He was known as "Cool" Calvin Coolidge because of his few words. A story is told that when he came home from church one Sunday, a friend asked what the sermon was about. "Sin." Was the short answer. His friend prodded, "Well, what did the preacher have to say about it?" Calvin responded, "He was against it."
Once, a White House dinner guest said, "I'll bet I can get you to say more than two words." He responded, "You lose."
QUOTES:
"The attempt to regulate, control, and prescribe all manner of conduct and social relations is very old. It was always the practice of primitive peoples."
"There is only one form of political strategy in which I have any confidence, and that is to try to do the right thing and sometimes succeed."
"There is no dignity quite so impressive, and no one independence quite so important, as living within your means."
"The people who start to elect a man to get what he can for his district will probably find they have elected a man who will get what he can for himself."
"There is no moral standard so high that the people cannot be raised up to it."
"Prosperity is only an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshipped."
"Duty is not collective; it is personal."
"I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people. The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical form."
"Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my adminstration has been minding my own business."
"They criticize me for harping on the obvious....If all the folks in the United States would do the few simple things they know they ought to do, most of our big problems would take care of themselves."
"If you don't say anything, you won't be called upon to repeat it."
By the time the chaos of the Great Depression hit the U.S., Coolidge was already in retirement. Just before his death in January 1933, he confided in an old friend, ". . . I feel I no longer fit in with these times."