Andrew Jackson Quotes

It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes.

After eight years as President I have only two regrets: that I have not shot Henry Clay or hanged John C. Calhoun.

Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error.

John Calhoun, if you secede from my nation I will secede your head from the rest of your body.

I was born for a storm and a calm does not suit me.

There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses.

Peace, above all things, is to be desired, but blood must sometimes be spilled to obtain it on equable and lasting terms.

When you get in debt you become a slave.

But you must remember, my fellow-citizens, that eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing.

All the rights secured to the citizens under the Constitution are worth nothing, and a mere bubble, except guaranteed to them by an independent and virtuous Judiciary.

Freemasonry is an institution calculated to benefit mankind.

When the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.

The Supreme Court has made its decision, now let them enforce it.

The brave man, inattentive to his duty, is worth little more to his country than the coward who deserts her in the hour of danger.

You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the eternal God, I will rout you out.

Go to the Scriptures... the joyful promises it contains will be a balsam to all your troubles.

I find virtue to be found amongst the farmers of the country alone, not about courts, where courtiers dwell.

From his proceedings in Congress, he appears demented, and his actings and doings inspire my pity more than anger.

The people are the government, administering it by their agents; they are the government, the sovereign power.

There are only two things I can't give up; one is coffee and the other is tobacco.

[The Bible] is the rock on which our Republic rests.

Heaven will be no heaven to me if I do not meet my wife there.

The President is the direct representative of the American people and is elected by the people and responsible to them.

Live within your means, never be in debt, and by husbanding your money you can always lay it out well.

Secession, like any other REVOLUTIONARY ACT, may be morally justified by the extremity of oppression; but to call it a constitutional right is confounding the meaning of terms.

You must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessings.

I have never in my life seen a Kentuckian who didn't have a gun, a pack of cards, and a jug of whiskey.

The great can protect themselves, but the poor and humble require the arm and shield of the law.

War is a blessing compared with national degradation.

Too much praise cannot be bestowed on those who managed my artillery.

I hope and trust to meet you in Heaven, both white and black-both white and black.

Mere precedent is a dangerous source of authority.

I have always been afraid of banks.

This spirit of mob-law is becoming as great an evil as a servile war.

Give me a thousand Tennesseans, and I'll whip any other thousand men on the globe!

People are my religion/Because I believe in them.

If a warden sees cigarette litter being thrown from a car, they will take the number and trace the owner to send them a fine.

Any theory, hypothesis, philosophy, sect, creed or institution that fears investigation, openly manifests its own error.

The bank...is trying to kill me, but I will kill it!

If they [Mexicans] touch the hair of the head of one of our citizens, tell him [Commodore Dallas] to batter down and destroy their town and exterminate the inhabitants from the face of the earth!

Americans are not a perfect people, but we are called to a perfect mission.

When death comes, he respects neither age nor merit. He sweeps from the earthly existence the sick and the strong, the rich and the poor, and should teach us to live to be prepared for death.

It was settled by the Constitution, the laws, and the whole practice of the government that the entire executive power is vested in the President of the United States.

In a free government the demand for moral qualities should be made superior to that of talents.

The Judas of the West has closed the contract and will receive the thirty pieces of silver. . . . Was there ever witnessed such a bare faced corruption in any country before?

To the victors belong the spoils.

I am fearful that the paper system will ruin the state. Its demoralizing effects are already seen and spoken of everywhere. I therefore protest against receiving any of that trash.

I have only two regrets: I didn't shoot Henry Clay and I didn't hang John C. Calhoun.

If congress has the right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given them to use themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations.

I feel in the depths of my soul that it is the highest, most sacred, and most irreversible part of my obligation to preserve the union of these states, although it may cost me my life.