Wise quotes on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness from every US president

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In honor of President’s Day, we collected some of the finest aphorisms to come from the Oval Office.

They include life lessons from George Washington, leadership advice from Thomas Jefferson, and reflections on character from Abraham Lincoln.

These leaders all had one of the toughest, most important jobs in the world. Here are a few of the things they learned.

Drake Baer contributed to an earlier version of this article.

George Washington

John Adams

Thomas Jefferson

James Madison

James Monroe

John Quincy Adams

Andrew Jackson

Martin Van Buren

William Henry Harrison

John Tyler

James Polk

Zachary Taylor

Millard Fillmore

Franklin Pierce

James Buchanan

Abraham Lincoln

Andrew Johnson

Ulysses S. Grant

Rutherford B. Hayes

James Garfield

Chester Arthur

Grover Cleveland

Benjamin Harrison

 

William McKinley

Teddy Roosevelt

William Taft

Woodrow Wilson

Warren G. Harding

Calvin Coolidge

 

 

Herbert Hoover

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Harry S. Truman

Dwight Eisenhower

John F. Kennedy

Lyndon B. Johnson

Richard Nixon

Gerald Ford

Jimmy Carter, Jr.

Ronald Reagan

George H. W. Bush

Bill Clinton

George W. Bush

Barack Obama

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