More choice excerpts from Coolidge by Amity Shlaes (review):
The constant apprehension was, so long as then-existing legislation remained in force, that the unit of existing monetary relations would be changed. Such an apprehension is the surest ground for panic which can be offered. The panic which resulted when this fear became more specific was not a bank panic, nor a crisis in which the banks had any responsibility. –William Graham Sumner on issues surrounding changing from the gold standard.
I do not like an income tax, it taxes the land and the crops at the same time, it is too expensive to collect… no man’s income is permanent enough to admit of taxation, it will easily be a source of corruption. –Calvin Coolidge, 1894
The term of power for every party must therefore be limited. –Anson Morse – influencer of Coolidge’s views on length of time in any given office
The nineteenth century is slipping away. We are to live in the scientific age of the 20th century and must prepare for it now. There are millions who can only be hands and only a few who can be heads. –Calvin Coolidge, 1894
One should never trouble about getting a better job. But one should do one’s present job in such a manner as to qualify for a better job when it comes along. –Calvin Coolidge, 1894. (Don’t be unpromotable.)