William Howard Taft quotes

William Howard Taft was an American statesman and jurist who served as the 27th President of the United States. Uniquely, he is also the only person to have served as both President and Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He played a significant role in shaping the federal government and legal system. Here are 50 of his quotes:

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

William Howard Taft

The world is not going to be saved by legislation.

William Howard Taft

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

William Howard Taft

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.

William Howard Taft

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.

William Howard Taft

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

William Howard Taft

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.

William Howard Taft

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.

William Howard Taft

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.

William Howard Taft

Enthusiasm for a cause sometimes warps judgment.

William Howard Taft

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.

William Howard Taft

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.

William Howard Taft

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.

William Howard Taft

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

William Howard Taft

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

William Howard Taft

Next to the right of liberty, the right of property is the most important individual right guaranteed by the Constitution and the one which, united with that of personal liberty, has contributed more to the growth of civilization than any other institution established by the human race.

William Howard Taft

The President cannot make clouds to rain and cannot make the corn to grow, he cannot make business good; although when these things occur, political parties do claim some credit for the good things that have happened in this way.

William Howard Taft

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

William Howard Taft

There is nothing so despicable as a secret society that is based upon religious prejudice and that will attempt to defeat a man because of his religious beliefs. Such a society is like a cockroach - it thrives in the dark. So do those who combine for such an end.

William Howard Taft

The truth is that in my present life I don't remember that I ever was president.

William Howard Taft

Politics, when I am in it, makes me sick.

William Howard Taft

There is only one thing I wast to say about Ohio that has a political tinge, and that is that I think a mistake has been made of recent years in Ohio in failing to continue as our representatives the same people term after term. I do not need to tell a Washington audience, among whom there are certainly some who have been interested in legislation, that length of service in the House and in the Senate is what gives influence.

William Howard Taft