Franklin D. Roosevelt Quotes & Sayings

We have our difficulties, true; but we are a wiser and a tougher nation than we were in 1932. Never have there been six years of such far flung internal preparedness in all of history. And this has been done without any dictator's power to command, without conscription of labor or confiscation of capital, without concentration camps and without a scratch on freedom of speech, freedom of the press or the rest of the Bill of Rights. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

As Commander-in-Chief, I take pleasure in commending the reading of the Bible to all who serve in the Armed Forces of the United States. Throughout the centuries, men of many faiths and diverse origins have found in the Sacred Book words of wisdom, counsel, and inspiration. It is a fountain of strength ... an aid in attaining the highest aspiration of the human soul. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Those of you who have been there Haiti know it is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. It has everything. It has everything above the ground, and everything under the ground. It is an amazing place. I strongly recommend that whenever you get a chance, if you havent been there, that you go to Haiti. I think it was a certain Queen of England who said that after her death Calais would be found written on her heart. When I die, I think that Haiti is going to be written on my heart. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

It is fun to be in the same decade with you.
-Roosevelt to Churchill — Franklin D. Roosevelt

When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

[M]y conception of liberty does not permit an individual citizen or a group of citizens to commit acts of depredation against nature in such a way as to harm their neighbors and especially to harm the future generations of Americans. If many years ago we had had the necessary knowledge, and especially the necessary willingness on the part of the Federal Government, we would have saved a sum, a sum of money which has cost the taxpayers of America two billion dollars. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

The peoples of many countries are being taxed to the point of poverty and starvation ... to enable governments to engage in a mad race in armaments ... This grave menace to the peace of the world is due in no small measure to the uncontrolled activities of the manufacturers and merchants of engines of destruction, and it must be met by the concerted actions of the peoples of all nations. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

A point has been reached where the peoples of the Americas must take cognizance of growing ill-will, of marked trends toward aggression, of increasing armaments, of shortening tempers
a situation which has in it many of the elements that lead to the tragedy of general war ... Peace is threatened by those who seek selfish power. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Let us not confuse objectives with methods. Too many so-called leaders of the nation fail to see the forest because of the trees. Too many of them fail to recognize the vital necessity of planning for definite objectives. True leadership calls for the setting forth of the objectives and the rallying of public opinion in support of these objectives. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

The motto of war is: "Let the strong survive; let the weak die." The motto of peace is: "Let the strong help the weak to survive." — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Our national determination to keep free of foreign wars and foreign entanglements cannot prevent us from feeling deep concern when ideals and principles that we have cherished are challenged. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

The hopes of the Republic cannot forever tolerate either undeserved poverty or self-serving wealth. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Unless the peace that follows recognizes that the whole world is one neighborhood and does justice to the whole human race, the germs of another world war will remain as a constant threat to mankind. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Democracy is not a static thing. It is an everlasting march. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

The ablest man I ever met is the man you think you are. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Any Government, like any family, can for a year spend a little more than it earns. But you and I know that a continuation of that habit means the poorhouse. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

There can be little doubt that in many ways the story of bridge building is the story of civilisation. By it we can readily measure an important part of a people's progress. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Change is like fire- if uncontrolled, it will consume us. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Inequality may linger in the world of material things, but great music, great literature, great art and the wonders of science are, and should be, open to all. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

There has been one persistent theme through all Axis propaganda. This theme has been that Americans are admittedly rich, that Americans have considerable industrial power - but that Americans are soft and decadent, that they cannot and will not unite and work and fight ... Let them tell that to the Marines! — Franklin D. Roosevelt

We have faith that future generations will know that here, in the middle of the twentieth century, there came a time when men of good will found a way to unite, and produce, and fight to destroy the forces of ignorance, and intolerance, and slavery, and war. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory ... we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Necessitous men are not free men. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

All work undertaken should be useful - not just for a day, or a year, but useful in the sense that it affords permanent improvement in living conditions or that it creates future new wealth for the Nation. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

We do not see faith, hope, and charity as unattainable ideals, but we use them as stout supports of a nation fighting the fight for freedom in a modern civilization. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

History proves that dictatorships do not grow out of strong and successful governments, but out of weak and helpless ones. If by democratic methods people get a government strong enough to protect them from fear and starvation, their democracy succeeds; but if they do not, they grow impatient. Therefore, the only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over its government. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

