"We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once"
About this Quote
Coolidge’s line is a pressure-release valve for democracy: it concedes the scale of national problems while refusing the luxury of paralysis. The genius is in the pivot from “everything” to “something.” “Everything” is the grandiose fantasy politicians sell and voters demand; “something” is the unglamorous unit of actual governance. By pairing the two, Coolidge lowers the rhetorical temperature and raises the moral bar. You don’t get to hide behind the enormity of the task.
The subtext is a rebuke to two familiar American temptations: maximalist promises and performative despair. If you can’t pass the sweeping bill, you still have no excuse for doing nothing. It’s also an implicit argument for incrementalism as a political ethic, not just a strategy. Change is framed less as a single heroic breakthrough and more as a chain of immediate, concrete acts.
Context matters: Coolidge governed in the 1920s, an era of booming markets, culture wars, and a federal government still smaller than the one modern Americans take for granted. His public persona, “Silent Cal,” leaned heavily on restraint and sobriety. This sentence carries that temperament: modest in scope, disciplined in tone, allergic to melodrama. Yet it’s not passive. The repeated “at once” adds urgency, a quiet drumbeat insisting that timidity isn’t the same as prudence.
It works because it sounds like realism but functions like a dare. If action is always possible, excuses are always optional.
The subtext is a rebuke to two familiar American temptations: maximalist promises and performative despair. If you can’t pass the sweeping bill, you still have no excuse for doing nothing. It’s also an implicit argument for incrementalism as a political ethic, not just a strategy. Change is framed less as a single heroic breakthrough and more as a chain of immediate, concrete acts.
Context matters: Coolidge governed in the 1920s, an era of booming markets, culture wars, and a federal government still smaller than the one modern Americans take for granted. His public persona, “Silent Cal,” leaned heavily on restraint and sobriety. This sentence carries that temperament: modest in scope, disciplined in tone, allergic to melodrama. Yet it’s not passive. The repeated “at once” adds urgency, a quiet drumbeat insisting that timidity isn’t the same as prudence.
It works because it sounds like realism but functions like a dare. If action is always possible, excuses are always optional.
Quote Details
| Topic | Motivational |
|---|---|
| Source | Later attribution: One! the Book About Everything and Nothing! (Chimie, 2011) modern compilationISBN: 9781467898621 · ID: KyN-RTVuilwC
Evidence: ... We cannot do everything at once , but we can do something at once . - Calvin Coolidge There is no mathematical formula for serenity , as it is a feeling within us , it is the place of calmness in us . Once we find it we can sense it ... Other candidates (1) Calvin Coolidge (Calvin Coolidge) compilation41.3% e americanized in everything but in heart to teach the foreigner english is a ne |
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Coolidge, Calvin. (2026, January 13). We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-cannot-do-everything-at-once-but-we-can-do-5303/
Chicago Style
Coolidge, Calvin. "We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once." FixQuotes. January 13, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-cannot-do-everything-at-once-but-we-can-do-5303/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once." FixQuotes, 13 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-cannot-do-everything-at-once-but-we-can-do-5303/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
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