Quote#Wisdom
The practice of all my predecessors imposes on me an obligation I…
Quote byMartin Van Buren · 1782–1862
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Inaugural address (1837).
English (original)
The practice of all my predecessors imposes on me an obligation I cheerfully fulfill—to accompany the first and solemn act of my public trust with an avowal of the principles that will guide me in performing it and an expression of my feelings on assuming a charge so responsible and vast.
— Martin Van Buren
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I tread in the footsteps of illustrious men... in receiving from the people the sacred trust confided to my illustrious predecessor.
All the lessons of history and experience must be lost upon us if we are content to trust alone to the peculiar advantages we happen to possess.
From a small community we have risen to a people powerful in numbers and in strength; but with our increase has gone hand in hand the progress of just principles.
How imperious, then, is the obligation imposed upon every citizen, in his own sphere of action, whether limited or extended, to exert himself in perpetuating a condition of things so singularly happy.
The scene was changed. It was a bark that slowly held its way, And o'er its lee the coast of France in the light of evening lay; And on its deck a lady sat, who gazed with tearful eyes Upon the fast receding hills that dim and distant rise.
