Martin Van Buren quotes

I tread in the footsteps of illustrious men... in receiving from the people the sacred trust confided to my illustrious predecessor. (Martin Van Buren)
There is a power in public opinion in this country - and I thank God for it: for it is the most honest and best of all powers - which will not tolerate an incompetent or unworthy man to hold in his weak or wicked hands the lives and fortunes of his fellow-citizens. View quote
Martin Van Buren
The less government interferes with private pursuits, the better for general prosperity. View quote
Martin Van Buren
Banks properly established and conducted are highly useful to the business of the country, and will doubtless continue to exist in the States so long as they conform to their laws and are found to be safe and beneficial. View quote
Martin Van Buren
The government should not be guided by Temporary Excitement, but by Sober Second Thought. View quote
Martin Van Buren
As to the presidency, the two happiest days of my life were those of my entrance upon the office and my surrender of it. View quote
Martin Van Buren
Our country presents on every side the evidences of that continued favor under whose auspices it, has gradually risen from a few feeble and dependent colonies to a prosperous and powerful confederacy. View quote
Martin Van Buren
The practice of all my predecessors imposes on me an obligation I cheerfully fulfill-to accompany the first and solemn act of my public trust with an avowal of the principles that will guide me in performing it and an expression of my feelings on assuming a charge so responsible and vast. View quote
Martin Van Buren
All the lessons of history and experience must be lost upon us if we are content to trust alone to the peculiar advantages we happen to possess. View quote
Martin Van Buren
From a small community we have risen to a people powerful in numbers and in strength; but with our increase has gone hand in hand the progress of just principles. View quote
Martin Van Buren
How imperious, then, is the obligation imposed upon every citizen, in his own sphere of action, whether limited or extended, to exert himself in perpetuating a condition of things so singularly happy. (Martin Van Buren)
Present excitement will at all times magnify present dangers, but true philosophy must teach us that none more threatening than the past can remain to be overcome; and we ought (for we have just reason) to entertain an abiding confidence in the stability of our institutions and an entire conviction that if administered in the true form, character, and spirit in which they were established they are abundantly adequate to preserve to us and our children the rich blessings already derived from them, to make our beloved land for a thousand generations that chosen spot where happiness springs from a perfect equality of political rights. View quote
Martin Van Buren
It affords me sincere pleasure to be able to apprise you of the entire removal of the Cherokee Nation of Indians to their new homes west of the Mississippi. View quote
Martin Van Buren
Between Russia and the United States sentiments of good will continue to be mutually cherished. View quote
Martin Van Buren
We remain at peace with all nations, and no efforts on my part consistent with the preservation of our rights and the honor of the country shall be spared to maintain a position so consonant to our institutions. View quote
Martin Van Buren
The condition of the tribes which occupy the country set apart for them in the West is highly prosperous, and encourages the hope of their early civilization. They have for the most part abandoned the hunter state and turned their attention to agricultural pursuits. View quote
Martin Van Buren
The law increasing and organizing the military establishment of the United States has been nearly carried into effect, and the Army has been extensively and usefully employed during the past season. View quote
Martin Van Buren
Those who have wrought great changes in the world never succeeded by gaining over chiefs; but always by exciting the multitude. The first is the resource of intrigue and produces only secondary results, the second is the resort of genius and transforms the universe. View quote
Martin Van Buren
The United States have fulfilled in good faith all their treaty stipulations with the Indian tribes, and have in every other instance insisted upon a like performance of their obligations. View quote
Martin Van Buren
The case of the Seminoles constitutes at present the only exception to the successful efforts of the Government to remove the Indians to the homes assigned them west of the Mississippi. View quote
Martin Van Buren
In a government whose distinguishing characteristic should be a diffusion and equalization of its benefits and burdens the advantage of individuals will be augmented at the expense of the community at large. (Martin Van Buren)
If laws acting upon private interests can not always be avoided, they should be confined within the narrowest limits, and left wherever possible to the legislatures of the States. View quote
Martin Van Buren
The connection which formerly existed between the Government and banks was in reality injurious to both, as well as to the general interests of the community at large. View quote
Martin Van Buren
It seems proper, at all events, that by an early enactment similar to that of other countries the application of public money by an officer of Government to private uses should be made a felony and visited with severe and ignominious punishment. View quote
Martin Van Buren
Every proper exertion has been made and will be continued to carry out the wishes of Congress in relation to the tobacco trade, as indicated in the several resolutions of the House of Representatives and the legislation of the two branches. View quote
Martin Van Buren