William McKinley

A great life never dies. Great deeds are imperishable; great names immortal.
~ William McKinley, Address at the Dedication of the Grant Monument, New York (27 April 1897).

Business life, whether among ourselves or with other people, is ever a sharp struggle for success. It will be none the less so in the future.
~ William McKinley, Address at the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo NY (5 September 1901).

Cheap? Why, cheap merchandise means cheap men, and cheap men mean a cheap country.
~ William McKinley, Speech at Music Hall. Cleveland OH (5 October 1889).

Cuba ought to be free and independent, and the government should be turned over to the Cuban people.
~ William McKinley, (1898).

Duty determines destiny.
~ William McKinley, Speech delivered at the Peace Jubilee, Chicago IL (19 October 1898).

Expositions are the timekeepers of progress. They record the world's advancement.
~ William McKinley, Address at the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo NY (5 September 1901).

Good-bye -- good bye, all. It is God's way. His will, not ours, be done. Nearer my God to Thee, nearer to Thee.
~ William McKinley (Last words before death; 14 September 1901)

I am a tariff man, standing on a tariff platform.
~ William McKinley

I do not prize the word cheap. It is not a word of hope; it is not a word of comfort; it is not a word of cheer; it is not a word of inspiration! It is the badge of poverty; it is the signal of distress; . . . when things were the cheapest, men were the poorest.
~ William McKinley, Speech at Music Hall. Cleveland OH (5 October 1889).

I have already transmitted to Congress the report of the naval court of inquiry on the destruction of the battleship Maine in the harbor of Havana during the night of the fifteenth of February. The destruction of that noble vessel has filled the national heart with inexpressible horror. Two hundred and fifty-eight brave sailors and marines and two officers of our Navy, reposing in the fancied security of a friendly harbor, have been hurled to death, grief and want brought to their homes and sorrow to the nation.
~ William McKinley

I have been through one war. I have seen the dead piled up, and I do not want to see another.
~ William McKinley, (1898).

I have never been in doubt since I was old enough to think intelligently that I would someday be made president.
~ William McKinley

If Old Dewey had just sailed away when he smashed the Spanish fleet, what a lot of trouble he would have saved us (On taking possession of the Philippines).
~ William McKinley

In the time of darkest defeat, victory may be nearest.
~ William McKinley (remark in 1890), in The Life of William McKinley, Volume I (1916). Chapter IX. The McKinley Bill

Is it such an honorable thing to not to do a dishonorable act?
~ William McKinley, at the Republican National Convention in Ohio (1888).

Let us ever remember that our interest is in concord, not in conflict; and that our real eminence rests in the victories of peace, not those of war.
~ William McKinley, Address at the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo NY (5 September 1901).

Loyalty to the government is our national creed. We follow, all of us, one flag. It symbolizes our purposes and our aspirations; it represents what we believe and what we mean to maintain; and wherever it floats, it is the flag of the free, the hope of the oppressed; and wherever it is assailed, at any sacrifice, it will be carried to a triumphant peace.
~ William McKinley, Address at the Catholic Summer School, Cliff Haven, New York (15 August 1899).

No nation can longer be indifferent to any other.
~ William McKinley, Address at the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo NY (5 September 1901).

My wife, be careful, Cortelyou, how you tell her -- oh, be careful.
~ William McKinley, Spoken to his personal secretary, George B. Cortelyou (when shot by an assassin and suspecting that he would die, 6 September 1901)

Our differences are politics, our agreements principles.
~ William McKinley

Our flag expresses more than any other flag; it means more than any other national emblem. It expresses the will of a free people, and proclaims that they are supreme and that they acknowledge no earthly sovereign but themselves . . . Glorious old banner!
~ William McKinley, Speech Delivered at the Dedication of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Cleveland OH (4 July 1894). American Patriotism

Stand up for America, and America will stand up for you.
~ William McKinley, To Republication Press Association of West Virginia (1 September 1896).

That's all a man can hope for during his lifetime -- to set an example -- and when he is dead, to be an inspiration for history.
~ William McKinley, Comment to George B. Cortelyou in Cortelyou Diary (29 December 1899)

The free man cannot be long an ignorant man.
~ William McKinley, Address at Carnegie Library, Pittsburgh PA (3 November 1897).

The harder the task the greater will be the result, the benefit, and the honor.
~ William McKinley, Speech at the Banquet of the Ohio Society of New York (3 March 1900).

The mission of the United States is one of benevolent assimilation.
~ William McKinley, Letter (21 December 1898).

The people against the bosses.
~ William McKinley, Campaign Slogan, Presidential Election of 1896.

The wisdom and energy of all the nations are none to great for the world's work.
~ William McKinley, Address at the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo NY (5 September 1901).

Unlike any other nation, here the people rule, and their will is the supreme law. It is sometimes sneeringly said by those who do not like free government, that here we count heads. True, heads are counted, but brains also. And the general sense of 63 millions of free people is better and safer than the sense of an favored few, born to nobility and ruling by inheritance.
~ William McKinley, (1891).

We love peace, and the United States never goes to war except for peace, and only where it can have it no other way.
~ William McKinley, Speech at Huntsville, Alabama (April 1901).

We need Hawaii just as much and a good deal more than we did California. It is Manifest Destiny.
~ William McKinley (remark in 1898), in The Life of William McKinley, Volume I (1916). Chapter XXII. Hawaii