Calvin Coolidge Comments- "The best that is in man is not bought with a price." Excerpts from Governor Coolidge's Address to the Massachusetts General Court- Jan 8, 1920

"We need to change our standards; not of property but of thought. We need to stop trying to be better than some one else, and start doing something for some one else. If we put all the emphasis on our material prosperity, that prosperity will perish, and with it will perish our civilization. The best that is in man is not bought with a price. To offer money only is to appeal to his weakness not his strength. Man is more than of the earth. He will not find his satisfaction in things that are of the earth earthy. Employer and employed must find their satisfaction not in a money return, but in a service rendered; not in the quantity of goods, but the quality of character. Industry must be humanized not destroyed. It must be the instrument not of selfishness but of service. Change not the law but the attitude of the mind. Let our citizens look not to false prophets but to the Pilgrims; let them fix their eyes on Plymouth Rock as well as Beacon Hill. The supreme choice must be not the things that are seen but the things that are unseen."

Calvin Coolidge Comments: "Our country has one cardinal principle to maintain in its foreign policy. It is an American principle. It must be an American policy."- From First Annual Message of December 6, 1923.

"Our country has one cardinal principle to maintain in its foreign policy. It is an American principle. It must be an American policy. We attend to our own affairs, conserve our own strength, and protect the interests of our own citizens; but we recognize thoroughly our obligation to help others, reserving to the decision of our own Judgment the time, the place, and the method. We realize the common bond of humanity. We know the inescapable law of service."

Calvin Coolidge Comments: "Society is in much more danger from encumbering the National Government beyond its wisdom to comprehend,.."- From Third Annual Message of December 8, 1925.

"Society is in much more danger from encumbering the National Government beyond its wisdom to comprehend, or its ability to administer, than from leaving the local communities to bear their own burdens and remedy their own evils. Our local habit and custom is so strong, our variety of race and creed is so great the Federal authority is so tenuous, that the area within which it can function successfully is very limited. The wiser policy is to leave the localities, so far as we can, possessed of their own sources of revenue and charged with their own obligations."

Calvin Coolidge Comments on the Effects of Reducing and Eliminating Taxes- From Sixth Annual Message- December 4, 1928:

"Four times we have made a drastic revision of our internal revenue system, abolishing many taxes and substantially reducing almost all others. Each time the resulting stimulation to business has so increased taxable incomes and profits that a surplus has been produced. One-third of the national debt has been paid, while much of the other two-thirds has been refunded at lower rates, and these savings of interest and constant economies have enabled us to repeat the satisfying process of more tax reductions. Under this sound and healthful encouragement the national income has increased nearly 50 per cent, until it is estimated to stand well over $90,000,000,000. It has been a method which has performed the shining miracle of leaving a much greater percentage of earnings in the hands of the taxpayers 'with scarcely any diminution of the Government revenue. That is constructive economy in the highest degree. It is the corner stone of prosperity. It should not fail to be continued."

Calvin Coolidge Comments: "The actions of the Government must command the confidence of the country."- From Sixth Annual Message of December 4, 1928

"The actions of the Government must command the confidence of the country. Without this, our prosperity would be lost. We must extend to other countries the largest measure of generosity, moderation, and patience. In addition to dealing justly, we can well afford to walk humbly.

The end of government is to keep open the opportunity for a more abundant life. Peace and prosperity are not finalities; they are only methods. It is too easy under their influence for a nation to become selfish and degenerate. This test has come to the United States. Our country has been provided with the resources with which it can enlarge its intellectual, moral, and spiritual life. The issue is in the hands of the people. Our faith in man and God is the justification for the belief in our continuing success."