not expect perfect government.
The world is not going to be saved by legislation.
Socialism proposes no adequate substitute for the motive of enlightened selfishness that today is at the basis of all human labor and effort, enterprise and new activity.
Don't worry over what the newspapers say. I don't. Why should anyone else? I told the truth to the newspaper correspondents - but when you tell the truth to them they are at sea.
I do not know much about politics, but I am trying to do the best I can with this administration until the time shall come for me to turn it over to somebody else.
I am afraid I am a constant disappointment to my party. The fact of the matter is, the longer I am president the less of a party man I seem to become.
Substantial progress toward better things can rarely be taken without developing new evils requiring new remedies.
I love judges, and I love courts. They are my ideals, that typify on earth what we shall meet hereafter in heaven under a just God.
No tendency is quite so strong in human nature as the desire to lay down rules of conduct for other people.
Anti-Semitism is a noxious weed that should be cut out. It has no place in America.
Enthusiasm for a cause sometimes warps judgment.
I think I might as well give up being a candidate. There are so many people in the country who don't like me.
Politics makes me sick.
A government is for the benefit of all the people.
