Harry S. Truman Quotes & Sayings

If that's art, I'm a Hottentot! — Harry S. Truman

To reporters the day after his accession to the presidency, April 13, 1945: When they told me yesterday what had happened, I felt like the moon, the stars and all the planets had fallen on me. — Harry S. Truman

You can always amend a big plan, but you can never expand a little one. I don't believe in little plans. I believe in plans big enough to meet a situation which we can't possibly foresee now. — Harry S. Truman

The Republican Party either corrupts its liberals or it expels them. — Harry S. Truman

I do not believe there is a problem in this country or the world today which could not be settled if approached through the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount. — Harry S. Truman

A leader is the man who has the ability to get other people to do what they don't want to do, and like it. — Harry S. Truman

The absence of war is not peace. — Harry S. Truman

If you think somebody is telling a big lie about you, the only way to answer is with the whole truth. — Harry S. Truman

I want a one-armed economist, that way he cannot say, 'on the other hand'. — Harry S. Truman

The only thing you have to worry about is bad luck. I never had bad luck. — Harry S. Truman

Any man who has had the job I've had and didn't have a sense of humor wouldn't still be here. — Harry S. Truman

The only thing new in this world is the history that you don't know. — Harry S. Truman

It doesn't matter how big a ranch you own or how many cows you brand, the size of your funeral is still gonna depend on the weather. — Harry S. Truman

It's plain hokum. If you can't convince 'em, confuse 'em. It's an old political trick. But this time it won't work. — Harry S. Truman

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. — Harry S. Truman

If you don't have your own goals, you'll be doomed to work toward someone else's. — Harry S. Truman

When contemplating General Eisenhower winning the Presidential election, Truman said, Hell sit here, and hell say, Do this! Do that! And nothing will happen. Poor Ikeit wont be a bit like the Army. Hell find it very frustrating. — Harry S. Truman

A President needs political understanding to run the government, but he may be elected without it. — Harry S. Truman

Children and dogs are as necessary to the welfare of the country as Wall Street and the railroads. — Harry S. Truman

At the present moment in world history nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life. The choice is too often not a free one. — Harry S. Truman

Well, I wouldn't say that I was in the great class, but I had a great time while I was trying to be great. — Harry S. Truman

The President hears a hundred voices telling him that he is the greatest man in the world. He must listen carefully indeed to hear the one voice that tells him his is not. — Harry S. Truman

Politics is a fascinating game, because politics is government. It is the art of government. — Harry S. Truman

As you get older, you get tired of doing the same things over and over again, so you think Christmas has changed. It hasn't. It's you who has changed. — Harry S. Truman

If you can't convince them, confuse them. — Harry S. Truman

I have tried my best to give the nation everything I had in me. There are probably a million people who could have done the job better than I did it, but I had the job and I always quote an epitaph on a tombstone in a cemetery in Tombstone, Arizona: "Here lies Jack Williams. He done his damndest." — Harry S. Truman

He "wasn't used to being criticized, and he never did get it through his head that's what politics is all about. He was used to getting his ass kissed." — Harry S. Truman

A leader has to lead otherwise he has no business in politics. — Harry S. Truman

I got very well acquainted with Joe Stalin, and I like old Joe! He is a decent fellow. But Joe is a prisoner of the Politburo. — Harry S. Truman

I can always get along with an honest friend. — Harry S. Truman

I have had enough experience in all my years, and have read enough of the past, to know that advice to grandchildren is usually wasted. — Harry S. Truman

If you can't convince them [with your logic] then just confound them [with your wit.] — Harry S. Truman

I sit here all day trying to persuade people to do the things they ought to have the sense to do without my persuading them. That's all the powers of the President amount to. — Harry S. Truman

I like riding a bicycle built for two
by myself. — Harry S. Truman

The United States has become great because we, as a people, have been able to work together for great objectives even while differing about details. — Harry S. Truman

If you want to get elected, shake hands with 25, 000 people between and November 7. — Harry S. Truman

We worship money instead of honour. — Harry S. Truman

In my generation, this was not the first occasion when the strong had attacked the weak.Communism was acting in Korea just as Hitler, Mussolini, and the Japanese had acted ten, fifteen, and twenty years earlier. I felt certain that if South Korea was allowed to fall, Communist leaders would be emboldened to override nations closer to our own shores. — Harry S. Truman

A society will be judged by how it treats its weakest members — Harry S. Truman

There are always a lot of people so afraid of rocking the boat that they stop rowing. We can never get ahead that way. — Harry S. Truman

There isn't any question about Washington's greatness. If his administration had been a failure, there would have been no United States. A lesser man couldn't have done it ... Washington was both a great administrator and a great leader, a truly great man in every way. — Harry S. Truman

Yours is not the task of making your way in the world, but the task of remaking the world which you will find before you. — Harry S. Truman

If wars in the future are to be prevented the nations must be united in their determination to keep the peace under law. — Harry S. Truman

Ignorance and its hand-maidens, prejudice, intolerance, suspicion of our fellowman, breed dictators and breed wars. — Harry S. Truman

When we refused to be forced out of Berlin, we demonstrated to the people of Europe that with their cooperation we would act, and act resolutely, when their freedom was threatened. — Harry S. Truman

Carry the battle to them. Don't let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive and don't ever apologize for anything. — Harry S. Truman

All will concede that in order to have good neighbors, we must also be good neighbors. That applies in every field of human endeavor. — Harry S. Truman

