William Howard Taft Quotes

There's no way that I could be the president. You can't have a pacifist in the White House... I'm an actor. This is what I do for a living.

I remember someone once asked Jack Kennedy why he was paying such close attention to the renovation of the square across from the White House, and he said, 'It may be the only thing my presidency is remembered for.'

Once a president gets to the White House, the only audience that is left that really matters is history.

The presidency has many problems, but boredom is the least of them.

I would rather have a full term in the Senate—a place in which I would feel more consciously able to discharge the duties required, and where there is more chance to make a reputation, and less danger of losing it than four years of the presidency.

The men who have had great vision in the White House are those who are most enduring in the minds of the public. America loves visionary Presidents.

I’ve never felt that his private life was the way to judge him. We should judge a president by the way he performs as president.

Presidents live and work in a house of history. They dwell with ghosts. Present power and the weight of the past are ambient realities of daily life in the presidency, and the two are intimately connected.

The one thing I didn't want to do was a show about the White House. I was too close to it.

I am honored to have served. I'm glad I ran. It is a huge honor to be able to be a two-term president. It was really a great experience. I'm fortunate to have been able to serve. And I think that's enough.

Chief Justice Roberts is somebody I work with, somebody I admire, Justice Alito someone I knew when he was U.S. attorney, also admire.

I think Barack Obama is an amazing man and president. His legacy is ongoing.

I learned more in those six months [ in the White House] than in the prior six years. I don't think that anybody who has had the privilege to serve the country at that level should walk out and behave like a crybaby. And I plan to continue to serve the country in other capacities.

I happen temporarily to occupy this big White House. I am living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father's child has.

I don't think divestiture is too high a price to pay to be the president of the United States of America.

People should really think about when they see President Donald Trump, they should think about all the places that he was and could be. All the things he could be doing. The political motivators for many typical politicians of which he's not one, Mercy, money, power, prestige, fame, he had all of that.

Hillary Clinton's a highly intelligent woman, hard-working, she's dedicated her life to public service, but unfortunately, she does not have a track record of accomplishment or transparency. ... She's not the woman for the White House.

I never had ambition to become president of the state or to accomplish more than men.

When I ran for Presidency of the United States, I knew that this country faced serious challenges, but I could not realize - nor could any man realize who does not bear the burdens of this office - how heavy and constant would be those burdens

Our mandate is to be a nation of laws. And the Supreme Court is the place where we look to safeguard our civil rights and our individual liberties.

I think the presidency is an institution over which you have temporary custody.

I just think to be in that place, to be surrounded as I will and for my brief moment in the inauguration ceremony by my wife and by my children and my daughter-in-law, with family looking on from behind us in the platform and many Hoosiers coming to be out in the crowds, I expect - it's again, it will be very, very humbling.

I like Barack Obama as a person and I think he is a sincere man. I think he and his wife conducted themselves magnificently in the White House. There's not a better role model for American kids to watch Barack and Michelle Obama, so all of that is off-the-chart positive.

I'd like to run for president. Or Prime Minister. I think I could do a better job.

I will say that I appreciate Hillary Clinton's awareness and passion for women. I think she is overqualified in the sense that she's been in the White House, so she knows the drill. I am hopeful that she will continue to support minorities and create better opportunities.