Many of us only care about holidays that give us a day off of school. Presidents Day is not one of those holidays, but we should care. This Monday, Feb. 20, remember to honor our nation’s leaders, past and present, for better or for worse.

Presidents on education

“A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.” – Theodore Roosevelt

“Modern cynics and skeptics … see no harm in paying those to whom they entrust the minds of their children a smaller wage than is paid to those to whom they entrust the care of their plumbing.” – John F. Kennedy

“To those of you who received honors, awards, and distinctions, I say, well done. And to the C students, I say, you, too, can be president of the United States.” – George W. Bush

“I don't think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.” – Abraham Lincoln

“Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained.” – James Garfield

“Remember that our nation's first great leaders were also our first great scholars.” – John F. Kennedy

Sources: quotegarden.com, memorablequotations.com and wisdomquotes.com

Presidents’ nicknames you may not have heard before:

John Tyler: “His Accidency”

Benjamin Harrison: “Kid Gloves Harrison”

Grover Cleveland: “Uncle Jumbo”

Harry S. Truman: “Give ‘Em Hell Harry”

George Bush: “Poppy”

Source: Internet Public Library (ipl.org/div/potus/)

Fun facts

• James Madison was 5-foot-4-inches tall and weighed less than 100 pounds.

• William H. Taft was so overweight — sometimes over 300 pounds — that he got stuck in a White House bathtub and had to order a larger one.

• John Quincy Adams liked to swim nude early in the morning in the Potomac River.

• William Henry Harrison made the longest inaugural speech in history, in the snow, and ended up dying from pneumonia one month later.

• James Buchanan is the only president who never married.

Sources: news.nationalgeographic.com and historychannel.com

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