Being president of the United States may perhaps be one of the most important jobs in the world, but that doesn't mean that the men who have held it always say the smartest things.

"People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like."

President Abraham Lincoln, the nation's 16th president, made this comment in a book review of a Robert Dale Owen novel. Lincoln may not have enjoyed his writing style, but he listened to what Owen had to say. Many historians say Lincoln was swayed by a letter from Owen asking Lincoln to end slavery.

"I don't know much about Americanism, but it's a damn good word with which to carry an election."

After winning the 1920 by one of the largest landslides in American history, President Warren G. Harding said this now famous -- or infamous -- quote. Harding garnered 60 percent of the votes, while his opponent, fellow Ohioan James Cox, received 34 percent.

"Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt."

President Herbert Hoover, the United States' 31st president, lead the nation into the great depression following the stock market crash of 1929. Hoover offered this point of view on his way out of office.

"These are not bad people. All they are concerned about is to see that their sweet little girls are not required to sit in school alongside some big overgrown Negroes."

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren said Eisenhower invited him to a dinner at the White House shortly before the monumental Brown v. Board decision. Warren said Eisenhower took him by the arm and told him this quote while they were walking. After the court's decision sided with Brown, Warren said, "Shortly thereafter, the Brown case was decided, and with it went our cordial relations."

"I was under medication when I made the decision to burn the tapes."

Embroiled in controversy from the Watergate scandal, the nation's 37th President Richard Nixon gave this "reason" as to why 18 minutes of tapes from the Oval Office were burned.

"It isn't pollution that is hurting the environment; it's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it."

President George H.W. Bush's Vice President, Dan Quayle, gave his thoughts on pollution. One thing Quayle may want to consider, though, is that the impurities in the air and water are pollution.

"One word sums up, probably, the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared.'"

Though this entire piece could be nothing but quotes from Quayle, this gem came one year after Bush and Quayle were elected into the White House. Quayle also become a punch line to many jokes when he mistakenly told a fifth grade student that the word "potato" ended with an "e."

"No one wants to get this (Lewinsky) matter behind us more than I do, except maybe all the rest of the American people."

President Bill Clinton may have been trying to get past his affair scandal with intern Monica Lewinsky, but his musings on the subject are perceived differently. If no one wants to get past it more than Clinton "except maybe all the rest of the American people," then Clinton would be the last person in America who would want to put the matter aside.

"You're working hard to put food on your family."

Maybe he was talking too fast for his thoughts to keep up, current President George W. Bush offered up this lyrical offense while he was on the campaign trail in 2000. His verbal goofs did not stop there.

"Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?"

It may be a question that should never be asked, but Bush asked it while campaigning in 2000.