100 Inauguration Quotes
Following is our list of inauguration quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about inaugural address.
Quick Jump To
Famous Inauguration Quotes
There is a good reason they call these ceremonies 'commencement exercises'. Graduation is not the end; it's the beginning. — Orrin Hatch
OVATION, n. n ancient Rome, a definite, formal pageant in honor of one who had been disserviceable to the enemies of the nation. A lesser "triumph." — Ambrose Bierce
A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that 'individuality' is the key to success. — Robert Orben
Today we begin the reconstruction of our country. — Javier Milei
As to the presidency, the two happiest days of my life were those of my entrance upon the office and my surrender of it. — Martin Van Buren
Commencement speeches were invented largely in the belief that outgoing college students should never be released into the world until they have been properly sedated. — Garry Trudeau
Under the benignant providence of Almighty God the representatives of the States and of the people are again brought together to deliberate for the public good. — James K. Polk
Today we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation's promise through civility, courage, compassion and character. — George W. Bush
You have opened a new chapter in the relations of the American and Chinese people... I am confident that this beginning of our friendship will certainly meet with majority support of our two peoples. — Zhou Enlai
In the discharge of duties my guide will be the Constitution, which I this day swear to preserve, protect, and defend. — Zachary Taylor
In the scheme of our national government, the presidency is preeminently the people's office. — Grover Cleveland
Graduation is not the end; it's the beginning. — Orrin Hatch
I now announce myself as candidate for the Presidency. I anticipate criticism; but however unfavorable I trust that my sincerity will not be called into question. — Victoria Woodhull
The beginning is the most important part of the work. — Plato
OATH, n. In law, a solemn appeal to the Deity, made binding upon the conscience by a penalty for perjury. — Ambrose Bierce
Short Inauguration Quotes
- The only thing we have to fear is fear itself-and possibly teh bogey man. — Pat Paulsen
- I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody. — Muhammadu Buhari
- The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God. — John F. Kennedy
- Government is not a solution to our problem government is the problem. — Ronald Reagan
- For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. — Barack Obama
- the better angels of our nature — Abraham Lincoln
- Let us strive on to finish the work we are in. — Abraham Lincoln
- With firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right. — Abraham Lincoln
- We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. — Marianne Williamson
- If we are truly created equal then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well — Barack Obama
Inaugural Quotes
It is an error to believe that Christ did not teach a determined body of doctrine applicable to all times and to all men, but rather that He inaugurated a religious movement adapted, or to be adapted, to different times and different places. — Pope Pius X
The propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained... — George Washington
The transformation of part of the northern part of this continent into "America" inaugurated a nearly boundless epoch of opportunity and innovation, and thus deserves to be celebrated with great vim and gusto, with or without the participation of those who wish they had never been born. — Christopher Hitchens
If we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday at a time of presidential inaugurals, this is thanks to Ronald Reagan who created the holiday, and not to the Democratic Congress of the Carter years, which rejected it. — David Horowitz
We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. — Abraham Lincoln
I talk about going to his [George W. Bush's] Inauguration and crying when he took the oath, 'cause I was so afraid he was going to "wreck the economy and muck up the drinking water"... the failure of my pessimistic imagination at that moment boggles my mind now. — Sarah Vowell
The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people. — George Washington
I and others of my sex find ourselves controlled by a form of government in the inauguration of which we had no voice. — Victoria Woodhull
To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist. — Barack Obama
Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law. — Barack Obama
Inaugural Address Quotes
We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations — Barack Obama
So let us begin anew - remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof — John F. Kennedy
Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it. — Thomas Paine
We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. — Barack Obama
I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so." — Abraham Lincoln
United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do-for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder. — John F. Kennedy
This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. — Franklin D. Roosevelt
President Nixon in his inaugural address indicated that he wanted an era of negotiation. Our reasoning was that whatever our ideological differences, whatever our geopolitical differences, we were condemned to coexistence by nuclear weapons. — Henry A. Kissinger
Care for him who shall have borne the battle — Abraham Lincoln
When you frack a well, you're exploding methane up into the atmosphere. So, Barack Obama, by supporting natural gas, and also talking about climate change is literally burning his own inaugural address. And he's doing it with natural gas. — Josh Fox
