William Howard Taft Quotes

The true Mason takes full responsibility for the condition of his character and ever strives for its perfection.

The true Mason always carries his working tools everywhere.

Enthusiasm for a cause sometimes warps judgment.

Too many people don't care what happens so long as it doesn't happen to them.

Don't write so that you can be understood, write so that you can't be misunderstood.

We must dare to be great; and we must realize that greatness is the fruit of toil and sacrifice and high courage.

The precepts of the Gospel were universally the obligations of Masonry.

Presidents come and go, but the Supreme Court goes on forever.

We can't have a decent government unless those in power exercise self restraint.

The world is not going to be saved by legislation.

The true Mason never hesitates to use the working tools to correct personal flaws.

No tendency is quite so strong in human nature as the desire to lay down rules of conduct for other people.

If they will play fair I will play fair, but if they won't then I reserve all my rights to do anything I find myself able to do.

Repeat mantra: Donuts are not vitamins, donuts are not.

The City that knows how.

Substantial progress toward better things can rarely be taken without developing new evils requiring new remedies.

The cheerful loser is a sort of winner.

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

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.

The true Mason ever strives to cultivate Masonry in his/her life to the fullest degree possible.

The man with the average mentality, but with control, with a definite goal, and a clear conception of how it can be gained, and above all, with the power of application and labor, wins in the end.

Anyone who has taken the oath I have just taken must feel a heavy weight of responsibility. If not, he has no conception of the powers and duties of the office.

As the Republican platforms says, the welfare of the farmer is vital to that of the whole country.

The underlying principle of Masonry is the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. In this war we are engaging in upholding these principles and our enemies are attacking them.

My impression about the Panama Canal is that the great revolution it is going to introduce in the trade of the world is in the trade between the east and the west coast of the United States.

Anti-Semitism is a noxious weed that should be cut out. It has no place in America.

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.

The Masonic system represents a stupendous and beautiful fabric, founded on universal purity, to rule and direct our passions, to have faith and love in God, and charity toward man.

A government is for the benefit of all the people.

We passed the Children's Bureau bill calculated to prevent children from being employed too early in factories.

I think I might as well give up being a candidate. There are so many people in the country who don't like me.

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.

That all may be so, but when I begin to exercise that power I am not conscious of the power, but only of the limitations imposed on me.

Go ahead, and fear not. You will have a full library at your service.

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.

Golf in the interest of good health and good manners. It promotes self-restraint and affords a chance to play the man and act the gentleman.

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.

I have come to the conclusion that the major part of the president is to increase the gate receipts of expositions and fairs and bring tourists to town.

The true Mason is ever vigilant for subtle traces of character and personality flaws which daily experience brings out.

The true Mason's level of discernment increases with every use of the working tools, because the true Mason is ever working on him/her self.

We are imperfect. We cannot expect perfect government.

I don't know whither we are drifting, but I do know where every real thinking patriot will stand in the end, and that's by the Constitution.

There is no "but" in it. The way to be an administration Senator is to vote with the Administration.

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.

The true Mason is the Tiler of the Temple of the Heart.

I think his greatest fault is his failure to accord credit to anyone for what he may have done. This is a great weakness in any man.

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.

The policy of dollar diplomacy is one that appeals alike to idealistic humanitarian sentiments, to dictates of sound policy, and strategy, and to legitimate commercial aims.

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.