Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.
NUMBER:
1571
AUTHOR:
Silas Wright (1795–1847)
QUOTATION:
The office should seek the man, not man the office.
ATTRIBUTION:
Attributed to SILAS WRIGHT.—Edward Parsons Day, Day’s Collacon, p. 684 (1884). Unverified.
According to biographies, this is in character. Wright was a nineteenth century representative and senator from New York, and served as governor of New York. In 1844, he declined a Supreme Court appointment, refused to be considered for the presidential nomination and declined, when nominated, to be a candidate for the vice presidency.—Dictionary of American Biography, vol. 10, part 2, p. 556.
