They criticize me for harping on the obvious; if all the folks in the United States would do the few simple things they know they ought to do, most of our big problems would take care of themselves.
Calvin CoolidgeRead
Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Excessive taxation is akin to theft under the guise of law.
Calvin Coolidge's quote critiques the practice of collecting more taxes than needed, suggesting that it undermines the principles of fairness and justice, equating it with theft. He emphasizes the importance of responsible governance and fiscal responsibility, warning against overreach in taxation that can burden citizens unduly.
Themes
TaxesRobberyGovernmentFairnessJustice
In practice
Example use cases
During a political debate about fiscal policy.
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America's present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration; not agitation, but adjustment; not surgery, but serenity; not the dramatic, but the dispassionate; not experiment, but equipoise; not submergence in internationality, but sustainment in triumphant nationality.
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No method of procedure has ever been devised by which liberty could be divorced from local self-government. No plan of centralization has ever been adopted which did not result in bureaucracy, tyranny, inflexibility, reaction, and decline.
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Whether one traces his Americanism back three centuries to the Mayflower, or three years to the steerage, is not half so important as whether his Americanism of today is real and genuine. No matter by what various crafts we came here, we are all now in the same boat.
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The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country.
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