William McKinley quotes

William McKinley was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 to 1901. His leadership was marked by rapid economic growth and victory in the Spanish–American War. He led the nation until his assassination in 1901, leaving a lasting impact on American policy. Here are 38 of his quotes:

The mission of the United States is one of benevolent assimilation.

William McKinley

Our differences are policies; our agreements, principles.

William McKinley

Let us ever remember that our interest is in concord, not in conflict; and that our real eminence rests in the victories of peace, not those of war.

William McKinley

We need Hawaii just as much and a good deal more than we did California. It is manifest destiny.

William McKinley

Expositions are the timekeepers of progress.

William McKinley

Our earnest prayer is that God will graciously vouchsafe prosperity, happiness, and peace to all our neighbors, and like blessings to all the peoples and powers of earth.

William McKinley

Illiteracy must be banished from the land if we shall attain that high destiny as the foremost of the enlightened nations of the world which, under Providence, we ought to achieve.

William McKinley

Without competition we would be clinging to the clumsy antiquated processes of farming and manufacture and the methods of business of long ago, and the twentieth would be no further advanced than the eighteenth century.

William McKinley

Cuba ought to be free and independent, and the government should be turned over to the Cuban people.

William McKinley

In the time of darkest defeat, victory may be nearest.

William McKinley

The ocean is not wide enough to hold all the sympathy that is streaming from the Old World to the New.

William McKinley

I am deeply affected by the news of the untimely death of President McKinley. I hasten to express the deepest and most heartfelt sympathy of the German people to the great American nation. Germany mourns with American for her noble son, who lost his life while he was fulfilling his duty to his country and people.

William McKinley

When I next realized that the Philippines had dropped into our laps I confess I did not know what to do with them ... And one night late it came to me this way...:.

William McKinley

When the history of his time is written he will stand forth as the great figure in the years which have been so crowded with events. He gained the entire confidence of the nation by his patriotism, wisdom and ability, just as he won its love by his kindness and goodness to all men.

William McKinley

I have been deeply shocked by this crime. President McKinley was not a ruler of exclusive or aristocratic tendencies. He was a good friend of the people, a genuine democrat in the best sense of the word. With regard to Mexico, President McKinley had ever evidenced such friendly sentiments that his death will be mourned in this country hardly less keenly than in the United States.

William McKinley

I learn with deep pain that his Excellency Mr. McKinley has succumbed to the deplorable attempt on his life. I sympathize with you with all my heart in this calamity which thus strikes at your dearest affections and which bereaves the great American nation of a President so justly respected and loved.

William McKinley

I have never been in doubt since I was old enough to think intelligently that I would someday be made president.

William McKinley

The free man cannot be long an ignorant man.

William McKinley

That's all a man can hope for during his lifetime - to set an example - and when he is dead, to be an inspiration for history.

William McKinley

We cannot gamble with anything so sacred as money.

William McKinley

Our past has gone into history.

William McKinley

that there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God's grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow-men for whom Christ also died.

William McKinley