Martin Van Buren Quotes

For thirty-six of the forty years between 1800 and 1840, either Jefferson or a self-described adherent of his served as president of the United States: James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, and Martin Van Buren.32 (John Quincy Adams, a one-term president, was the single exception.) ~ Jon Meacham

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. ~ 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. ~ 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. ~ 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. ~ Martin Van Buren

To avoid the necessity of a permanent debt and its inevitable consequences, I have advocated and endeavored to carry into effect the policy of confining the appropriations for the public service to such objects only as are clearly with the constitutional authority of the Federal Government. ~ Martin Van Buren

The people under our system, like the king in a monarchy, never dies. ~ Martin Van Buren

The less government interferes with private pursuits, the better for general prosperity. ~ Martin Van Buren

Most men are not scolded out of their opinion. ~ Martin Van Buren

With European powers no new subjects of difficulty have arisen, and those which were under discussion, although not terminated, do not present a more unfavorable aspect for the future preservation of that good understanding which it has ever been our desire to cultivate. ~ Martin Van Buren

I've always had a sneaking fondness for Martin Van Buren. He wrote his autobiography, you know, and never once mentioned his wife. Now that's what I call a mans man. ~ Cleveland Amory

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. ~ Martin Van Buren

Errors were doubtless committed on all sides, delusions set on foot which there was not time to dissipate and means, designed for good ends, perverted to bad purposes. ~ 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. ~ 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. ~ Martin Van Buren

In time of peace there can, at all events, be no justification for the creation of a permanent debt by the Federal Government. Its limited range of constitutional duties may certainly under such circumstances be performed without such a resort. ~ Martin Van Buren

I never knew a man more free from conceit, or one to whom it was a greater extent a pleasure, as well as a recognized duty, to listen patiently to what might be said to him upon any subject under consideration ... Neither, I need scarcely say, was he in the habit of talking, much less boasting, of his own achievements. ~ Martin Van Buren

I am more than ever convinced of the dangers to which the free and unbiased exercise of political opinion - the only sure foundation and safeguard of republican government - would be exposed by any further increase of the already overgrown influence of corporate authorities. ~ Martin Van Buren

The length of history spanned by father and daughter is hard to comprehend. W. A. Clark was born in 1839, during the administration of the eighth president of the United States, Martin Van Buren. W.A. was twenty-two when the Civil War began. When Huguette was born in 1906, Theodore Roosevelt, the twenty-sixth president, was in the White House. Yet 170 years after W.A.'s birth, his youngest child was still alive at age 103 during the time of the forty-fourth president, Barack Obama. ~ Bill Dedman

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. ~ Martin Van Buren

I shall tread in the footsteps of my illustrious predecessor. ~ 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. ~ Martin Van Buren

With respect to the northeastern boundary of the United States, no official correspondence between this Government and that of Great Britain has passed since that communicated to Congress toward the close of their last session. ~ Martin Van Buren

Mutual forbearance and reciprocal concessions: thro' their agency the Union was established - the patriotic spirit from which they emanated will forever sustain it. ~ 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. Look, being a lame flunky for a batshit crazy person isn't all that bad. Stay alive long enough and you may sneak your way to Washington! ~ Martin Van Buren

I only look to the gracious protection of the Divine Being whose strengthening support I humbly solicit, and whom I fervently pray to look down upon us all. May it be among the dispensations of His Providence to bless our beloved country with honors and with length of days; may her ways beways of pleasantness, and all her paths be peace. ~ Martin Van Buren

No evil can result from its inhibition more pernicious than its toleration. ~ 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. ~ 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. ~ Martin Van Buren

Van Buren, like many American master-politicians since, was quite capable of combining party ruthlessness with high-mindedness. He was a political schizophrenic, admitting he abused power occasionally and vowing never to do it again (he did of course). ... American political history has since thrown up repeated exemplars of what might be called the Van Buren Syndrome --- men who could combine true zeal for the public interest with fanatical devotion to the party principle. ~ Paul Johnson

Between Russia and the United States sentiments of good will continue to be mutually cherished. ~ 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. ~ Martin Van Buren

The government should not be guided by Temporary Excitement, but by Sober Second Thought. ~ Martin Van Buren

For myself, therefore, I desire to declare that the principle that will govern me in the high duty to which my country calls me is a strict adherence to the letter and spirit of the Constitution as it was designed by those who framed it. ~ Martin Van Buren

I can't think of a more potent combination than God and a good lawyer. ~ Abigail Van Buren

It is almost impossible to throw dirt on someone
without getting a little on yourself ~ Abigail Van Buren

If you don't value what you have, you're sure to lose it. ~ Abigail Van Buren

In response to a letter regarding the writer's lack of religious belief:
The lack of faith is not doubt. It is certainty. ~ Abigail Van Buren

The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints. ~ Abigail Van Buren

The combination of professionalism and technology may also result in narrow-minded specialization more suited to a debating society than to an organization whose task it is to cope with, and indeed live in, the dangerous and uncertain environment of war. ~ Martin Van Creveld

You are what you are when nobody is looking. ~ Abigail Van Buren

Thus knowing oneself is no less, and may be more, of a requirement than understanding the enemy. ~ Martin Van Creveld

four men who do not know each other will hesitate to confront a lion. But once they know each other and feel they can trust each other they will do so without fear. ~ Martin Van Creveld

Love is what enables us to bridge the gap of disappointment when others don't live up to the expectations we have of them. ~ Abigail Van Buren

