17 Quotes & Sayings By James A Garfield

The 20th president of the United States, James Abram Garfield was also the 20th president of The Ohio State University. He was born in Orange, Ohio on November 19, 1831. He graduated from Williams College in 1853 and began his career as a teacher. In 1861 he joined the Union Army as a colonel and saw action in Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee Read more

He rose to the rank of brigadier general, but was wounded at the Battle of Shiloh in 1862. After recovering, he was given command of several defenses along the Mississippi River. Later he served as a major general.

In 1864 he resigned his commission to run for Congress, which he won. He served two terms before running again for Congress, this time winning his seat for Ohio's 1st District. After that term expired, Garfield ran for governor of the state and won the election in 1881.

That same year he was sworn into office as governor of Ohio. During his first year as governor, Garfield served as commander-in-chief during the Civil War's Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. On July 2, 1881 he was shot by an assassin while attending a speaking engagement in Washington D.C., leaving him paralyzed from the neck down.

He died shortly after on September 19, 1881 at age 52 and was buried at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati.

1
I never meet a ragged boy in the street without feeling that i may owe him a salute, for I know not what possibilities may be buttoned up under his coat. James A. Garfield
2
It is a brave man... who dares to look the devil in the face and tell him he is a devil. James A. Garfield
3
If wrinkles must be written upon our brows let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should not grow old. James A. Garfield
4
Commerce links all mankind in one common brotherhood of mutual dependence and interests. James A. Garfield
5
Poverty is uncomfortable as I can testify: but nine times out of ten the best thing that can happen to a young man is to be tossed overboard and compelled to sink or swim for himself. James A. Garfield
6
The truth will set you free but first it will make you miserable. James A. Garfield
7
Things don't turn up in this world until somebody turns them up. James A. Garfield
8
A pound of pluck is worth a ton of luck. James A. Garfield
9
Nine times out of ten the best thing that can happen to a young man is to be tossed overboard and compelled to sink or swim. James A. Garfield
10
Ideas are the great warriors of the world, and a war that has no idea behind it, is simply a brutality. James A. Garfield
11
The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable. James A. Garfield
12
Man cannot live by bread alone he must have peanut butter. James A. Garfield
13
Ideas control the world. James A. Garfield
14
He who controls the money supply of a nation controls the nation. James A. Garfield
15
Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained. James A. Garfield
16
All free governments are managed by the combined wisdom and folly of the people. James A. Garfield