Inaugural Speech Quotes
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? — Marianne Williamson
For now, decisions are upon us and we cannot afford delay. We cannot mistake absolutism for principle or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate. — Barack Obama
We will respond to the threat of climate change — Barack Obama
The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether government works. — Barack Obama
Actually, you know who gave the shortest inauguration speech in history? George Washington. It was only like three minutes long. Well, sure. George Washington couldn't tell a lie. — Jay Leno
Once he became president, George [H.] Bush revealed a vein of Styrofoam and no matter how deep he tried to go, he always ended up bobbing on the surface. His inaugural speech was like being present at the death of language. — Kate Clinton
When every high school graduate can spell the word, 'inauguration,' let's put lampshades on our heads and listen to his speeches until Obama's voice gives out. — Paula Poundstone
We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination. Nelson Mandela's inaugural speech — Nelson Mandela
I feel it is my first duty to make an unprecedented compact with my countrymen. Not an inaugural address, not a fireside chat, not a campaign speech - just a little straight talk among friends. — Gerald R. Ford
John F.Kennedy gave probably the greatest inauguration speech ever that first time, but I guarantee you when he first walked out there he was thinking, "Goodness gracious this is big and I better be up to the task." — Barack Obama
People Writing About Inauguration
More Inauguration Quotes
So let us begin anew -- remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate. Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us. — John F. Kennedy
I am told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are being held on this day; for that I am deeply grateful. We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free. It would be fitting and good, I think, if on each inaugural day in future years it should be declared a day of prayer. — Ronald Reagan
Within moments of my inauguration, we will begin the largest domestic deportation operation in American history. — Donald Trump
In the circumstances in which the Republic finds itself, the constitution cannot be inaugurated; it would destroy itself. The provisional government of France is revolutionary until there is peace. — Louis Antoine de Saint-Just
The great men of music close periods; they do not inaugurate them. The pioneer work, the finding of new paths, is left to smaller men. — Ralph Vaughan Williams
President Trump ought to realize, he's not campaigning anymore. He's president. And instead of talking about how many people showed up at his inauguration, he ought to be talking about how many people are going to stay into the middle class and move into the middle class. — Charles Schumer
Rituals, anthropologists will tell us, are about transformation. The rituals we use for marriage, baptism or inaugurating a president are as elaborate as they are because we associate the ritual with a major life passage, the crossing of a critical threshold, or in other words, with transformation. — Abraham Verghese
The primary reason Jesus came to earth was to inaugurate the Kingdom of God. Often, we hear that the reason Jesus came to the earth was to die on the Cross. Jesus did come to die on the Cross, but that death on the Cross was for the purpose of establishing the Kingdom of God. — John Eckhardt
The firing on that fort will inaugurate a civil war greater than any the world has yet seen…you will lose us every friend at the North. You will wantonly strike a hornet's nest which extends from mountains to ocean. Legions now quiet will swarm out and sting us to death. It is unnecessary. It puts us in the wrong. It is fatal. — Robert Toombs
The imprudent Maximus disregarded these salutary considerations: he gratified his resentment and ambition; he saw the bleeding corpse of Valentinian at his feet; and he heard himself saluted Emperor by the unanimous voice of the senate and people. But the day of his inauguration was the last day of his happiness. — Edward Gibbon
The word; the forth-speaking of a thought, an idea, a truth, is the beginning of every new creation, or pulse of creation. It is the inauguration of every new order of things; it begins every new messianic reign, every coming of a better time. The darkness never comprehends it; but always, to as many as receive it, it gives power. — Samuel Longfellow
Elections are about choosing sides, but inaugurations are about closing ranks. — Ted Kulongoski
On February 17th, Four weeks from [Barack Obama's] inauguration, he signed a bill which saved or created 4 million jobs. — Nancy Pelosi
This criticism is ridiculous. The twenty-five hundreth anniversary celebration cost me less than the inauguration of each new president of the United States. — Mohammed Reza Pahlavi
President Obama called for a 'we' nation in his Inauguration Address. Art convenes. It is not just inspirational. It is aspirational. It pricks the walls of our compartmentalized minds, opens our hearts and makes us brave. And that's what we need most in our country today. — Anna Deavere Smith
In Conclusion
Which quotation resonated with you best? Did you enjoy our collection of inauguration quotes? Or may be you have a slogan about inauguration to suggest. Let us know using our contact form.
Citation
Feel free to cite and use any of the quotes in this collection of inauguration quotations. For popular citation styles(APA, Chicago, MLA), please use this citation page.
Embed HTML Link
Copy and paste this HTML code in your webpage