William Jennings Bryan Quotes

On this page you can find the TOP of William Jennings Bryan's best quotes! We hope you will find some sayings from Former United States Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan's in our collection, which will inspire you to new achievements! There are currently 104 quotes on this page collected since March 19, 1860! Share our collection of quotes with your friends on social media so that they can find something to inspire them!
  • The chief duty of governments, in so far as they are coercive, is to restrain those who would interfere with the inalienable rights of the individual, among which are the right to life, the right to liberty, the right to the pursuit of happiness and the right to worship God according to the dictates of ones conscience.

    William Jennings Bryan (1917). “Heart to Heart Appeals”
  • Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country.

    Country   Spring   Cities  
    Democratic National Convention Address, originally delivered 8 July 1896 and later recorded in studio
  • One miracle is just as easy to believe as another.

    Believe   Miracle   Easy  
    John Thomas Scopes, William Jennings Bryan, Tennessee. County Court (Rhea Co.) (1971). “The world's most famous court trial: State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes; complete stenographic report of the court test of the Tennessee anti-evolution act at Dayton, July 10 to 21, 1925, including speeches and arguments of attorneys”, Da Capo Pr
  • If God himself was not willing to use coercion to force man to accept certain religious views, man, uninspired and liable to error, ought not to use the means that Jehovah would not employ.

    Religious   Mean   Men  
    John Thomas Scopes, William Jennings Bryan, Tennessee. County Court (Rhea Co.) (1971). “The world's most famous court trial: State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes; complete stenographic report of the court test of the Tennessee anti-evolution act at Dayton, July 10 to 21, 1925, including speeches and arguments of attorneys”, Da Capo Pr
  • We can exterminate Ku Kluxism better by recognizing their honesty and teaching them that they are wrong.

  • This nation is able to legislate for its own people on every question, without waiting for the aid or consent of any other nation on earth.

    People   Waiting   Earth  
    Democratic National Convention Address, originally delivered 8 July 1896 and later recorded in studio
  • There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that, if you will only legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, their prosperity will leak through on those below. The DEMOCRATIC idea, however, has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous, their prosperity will find its way up through every class which rests upon them

    Speech at Democratic National Convention, Chicago, Ill., 8 July 1896
  • Principles are eternal.

    Democratic National Convention Address, originally delivered 8 July 1896 and later recorded in studio
  • All the ills from which America suffers can be traced to the teaching of evolution.

  • Wars are sometimes waged to extend trade-the blood of many being shed to enrich a few.

    War   Blood   Sometimes  
    William Jennings Bryan (1922). “In His Image: By William Jennings Bryan”
  • Never be afraid to stand with the minority when the minority is right, for the minority which is right will one day be the majority.

  • A corporation has no rights except those given it by law. It can exercise no power except that conferred upon it by the people through legislation, and the people should be as free to withhold as to give, public interest and not private advantage being the end in view.

    Exercise   Views   Law  
  • You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.

    Gold   Thorns   Bankers  
    Speech at Democratic National Convention, Chicago, Ill., 8 July 1896. In an earlier speech in the House of Representatives, 22 Dec. 1894, Bryan had said: "I shall not help crucify mankind upon a cross of gold. I shall not aid in pressing down upon the bleeding brow of labor this crown of thorns."
  • The essence of patriotism lies in a willingness to sacrifice for one's country, just as true greatness finds expression, not in blessings enjoyed, but in good bestowed.

    William Jennings Bryan, Mary Baird Bryan (1900). “The Life and Speeches of Hon. Wm. Jennings Bryan”
  • Belief in God is almost universal and the effect of this belief is so vast that one is appalled at the thought of what social conditions would be if reverence for God were erased from every heart.

    Heart   Would Be   Belief  
    William Jennings Bryan (1922). “In His Image: By William Jennings Bryan”
  • That is the one thing in my public career that I regret--my work to secure the enactment of the Federal Reserve Law.

    Regret   Law   Careers  
  • When we advocate a thing which we believe will be successful we are not compelled to raise a doubt as to our own sincerity by trying to show what we will do if we are wrong.

  • Anglo-Saxon civilization has taught the individual to protect his own rights; American civilization will teach him to respect the rights of others.

    WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN (1899). “REPUBLIC OR EMPIRE?”
  • None so little enjoy themselves, and are such burdens to themselves, as those who have nothing to do. Only the active have the true relish of life.

    Littles   Action   Burden  
  • Greed is at the bottom of most of the wrong-doing with which government has to deal.

    William Jennings Bryan (1922). “In His Image: By William Jennings Bryan”
  • Only those who believe attempt the seemingly impossible.

    William Jennings Bryan, Mary Baird Bryan (1909). “Speeches of William Jennings Bryan”
  • We have our thoughts, our hopes, our fears, and yet we know that in a moment a change may come over any one of us that will convert a living, breathing human being into a mass of lifeless clay.

    Breathing   Clay   May  
    William Jennings Bryan (1924). “William Jennings Bryan on Orthodoxy, Modernism, and Evolution”, Facsimiles-Garl
  • Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.

    William Jennings Bryan, Mary Baird Bryan (1900). “The Life and Speeches of Hon. Wm. Jennings Bryan”
  • God may be a matter of indifference to the evolutionists, and a life beyond may have no charm for them, but the mass of mankind will continue to worship their creator and continue to find comfort in the promise of their Savior that he has gone to prepare a place for them.

    William Jennings Bryan (1924). “William Jennings Bryan on Orthodoxy, Modernism, and Evolution”, Facsimiles-Garl
  • Facts mean nothing unless they are rightly understood, rightly related and rightly interpreted.

  • You cannot judge a man's life by the success of a moment, by the victory of an hour, or even by the results of a year. You must view his life as a whole. You must stand where you can see the man as he treads the entire path that leads from the cradle to the grave - now crossing the plain, now climbing the steeps, now passing through pleasant fields, now wending his way with difficulty between rugged rocks - tempted, tried, tested, triumphant.

    Men   Rocks   Climbing  
    William Jennings Bryan, Mary Baird Bryan (1900). “The Life and Speeches of Hon. Wm. Jennings Bryan”
  • The first objection to Darwinism is that it is only a guess and was never anything more. It is called a "hypothesis," but the word "hypothesis," though euphonious, dignified and high-sounding, is merely a scientific synonym for the old-fashioned word "guess." If Darwin had advanced his views as a guess they would not have survived for a year, but they have floated for half a century, buoyed up by the inflated word "hypothesis." When it is understood that "hypothesis" means "guess," people will inspect it more carefully before accepting it.

    "God and Evolution". The New York Times, February 26, 1922.
  • Success is brought by continued labor and continued watchfulness. We must struggle on, not for one moment hesitate, nor take one backward step.

    William Jennings Bryan, Mary Baird Bryan (1900). “The Life and Speeches of Hon. Wm. Jennings Bryan”
  • Eloquent speech is not from lip to ear, but rather from heart to heart.

    Heart   Ears   Speech  
  • We spend months inside them, then the rest of our lives getting babied by them.

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  • We hope you have found the saying you were looking for in our collection! At the moment, we have collected 104 quotes from the Former United States Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, starting from March 19, 1860! We periodically replenish our collection so that visitors of our website can always find inspirational quotes by authors from all over the world! Come back to us again!

    William Jennings Bryan

    • Born: March 19, 1860
    • Died: July 26, 1925
    • Occupation: Former United States Secretary of State