Presidential quotes on God and the Bible

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor… Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be—That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks—for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation—for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war—for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed… And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all… to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people… to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue…

George Washington, 1st President; Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789

I have examined all religions, and the result is that the Bible is the best book in the world.

John Adams, 2nd President; Letter to Thomas Jefferson, December 25, 1813

God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever.

Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President; inscribed on the Jefferson Memorial

Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe.

James Madison, 4th President; 1785 petition to the Virginia Assembly

The first and almost the only book deserving of universal attention is the Bible. I speak as a man of the world . . . and I say to you, ‘Search the Scriptures.’

John Quincy Adams, 6th President

So great is my veneration for the Bible that the earlier my children begin to read it the more confident will be my hope that they will prove useful citizens of their country and respectable members of society.

John Quincy Adams, 6th President

The Bible is the book of all others to be read at all ages and in all conditions of human life.

John Quincy Adams, 6th President

That book [the Bible], sir, is the rock on which our Republic rests.

Andrew Jackson, 7th President; on his deathbed in 1845

I only look to the gracious protection of the Divine Being whose strengthening support I humbly solicit, and whom I fervently pray to look down upon us all.

Martin Van Buren, 8th President; 1839 letter

It is a great comfort to trust God — even if His providence is unfavorable. Prayer steadies one when he is walking in slippery places — even if things asked for are not given.

William Henry Harrison, 9th President; 1841 letter

If any people ever had cause to render up thanks to the Supreme Being for parental care and protection extended to them in all the trials and difficulties to which they have been from time to time exposed, we certainly are that people.

John Tyler, 10th President; Third Annual Address to Congress, 1843

Take all of this book on reason that you can, and the balance on faith, and you will live and die a happier and better man.

Abraham Lincoln, to his friend Joshua Speed, summer 1864.

In regard to this Great Book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man’s welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it.

Abraham Lincoln, 16th President; September 7, 1864, upon the receipt of a Bible as a gift.

My concern is not whether God is on our side. My great concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.

Abraham Lincoln, 16th President

I do believe in Almighty God! And I believe also in the Bible!

Andrew Johnson, 17th President

Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet anchor of your liberties. Write its precepts in your hearts, and practice them in your lives. To the influence of this book are we indebted for all the progress made in true civilization, and to this we must look as our guide in the future. ‘Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.’

Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President

If you take out of your statutes, your constitution, your family life all that is taken from the Sacred Book, what would there be left to bind society together?

Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President

Almost every man who has by his life-work added to the sum of human achievement of which the race is proud, of which our people are proud, almost every such man has based his life-work largely upon the teachings of the Bible.

Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President; The Strenuous Life, 1906

The Bible… is the one supreme source of revelation of the meaning of life, the nature of God and spiritual nature and needs of men. It is the only guide of life which really leads the spirit in the way of peace and salvation.

Woodrow Wilson, 28th President

America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture.

Woodrow Wilson, 28th President

The government of a country never gets ahead of the religion of a country. There is no way by which we can substitute the authority of the law for the virtues of men.

Calvin Coolidge, 30th President; October 15, 1925 speech

We cannot read the history of our rise and development as a nation, without reckoning with the place the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of the Republic. Where we have been the truest and most consistent in obeying its precepts, we have attained the greatest measure of contentment and prosperity.

Franklin Roosevelt, 32nd President; Statement on the Four Hundredth Anniversary of the Printing of the English Bible; October 6, 1935

The fundamental basis of this nation’s laws was given to Moses on the Mount. The fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teachings we get from Exodus and Saint Matthew, from Isaiah and Saint Paul. I don’t think we emphasize that enough these days. If we don’t have a proper fundamental moral background, we will finally end up with a totalitarian government which does not believe in rights for anybody except the State!

Harry S. Truman, 33rd President; February 15, 1950 speech

The spirit of man is more important than mere physical strength, and the spiritual fiber of a nation than its wealth. The Bible is endorsed by the ages. Our civilization is built upon its words. In no other book is there such a collection of inspired wisdom, reality, and hope.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President

Without God there could be no American form of government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first, the most basic, expression of Americanism. Thus, the founding fathers of America saw it, and thus with God’s help, it will continue to be.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President; February 20, 1955 speech

Of the many influences that have shaped the United States of America into a distinctive nation and people, none may be said to be more fundamental and enduring than the Bible… Inside its pages lie all the answers to all the problems that face us today—if we would only read and believe.

Ronald Reagan, 40th President; 1982 Year of the Bible proclamation