A truly American sentiment recognizes the dignity of labor and the fact that honor lies in honest toil.

Meaning of the quote

The quote means that true American values respect hard work and believe that people should feel proud of their honest efforts, no matter the job. It suggests that all types of work, even manual labor, deserve respect and honor.

About Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving non-consecutive terms from 1885 to 1889 and 1893 to 1897. He was the first Democrat to win the presidency after the Civil War and was known for his honesty, integrity, and commitment to political reform.

More about the author

More quotes from Grover Cleveland

Honor lies in honest toil.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

Your every voter, as surely as your chief magistrate, exercises a public trust.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

I have considered the pension list of the republic a roll of honor.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

It is better to be defeated standing for a high principle than to run by committing subterfuge.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

I would rather the man who presents something for my consideration subject me to a zephyr of truth and a gentle breeze of responsibility rather than blow me down with a curtain of hot wind.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

The United States is not a nation to which peace is a necessity.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

I know there is a Supreme Being who rules the affairs of men and whose goodness and mercy have always followed the American people, and I know He will not turn from us now if we humbly and reverently seek His powerful aid.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

Public officers are the servants and agents of the people, to execute the laws which the people have made.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

In the scheme of our national government, the presidency is preeminently the people’s office.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

Communism is a hateful thing, and a menace to peace and organized government.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

No man has ever yet been hanged for breaking the spirit of a law.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

Officeholders are the agents of the people, not their masters.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

He mocks the people who proposes that the government shall protect the rich and that they in turn will care for the laboring poor.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

A government for the people must depend for its success on the intelligence, the morality, the justice, and the interest of the people themselves.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

Party honesty is party expediency.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote. The relative positions to be assumed by man and woman in the working out of our civilization were assigned long ago by a higher intelligence than ours.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

Some day I will be better remembered.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

Sometimes I wake at night in the White House and rub my eyes and wonder if it is not all a dream.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

Minds do not act together in public; they simply stick together; and when their private activities are resumed, they fly apart again.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

The ship of democracy, which has weathered all storms, may sink through the mutiny of those on board.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

The lesson should be constantly enforced that though the people support the Government, Government should not support the people.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

A truly American sentiment recognizes the dignity of labor and the fact that honor lies in honest toil.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

I have tried so hard to do right.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

Though the people support the government; the government should not support the people.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)

After an existence of nearly 20 years of almost innocuous desuetude, these laws are brought forth.

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States (1885-89; 1893-97)