Things don’t turn up in this world until somebody turns them up.
Meaning of the quote
Things don't just happen by themselves. Someone has to make an effort and work to make new things happen. This quote means that if you want to discover or create something new, you have to take action and put in the work to make it happen. It won't just appear on its own.
About James A. Garfield
James A. Garfield was the 20th President of the United States, serving for just a few months in 1881 before being assassinated. He was a preacher, lawyer, and Civil War general who had a fascinating career, including a battle to become the Republican nominee for president against the powerful Stalwart faction.
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More quotes from James A. Garfield
Right reason is stronger than force.
president of the United States in 1881
The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.
president of the United States in 1881
There can be no permanent disfranchised peasantry in the United States.
president of the United States in 1881
Man cannot live by bread alone; he must have peanut butter.
president of the United States in 1881
A pound of pluck is worth a ton of luck.
president of the United States in 1881
Ideas are the great warriors of the world, and a war that has no idea behind it, is simply a brutality.
president of the United States in 1881
If you are not too large for the place you occupy, you are too small for it.
president of the United States in 1881
If the power to do hard work is not a skill, it’s the best possible substitute for it.
president of the United States in 1881
Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained.
president of the United States in 1881
Ideas control the world.
president of the United States in 1881
I have had many troubles in my life, but the worst of them never came.
president of the United States in 1881
All free governments are managed by the combined wisdom and folly of the people.
president of the United States in 1881
Justice and goodwill will outlast passion.
president of the United States in 1881
I mean to make myself a man, and if I succeed in that, I shall succeed in everything else.
president of the United States in 1881
The ideal college is Mark Hopkins on one end of a log and a student on the other.
president of the United States in 1881
I am trying to do two things: dare to be a radical and not a fool, which is a matter of no small difficulty.
president of the United States in 1881
Nobody but radicals have ever accomplished anything in a great crisis.
president of the United States in 1881
Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce.
president of the United States in 1881
Suicide is not a remedy.
president of the United States in 1881
The sin of slavery is one of which it may be said that without the shedding of blood there is no remission.
president of the United States in 1881
Territory is but the body of a nation. The people who inhabit its hills and valleys are its soul, its spirit, its life.
president of the United States in 1881
The civil service can never be placed on a satisfactory basis until it is regulated by law.
president of the United States in 1881
A brave man is a man who dares to look the Devil in the face and tell him he is a Devil.
president of the United States in 1881
A law is not a law without coercion behind it.
president of the United States in 1881
I love to deal with doctrines and events. The contests of men about men I greatly dislike.
president of the United States in 1881
Poverty is uncomfortable; 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.
president of the United States in 1881
He who controls the money supply of a nation controls the nation.
president of the United States in 1881
Few men in our history have ever obtained the Presidency by planning to obtain it.
president of the United States in 1881
The chief duty of government is to keep the peace and stand out of the sunshine of the people.
president of the United States in 1881
I am a poor hater.
president of the United States in 1881
The President is the last person in the world to know what the people really want and think.
president of the United States in 1881
Things don’t turn up in this world until somebody turns them up.
president of the United States in 1881
If wrinkles must be written on our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should never grow old.
president of the United States in 1881