145 Quotes by James A. Garfield

If the power to do hard work is not a skill, it’s the best possible substitute for it.

Things don’t turn up in this world until somebody turns them up.

I admitted, that the world had existed millions of years. I am astonished at the ignorance of the masses on these subjects. Hugh Miller has it right when he says that ‘the battle of evidences must now be fought on the field of the natural sciences.’

A law is not a law without coercion behind it...

In the minds of most men, the kingdom of opinion is divided into three territories, – the territory of yes, the territory of no, and a broad, unexplored middle ground of doubt.

Coercion is the basis of every law in the universe, – human or divine. A law is not law without coercion behind it.

Suicide is not a remedy.

Power exhibits itself under two distinct forms, – strength and force, – each possessing peculiar qualities, and each perfect in its own sphere. Strength is typified by the oak, the rock, the mountain. Force embodies itself in the cataract, the tempest, and the thunder-bolt.

The possession of great powers no doubt carries with it a comtempt for mere external show.