Few today believe that engaging in wrestling, boxing, or even much more violent combat sports such as Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) will help prepare either them as individuals or their nations for eventual armed conflict. ~ Martin Van Creveld

Our armed forces are not the thirtieth strongest in the world, but rather the second or third. We have the capability to take the world down with us. And I can assure you that this will happen before Israel goes under. ~ Martin Van Creveld

The fate of Syria hangs in the balance, but it is entirely possible that the fall of the Assad regime will result in anarchy and cause Syria to turn into a second Afghanistan, a base for anti-Israel terrorism. ~ Martin Van Creveld

Eli Willard just looked at her for a long moment, and then he announced, 'Lady of the Lake strikes iceberg in mid-Atlantic; 215 drown. New York City fire destroys 700 buildings. Japanese earthquake kills 12,000. Worldwide cholera epidemic kills millions. Wages rise, but prices rise faster. Financial crash occurs on Van Buren's 36th day in office. Nation begins first great depression. Bank failures and closings spread like plague. 200,000 are unemployed. Business bankrupt; only pawnbrokers prosper. Van Buren declares ten-hour days on all federal jobs. There. Does that make you feel any better? ~ Donald Harington

You could move.'
"Dear Abby" responds to a reader who complained that a gay couple was moving in across the street and wanted to know what he could do to improve the quality of the neighborhood. ~ Abigail Van Buren

But Frances was beginning to feel that somewhere along the line, property, business, and all that contributes to the creation of wealth, must give back to government enough to guarantee adequate safeguarding of human welfare. The question would be, how to protect human beings against homelessness, starvation, and dependent old age without breaking down human initiative. She was seeing this as one fundamental problem of the government of the future; seeing too that somewhere leaders must arise who will be able to cope with this problem - honest leaders who will see the problem in its many-sidedness, and at last be able to solve it constructively. ~ May Martin Van Wye

You know–I think my best course of action is to just let the ridiculousness of that sentence marinate. ~ David Arnold

Kissing power is stronger than will power. ~ Abigail Van Buren

158 Lewis Avenue between Lafayette and Van Buren, that was back durin days of hangin' on my bed-stuy block ~ Big Daddy Kane

Watching the news inspires me to keep going and reminds me why I should never complain. I'm inspired by those who don't let others define them: Martin Luther King Jr., James Dean, Vincent Van Gogh, Hillary Clinton, Tennessee Williams, director Steve McQueen. They've all changed the conversation by making their voices heard. ~ Robert Piper

I lend you a thousand bucks to pay for a date with myself. I let you talk me into wearing a damn tuxedo. The least you could do is hold my hand.' - Paul van Dorn ~ Deirdre Martin

It is simply not true that war is solely a means to an end, nor do people necessarily fight in order to obtain this objective or that. In fact, the opposite is true: people very often take up one objective or another precisely in order that they may fight. ~ Martin Van Creveld

Many husbands today pitch in to help with household chores - it's called partnership. ~ Abigail Van Buren

There is no end to the undeserved misery and mischief it could create. ~ Abigail Van Buren

On the eve of the Civil War, James Parton could write that 'the political history of the United States, for the last thirty years, dates from the moment when the soft hand of Mr. Van Buren touched Mrs. Eaton's knocker.' ~ James Parton

When he smiles, they mostly look away. But Martin likes to think they carry his smile for a few blocks – that even the smallest gesture is something grand. ~ Simon Van Booy

As one Iraqi said, "It is like I am standing naked in a room with a big hat on my head. Everyone comes in and helps put flowers and ribbons on my hat, but no one seems to notice that I am naked. ~ Peter Van Buren

Maturity is the ability to do a job whether you're supervised or not; finish a job once it's started; carry money without spending it; and the ability to bear an injustice without wanting to get even. ~ Abigail Van Buren

God is in the details, said the architect Ludwig mies van der Rohe. ~ Robert C. Martin

We possess several hundred atomic warheads and rockets and can launch them at targets in all directions, perhaps even at Rome. Most European capitals are targets of our air force. ~ Martin Van Creveld

Obviously, we don't want Iran to have nuclear weapons and I don't know if they're developing them, but if they're not developing them, they're crazy. ~ Martin Van Creveld

In Tunisia, the so-called Yasmin revolution has led to the installation of a relatively moderate Islamic government. Whether or not that means democracy will, however, only be put to the test if and when the time comes for another election, which the opposition may win. ~ Martin Van Creveld

If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them, and half as much money. ~ Abigail Van Buren

The church is not a museum for saints it's a hospital for sinners. ~ Abigail Van Buren

People who fight fire with fire usually end up with ashes. ~ Abigail Van Buren

If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders. ~ Abigail Van Buren

While forbidden fruit is said to taste sweeter, it usually spoils faster. ~ Abigail Van Buren

A bad habit never disappears miraculously, it's an undo-it-yourself project. ~ Abigail Van Buren

It is of course true that many modern combat sports are extremely demanding in terms of physical force, skill, and endurance. Indeed many athletes are much fitter and better trained than the vast majority of soldiers. However, all those various kinds of sport are based on artificial rules as to what is and is not permitted. Furthermore, and with the exception of fencing, a highly ritualized form of combat to which we shall return, even the most violent ones do not permit the players to use weapons. In their absence, most of those skills are too specialized to be of much military relevance. ~ Martin Van Creveld