The essential qualities of a true Pan Americanism must be the same as those which constitute a good neighbor; namely, mutual understanding, and through such understanding, a sympathetic appeciation of the other's point of view. It is only in this manner that we can hope to build up a system of which confidence, friendship, and good will are the cornerstones ... — Franklin D. Roosevelt

To return to higher standards of living we must abandon the false prophets and seek new leaders of our own choosing. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

To carry adequate life insurance is a moral obligation incumbent upon the great majority of citizens. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Never before have we had so little time in which to do so much. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

If I were starting life over again, I am inclined to think that I would go into the advertising business in preference to almost any other. The general raising of the standards of modern civilization among all groups of people during the past half ce — Franklin D. Roosevelt

More striking still, it appeared that, if the process of concentration goes on at the same rate, at the end of another century we shall have all American industry controlled by a dozen corporations and run by perhaps a hundred men. Put plainly, we are steering a steady course toward economic oligarchy, if we are not there already. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Research is one of the Nation's very greatest resources and the role of the Federal Government in supporting and stimulating it needs to reexamined. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

There seems to be no question that [Mussolini] is really interested in what we are doing and I am much interested and deeply impressed by what he has accomplished and by his evidenced honest purpose of restoring Italy. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

A war of ideas can no more be won without books than a naval war can be won without ships. Books, like ships, have the toughest armor, the longest cruising range, and mount the most powerful guns. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

We must recognize the fundamental rights of man. There can be no true national life in our democracy unless we give unqualified recognition to freedom of religious worship and freedom of education. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Let me make it clear that I do not assert that a President and the Congress must on all points agree with each other at all times. Many times in history there has been complete disagreement between the two branches of the Government, and in these disagreements sometimes the Congress has won and sometimes the President has won. But during the Administration of the present President we have had neither agreement nor a clear-cut battle. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Resort to force in the Great War (I) failed to bring tranquillity. Victory and defeat alike were sterile. That lesson the world should have learned. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

If the fires of freedom and civil liberties burn low in other lands they must be made brighter in our own. If in other lands the press and books and literature of all kinds are censored we must redouble our efforts here to keep them free. If in other lands the eternal truths of the past are threatened by intolerance we must provide a safe place for their perpetuation. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

I believe that in every country the people themselves are more peaceably and liberally inclined than their governments. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

I'm not the smartest fellow in the world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

The true conservative is the man who has a real concern for injustices and takes thought against the day of reckoning. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

The essence of our struggle is that men shall be free. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

No group and no government can properly prescribe precisely what should constitute the body of knowledge with which true education is concerned. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

We are not isolationists except in so far as we seek to isolate ourselves completely from war. Yet we must remember that so long as war exists on earth there will be some danger that even the Nation which most ardently desires peace may be drawn into war. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

A program whose basic thesis is, not that the system of free enterprise for profit has failed in this generation, but that it has not yet been tried! — Franklin D. Roosevelt

The function of Government must be to favor no small group at the expense of its duty to protect the rights of personal freedom and of private property of all its citizens. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

We all know that books burn, yet we have the greater knowledge that books cannot be killed by fire. People die, but books never die. No man and no force can put thought in a concentration camp forever. No man and no force can take from the world the books that embody man's eternal fight against tyranny of every kind. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

And yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered, because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Okay, you've convinced me. Now go out there and bring pressure on me. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

If the Nation is living within its income, its credit is good. If, in some crises, it lives beyond its income for a year or two, it can usually borrow temporarily at reasonable rates. But if, like a spendthrift, it throws discretion to the winds, and is willing to make no sacrifice at all in spending; if it extends its taxing to the limit of the peoples power to pay and continues to pile up deficits, then it is on the road to bankruptcy. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

I hope that your committee will not permit doubt as to constitutionality, however reasonable, to block the suggested legislation — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Slowly, and in spite of anything we Americans do or do not do, it looks a little as if you and some other good people are going to have to answer the old question of whether you want to keep your country unshackled by taking even more definite steps to do so — Franklin D. Roosevelt

