Classic Quotes
Each entry is arranged alphabetically by topic.
(THE) BIBLE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Let me live according to those holy rules which Thou hast this day prescribed in Thy Holy Word…Direct me to the true object, Jesus Christ the way, the truth, and the life. Bless, O Lord, all the people of this land.”
~President George Washington (1752)
“Go to the Scriptures…the joyful promise it contains will be a balsam to all your troubles.”
~Andrew Jackson*
“The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them in faith if these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country.”
~Calvin Coolidge
“I am much afraid that schools will prove to be great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youths. I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which men are not increasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt.” ~ Martin Luther
“If men and nations would but live by the precepts of the ancient prophets and the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, problems which now seem so difficult would soon disappear…Oh, for an Isaiah or a St. Paul to reawaken a sick world to its moral responsibilities.” ~ President Harry S. Truman (1946)
“That Book, Sir, is the rock on which our Republic rests.”
~President Andrew Jackson (June 8, 1945, referring to the Bible)
“If the power of the Gospel is not felt throughout the length and breadth of the land, anarchy and misrule, degradation and misery, corruption and darkness will reign without mitigation or end.”
~Daniel Webster, statesman and congressman*
CHRISTIAN ROOTS OF AMERICA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of the Holy Scriptures.”
~President Woodrow Wilson (May 7, 1911)
“The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: It connected in one dissolvable bond, principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.”
~President John Quincy Adams, July 4, 1821
“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, people of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.” ~Patrick Henry (1736-1799)
“The fundamental basis of this Nation’s laws was given to Moses on the Mount…I don’t think we emphasize that enough these days. If we don’t have proper fundamental moral background, we will finally end up with a totalitarian government which does not believe in rights for anybody except the state.
“The basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teachings we get from Exodus and St. Matthew, from Isaiah and St. Paul. If we don’t have a proper fundamental moral background, we will finally end up with a…government which does not believe in rights for anybody except the state…this is a Christian Nation.”
~President Harry S. Truman
“The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: It connected in one dissolvable bond, principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.”
~ President John Quincy Adams, July 4, 1821
“The very existence of the Republic…depends much upon the public institutions of religion.” ~John Hancock (1737- 1793)
“If we ever forget that we are one Nation under God, then we will be a Nation gone under.”
~President Ronald Reagan
CONSTITUTION ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
~President John Adams
CREATION ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“It is impossible to account for the creation of the universe without the agency of a Supreme Being. It is impossible to govern the universe.
“The belief in a God All Powerful, wise and good, is so essential to the moral order of the World and to the happiness of man, that arguments which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many sources nor adapted with too much solicitude to the different characters and capacities expressed with it. ”
~James Madison, Letter to Frederick Beasley, November 20, 1825
ELECTIONS --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”
~John Jay, First Chief U.S. Justice Supreme Court, October 12, 1816
FAMILY ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Religion in a Family is at once its brightest Ornament and its best Security.”
~Samuel Adams, letter to Thomas Wells, November 22, 1780
“The foundation of national morality must be laid in private families…How is it possible that Children can have any just Sense of the sacred Obligations of Morality or Religion if, from their earliest Infancy, they learn their Mothers live in habitual Infidelity to their fathers, and their fathers in as constant Infidelity to their Mothers?” ~President John Adams, diary, June 2, 1778
FREEDOM/LIBERTY ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever.” ~President Thomas Jefferson
“It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors.”
~President George Washington, Thanksgiving Proclamation, October 3, 1789
“Religion and good morals are the only solid foundation of public liberty and happiness.”
~Samuel Adams, letter to John Trumbull, October 16, 1778
“Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand.”
~President John Adams, letter to Zabdiel Adams, June 21, 1776
“We hold these truths to be self evident. That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” ~From the Declaration of Independence
FREEDOM OF RELIGION ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“The liberty enjoyed by the people of these states of worshiping Almighty God agreeably to their conscience, is not only among the choicest of their blessings, but also of their rights.”
~President George Washington, letter to the Annual Meeting of Quakers, September 1789
“In matters of religion, I have considered that its free exercise is placed by the Constitution independent of the powers of the General Government. I have therefore undertaken, on no occasion, to prescribe the religious exercise suited to it; but have left them, as the Constitution found them, under the direction and discipline of the state and church authorities.” ~Thomas Jefferson
“He is the best friend to American liberty, who is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion, and who sets himself with the greatest firmness to bear down profanity and immorality of every kind. Whoever is an avowed enemy of God, I scruple not (do not hesitate) to call him an enemy of his country.”
~John Witherspoon, signer of the Declaration of Independence
“Let the pulpit resound with the doctrine and sentiments of religious liberty. Let us hear of the dignity of man’s nature, and the noble rank he holds among the works of God.”
~President John Adams, Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1765
“Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise, every expanded prospect.”
~James Madison, letter to William Bradford, April 1, 1774
“The frustrating thing is that those who are attacking religion claim they are doing it in the name of tolerance, freedom, and open-mindedness. Question: Isn’t the real truth that they are intolerant of religion? They refuse to tolerate its importance in their lives.” ~President Ronald Reagan
“Religion, or the duty which we owe to our creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and this is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other.”
~Virginia Bill of Rights, Article 16, June 12, 1776
“It is the right as well as the duty of all men in society, publicly and at stated seasons, to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe. And no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping God in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience; or for his religion profession of sentiments; provided he doth not disturb the public peace, or obstruct others in their religious worship…”
~Massachusetts Bill of Rights, Part the First, 1780
MORALITY (GOODNESS, HONESTY, ITEGRITY) -------------------------------------------------------------------
“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness—these firmest props of the duties of Men and citizens. The mere Politician, equally with the pious man ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
~President George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
PRAYER ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for divine protection. Our prayers were heard, and they were graciously answered…Have we now forgotten this powerful friend? Or do we no longer need his assistance? I have lived a long time, Sir, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: ‘that God governs the affairs of man.’ And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?”
~Benjamin Franklin to the Constitutional Congress, June 28, 1787
“We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
“It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.”
~President Abraham Lincoln, in proclaiming a National Fast Day, March 30, 1863
“The safest road to Hell is the gradual one-the gentle slope, soft under foot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.” ~C.S. Lewis, the Screwtape Letters