The President of the United States serves as the commander-in-chief of the military. While the military prowess of American presidents has fluctuated throughout the centuries, many of them have left behind a good sound byte or two worth reflecting upon.

To celebrate Presidents Day, here are some of our favorites:

George Washington: “To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.”

Thomas Jefferson: “In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”

John Quincey Adams:  “Posterity — you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom.  I hope you will make good use of it.”

Abraham Lincoln: “I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.”

Theodore Roosevelt: “We must dare to be great; and we must realize that greatness is the fruit of toil and sacrifice and high courage.”

Woodrow Wilson: “It is not men that interest or disturb me primarily; it is ideas.  Ideas live; men die.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt: “Yours is not the task of making your way in the world, but the task of remaking the world which you will find before you.”

Ronald Reagan: “The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave.”

Bill Clinton: “If you live long enough, you’ll make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you’ll be a better person. It’s how you handle adversity, not how it affects you. The main thing is never quit, never quit, never quit.”

Barack Obama: “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

BONUS: Thomas Marshall on the death of Theodore Roosevelt: “Death had to take him sleeping, for if Roosevelt were awake there would have been a fight.

Got a presidential quote that belongs on this list? Let us know in the comments.