Quotations – V

Vermont

Vermont is a state I love.

I could not look upon the peaks of Ascutney, Killington, Mansfield and Equinox without being moved in a way that no other scene could move me.

It was here that I first saw the light of day; here I received my bride; here my dead lie pillowed on the loving breast of our everlasting hills.

I love Vermont because of her hills and valleys, her scenery and invigorating climate, but most of all, because of her indomitable people. They are a race of pioneers who have almost beggared themselves to serve others. If the spirit of liberty should vanish in other parts of the union and support of our institutions should languish, it could all be replenished from the generous store held by the people of this brave little state of Vermont.

Source: “Vermont Is A State I Love,” on September 21, 1928.

Vermont is my birthright. Here one gets close to nature, in the mountains, in the brooks, the waters which hurry to the sea; in the lakes, shining like silver in their green setting; fields tilled, not by machinery, but by the brain and hand of man. My folks are happy and contented. They belong to themselves, live within their incomes, and fear no man.

Source: Calvin Coolidge: Man From Vermont, p. 11.

Veterans

“A country which is worth defending takes care of its defenders.”

Source: “The Title Of American,” on October 31, 1921. As found in The Price of Freedom.

Vice Presidency

“It was my intention when I became Vice-President to remain in Washington, avoid speaking and to attend to the work of my office. But the pressure to speak is constant and intolerable. However, I resisted most of it.”

Source: Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge, p. 164.

Visitors

“You have to stand every day three or four hours of visitors. Nine-tenths of them want something they ought not to have. If you keep dead-still they will run down in three or four minutes. If you even cough or smile they will start up all over again.”

Source: The Real Calvin Coolidge, p. 59.

Voting

“A considerable part of those who neglect to vote do it because of a curious assumption of superiority to this elementary duty of the citizen. They presume to be rather too good, too exclusive, to soil their hands with the work of politics. Such an attitude cannot too vigorously be condemned.”

Source: “Address Before The Daughters Of The American Revolution,” on April 14, 1924. As found in The Mind of the President.


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