Calvin Coolidge wrote his
own speeches. A master at delegating duties, he was not one to
delegate beliefs. These quotations are drawn from the story edit
of "Things of the Spirit," a three-hour biographical film
on Coolidge. Some are spoken by Coolidge in archival films and
recordings. Others are quoted by historians or heard in narration.
This selection affords a
glimpse of the "soul" of "Things of the Spirit." You must
see our preview to discover the film's historical importance and
to experience the joys, sorrows and inspiration of our most misunderstood
President. No one who sees it will ever think the same way about
Calvin Coolidge again.
We welcome your interest
and support in bringing "Things of the Spirit" to viewers
nationwide.
John Karol, Producer
"We live in an age of
science and of abounding accumulation of material things. The
things of the spirit come first. Unless we cling to that, all
our material prosperity, overwhelming though it may appear, will
turn to a barren sceptre in our grasp... Man has a spiritual nature.
Touch it, and it must respond as the magnet responds to the pole."
Calvin Coolidge
(From the Prologue of "Things
of the Spirit," a biographical film on the personal and political
life of Calvin Coolidge.)
"I want the people of
America to be able to work less for the government and more for
themselves. I want them to have the rewards of their own industry.
This is the chief meaning of freedom.
Until we can reestablish
a condition under which the earnings of the people can be kept
by the people, we are bound to suffer a very severe and distinct
curtailment of our liberty."
Calvin Coolidge
(From the Prologue of "Things
of the Spirit," a biographical film on the personal and political
life of Calvin Coolidge.)
"It would be exceedingly
difficult to overestimate the important part that teachers take
in the development of the life of the nation. They exercise their
art, not on the materials of this world which pass away, but upon
the human soul, where it will remain through all eternity."
Calvin Coolidge
(From "The Needs of Education"
in "Things of the Spirit," a biographical film on the personal
and political life of Calvin Coolidge.)
"Dear Father:
You may have seen in the
papers that I am a candidate for Lieutenant-Governor... Whatever
you may read of good or ill I am just the same as when I was a
boy at home and am at my best when I am most like you.
Your Son,
Calvin Coolidge"
(From "Your Son, Calvin Coolidge"
in "Things of the Spirit," a biographical film on the personal
and political life of Calvin Coolidge.)
"Government is not, must
not be a cold, impersonal machine, but a more human agency satisfying
the heart, full of mercy, assisting the good, resisting the wrong,
delivering the weak from any impositions of the powerful. It must
be the instrument not of selfishness but of service."
Calvin Coolidge
(From "Massachusetts Politics"
in "Things of the Spirit," a biographical film on the personal
and political life of Calvin Coolidge.)
"Real reform does not
begin with a law, it ends with a law. The attempt to dragoon the
body when the need is to convince the soul will end only in revolt...
It is time to supplement the appeal to law, which is limited,
with an appeal to the spirit of the people, which is unlimited."
Calvin Coolidge
(From "The Limitations of
the Law" in "Things of the Spirit," a biographical film
on the personal and political life of Calvin Coolidge.)
"The wise and correct
course to follow in taxation is not to destroy those who have
already secured success but to create conditions under which every
one will have a better chance to be more successful."
Calvin Coolidge
(From "Tax Cuts" in "Things
of the Spirit," a biographical film on the personal and political
life of Calvin Coolidge.)
"I agree perfectly with
those who wish to relieve the small taxpayer by getting the largest
possible contribution from the people with large incomes. But
if the rates on large incomes are so high that they disappear,
the small taxpayer will be left to bear the entire burden. If
on the other hand, the rates are placed where they will produce
the most revenue from large incomes, then the small taxpayer will
be relieved."
Calvin Coolidge
(From "Tax Cuts" in "Things
of the Spirit," a biographical film on the personal and political
life of Calvin Coolidge.)
"If we all believed the
same thing and thought the same thoughts and applied the same
valuations to all the occurrences about us, we should reach a
state of equilibrium closely akin to an intellectual and spiritual
paralysis...
Divine Providence has
not bestowed upon any race a monopoly of patriotism and character...
Whether one traces his Americanisms back three centuries to the
Mayflower, or three years to the steerage... we are all now in
the same boat... Let us cast off our hatreds."
Calvin Coolidge
(From "Toleration and Liberalism"
in "Things of the Spirit," a biographical film on the personal
and political life of Calvin Coolidge.)
"The fundamental characteristics
of humanity are not going to be changed by substituting government
action for private enterprise. The individual who manages the
one, with all his imperfections and his selfishness, will have
to be employed to manage the other."
Calvin Coolidge
(From "Farm Subsidies" in
"Things of the Spirit," a biographical film on the personal
and political life of Calvin Coolidge.)
"If the Government gets
into business on any large scale, we soon find that the beneficiaries
attempt to play a large part in the control. While in theory it
is to serve the public, in practice it will be very largely serving
private interests. It comes to be regarded as a species of government
favor and those who are the most adroit get the larger part of
it."
Calvin Coolidge
(From "Farm Subsidies" in
"Things of the Spirit," a biographical film on the personal
and political life of Calvin Coolidge.)
"The country is in the
midst of an era of prosperity more extensive and of peace more
permanent than it has ever before experienced. But having reached
this position, we should not fail to comprehend that it can easily
be lost...
Peace and prosperity are
not finalities... It is too easy under their influence for a nation
to become selfish and degenerate. 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."
Calvin Coolidge
(From "The Coolidge Prosperity"
in "Things of the Spirit," a biographical film on the personal
and political life of Calvin Coolidge.)
"We do not need more material
development, we need more spiritual development. We do not need
more intellectual power, we need more moral power. We do not need
more knowledge, we need more character. We do not need more government,
we need more culture. We do not need more law, we need more religion.
We do not need more of the things that are seen, we need more
of the things that are unseen.
It is on that side of
life that it is desirable to put the emphasis at the present time.
If that side be strengthened, the other side will take care of
itself."
Calvin Coolidge
(From "The Things That Are
Unseen" in "Things of the Spirit," a biographical film
on the personal and political life of Calvin Coolidge.)
"We draw our Presidents
from the people. It is a wholesome thing for them to return to
the people. I came from them. I wish to be one of them again."
Calvin Coolidge
(From "I Know My Work Is
Done" in "Things of the Spirit," a biographical film on
the personal and political life of Calvin Coolidge.)
"Anyone who would understand
America today must feel in his bones those things which went into
making the popularity of Calvin Coolidge.
He touched chords in the
American spirit which no other public man of his generation could
reach, and evoked a response of feeling which was impervious to
differences in ideas, to partisanship, and to changing circumstances."
Walter Lippmann
(From the Epilogue of "Things
of the Spirit," a biographical film on the personal and political
life of Calvin Coolidge.)
"America has but one main
problem -- the character of the men and women it shall produce."
Calvin Coolidge
(From the Epilogue of "Things
of the Spirit," a biographical film on the personal and political
life of Calvin Coolidge.)
~ September
11, 2001 ~
"We
have come to our present high estate through toil and suffering
and sacrifice. That which was required to produce the present
standards of society will ever be required for their maintenance.
Unless there is an eternal readiness to respond with the same
faith, the same courage, and the same devotion in the defense
of our institutions which were exhibited in their establishment,
we shall be dispossessed, and others of a sterner fibre will seize
on our inheritance."
Calvin Coolidge
(From The Price of Freedom,
an address by Vice President Calvin Coolidge delivered on January
21,1923)
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