Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration has been minding my own business.

America has but one main problem -- the character of the men and women it shall produce.

Numbered among our population are some 12,000,000 colored people. Under our Constitution their rights are just as sacred as those of any other citizen. It is both a public and a private duty to protect those rights. The Congress ought to exercise all its powers of prevention and punishment against the hideous crime of lynching, of which the negroes are by no means the sole sufferers, but for which they furnish a majority of the victims.

Four-fifths of all our troubles would disappear, if we would only sit down and keep still.

Measured by the standards of men of their time, [the Pilgrims] were the humble of the earth. Measured by later accomplishments, they were the mighty. In appearance weak and persecuted they came -- rejected, despised -- an insignificant band; in reality strong and independent, a mighty host of whom the world was not worthy destined to free mankind.

There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time.

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.