I have a terrific headache. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

But the challenge is always the same whether each generation facing its own circumstances can summon the practical devotion to attain and retain that greatest good for the greatest number which this government of the people was created to ensure. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Do Something.
If it works, do more of it.
If it doesn't,
do something else. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Lives of nations are determined not by the count of years, but by the lifetime of the human spirit. The life of a man is three-score years and ten: a little more, a little less. The life of a nation is the fullness of the measure of its will to live. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

We continue to recognize the greater ability of some to earn more than others. But we do assert that the ambition of the individual to obtain for him a proper security is an ambition to be preferred to the appetite for great wealth and great power. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Put two or three men in positions of conflicting authority. This will force them to work at loggerheads, allowing you to be the ultimate arbiter. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Chamberlain's visit to Hitler today may bring things to a head or may result in a temporary postponement of what looks to me likean inevitable conflict within the next five years. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace
a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Private enterprise is ceasing to be free enterprise. Private enterprise, indeed, became too private. It became privileged enterprise, not free enterprise. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Those (who) seek to establish systems of Government based on the regimentation of all Human Beings by a handful of individual rulers ... call this a new order. It is not new and it is not order. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

To some generations much is given. Of other generations, much is expected. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

No political party has exclusive patent rights on prosperity. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

We can see now that we Americans were caught unprepared, because we were ordinary human beings, following the best advice we had at the time. No one would have guessed in 1941 that we would be attacked in such an unsportsmanlike manner as we were. No one could have visualized Pearl Harbor, either out there or in Washington. But if we had known then what we know now, we would have expected an attack in 1941. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

You'll have to learn that public life takes a lot of sweat. But it doesn't need to worry you. You won't always be right, but you musn't suffer from being wrong. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Once you've spent two years trying to wiggle one toe, everything is in proportion. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

This nation asks for action, and action now. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Not only our future economic soundness but the very soundness of our democratic institutions depends on the determination of our government to give employment to idle men. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Taxation according to income is the most effective instrument yet devised to obtain just contribution from those best able to bear it and to avoid placing onerous burdens upon the mass of our people. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

In the final analysis, the progress of our civilization will be retarded if any large body of citizens falls behind. Without the help of thousands of others, any one of us would die, naked and starved. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Raven Stone and Don Carson are the stupidest fucking people on the planet because their mothers didn't breastfeed them. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Since becoming President, I have come to know that the finest of Americans we have abroad today are the missionaries of the cross. I am humiliated that I am not finding this out until this late day the worth of foreign missions and the nobility of the missionaries. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

There's nothing to fear but a wide receiver who can run a 100-yard dash in under 10 seconds. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships - the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace - business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.
They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.
Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me - and I welcome their hatred. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Friendship among nations, as among individuals, calls for constructive efforts to muster the forces of humanity in order that an atmosphere of close understanding and cooperation may be cultivated. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

I am neither bitter nor cynical but I do wish there was less immaturity in political thinking. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

To a great extent the achievements of invention, of mechanical and of artistic creation, must of necessity, and rightly, be individual rather than governmental. It is the self-reliant pioneer in every enterprise who beats the path along which American civilization has marched. Such individual effort is the glory of America. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Industrial combination is not wrong in itself. The danger lies in taking government into partnership. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Those newspapers of the nation which most loudly cried dictatorship against me would have been the first to justify the beginnings of dictatorship by somebody else. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

You sometimes find something good in the lunatic fringe. In fact, we have got as part of our social and economic government today a whole lot of things which in my boyhood were considered lunatic fringe, and yet they are now part of everyday life. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Frankly, I do not know how to effect a permanency in American foreign policy. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

People die, but books never die. No man and no force can abolish memory. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

The truth is found when men are free to pursue it. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

It is the purpose of government to see that not only the legitimate interests of the few are protected but that the welfare and rights of the many are conserved. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

I consider it a public duty to answer falsifications with facts. I will not pretend that I find this an unpleasant duty. I am an old campaigner, and I love a good fight. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Are you laboring under the impression that I read these memoranda of yours? I can't even lift them. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

In our seeking for economic and political progress, we all go up - or else we all go down. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

The hand that held the dagger has struck it into the back of its neighbor. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

No business is above Government; and Government must be empowered to deal adequately with any business that tries to rise above Government. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

To stand upon ramparts and die for our principles is heroic, but to sally forth to battle and win for our principles is something more than heroic. — Franklin D. Roosevelt