It can be lost, and it will be, if the time ever comes when these documents are regarded not as the supreme expression of our profound belief, but merely as curiosities in glass cases. — Harry S. Truman

Everybody has the right to express what he thinks. That, of course, lets the crackpots in. But if you cannot tell a crackpot when you see one, then you ought to be taken in. — Harry S. Truman

We must help to the limits of our strength. And we will. — Harry S. Truman

It sure is hell to be president. — Harry S. Truman

The world has experienced a revival of an old faith in the everlasting moral force of justice. At no time in history has there been a more important Conference, or a more necessary meeting, than this one in San Francisco, which you are opening today. — Harry S. Truman

We must never forget that this coutry was founded by men who came to these shores to worship God as they pleased. Catholics, Jews, and Protestants, all came here for this great purpose. They did not come here to do as they pleased - but to worship God as they pleased, and that is an important distinction. — Harry S. Truman

Being President is a little bit like riding a tiger. You have to keep riding, or else you will be swallowed up by it! — Harry S. Truman

Given the choice between a Republican and someone who acts like a Republican, people will vote for the real Republican all the time — Harry S. Truman

Divine Providence has played a great part in our history. I have the feeling that God has created us and brought us to our present position of power and strength for some great purpose. It is not given to us to know fully what that purpose is, but I think we may be sure of one thing, and that is that our country is intended to do all it can, in cooperating with other nations to help created peace and preserve peace in the world. It is given to defend the spiritual values-the moral code-against the vast forces of evil that seek to destroy them. — Harry S. Truman

Peace is precious to us. It is the way of life we strive for with all the strength and wisdom we possess. But more precious than peace are freedom and justice. We will fight, if fight we must, to keep our freedom and to prevent justice from being destroyed. — Harry S. Truman

I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way. I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid which is essential to economic stability and orderly political processes. — Harry S. Truman

The legislative job of the President is especially important to the people who have no special representatives to plead their cause before Congressand that includes the great majority. I sometimes express it by saying the President is the only lobbyist that one hundred and fifty million Americans have. The other twenty million are able to employ people to represent themand thats all right, its the exercise of the right of petitionbut someone has to look after the interests of the one hundred and fifty million that are left. — Harry S. Truman

The United States, which would live on Christian principles with all of the peoples of the world, cannot omit a fair deal for its own Indian citizens. — Harry S. Truman

I can deal with Stalin. He is honest, but smart as hell. — Harry S. Truman

We have gone a long way toward civilization and religious tolerance, and we have a good example in this country. Here the many Protestant denominations, the Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church do not seek to destroy one another in physical violence just because they do not interpret every verse of the Bible in exactly the same way. Here we now have the freedom of all religions, and I hope that never again will we have a repetition of religious bigotry, as we have had in certain periods of our own history. There is no room for that kind of foolishness here. — Harry S. Truman

A man cannot have character unless he lives within a fundamental system of morals that creates character. — Harry S. Truman

In the long view, no nation is any healthier than its children. — Harry S. Truman

Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima ... The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East. — Harry S. Truman

There is enough in the world for everyone to have plenty, to live happily, and to be at peace with his neighbors. — Harry S. Truman

I don't feel qualified to be president either, but I've got the job. — Harry S. Truman

It isn't polls or public opinion at the moment that counts. It is right and wrong and leadership
men with fortitude, honesty, and a belief in the right that makes epochs in the history of the world. — Harry S. Truman

Canada and the United States have reached the point where we no longer think of each other as 'foreign' countries. We think of each other as friends, as peaceful and cooperative neighbors on a spacious and fruitful continent. — Harry S. Truman

I can remember when a good politician had to be 75 percent ability and
25 percent actor, but I can well see the day when the reverse could be
true. — Harry S. Truman

Study men, not historians. — Harry S. Truman

The United Nations is designed to make possible lasting freedom and independence for all its members. — Harry S. Truman

To be able to lead others, a man must be willing to go forward alone. — Harry S. Truman

The atom bomb was no 'great decision.' It was merely another powerful weapon in the arsenal of righteousness. — Harry S. Truman

I'm the ultimately responsible person in this organization. Other people can pass the buck to me, but I can't pass the buck to anyone else. — Harry S. Truman

I've had a few setbacks in my life, but I never gave up. — Harry S. Truman

Andrew Johnson wasn't too bad, but he was overwhelmed by a hostile Congress. — Harry S. Truman

Whenever you put a man on the Supreme Court he ceases to be your friend. — Harry S. Truman

Canada's eminent position today is a tribute to the patience, tolerance, and strength of character of her people, of both French and British strains. For Canada is enriched by the heritage of France as well as of Britain, and Quebec has imparted the vitality and spirit of France itself to Canada. Canada's notable achievement of national unity and progress through accommodation, moderation and forbearance can be studied with profit by her sister nations. — Harry S. Truman

No one in the world can take the place of your mother. Right or wrong, from her viewpoint you are always right. She may scold you for little things, but never for the big ones. — Harry S. Truman

The way in which you endure that which you must endure is more important than the crisis itself. — Harry S. Truman

Being a president is like riding a tiger. A man has to keep on riding or he is swallowed. — Harry S. Truman

(The AMA is) "just another mean trust." — Harry S. Truman

It is understanding that gives us an ability to have peace. When we understand the other fellow's viewpoint, and he understands ours, then we can sit down and work out our differences. — Harry S. Truman

I don't give a damn about "The Missouri Waltz" but I can't say it out loud because it's the song of Missouri. It's as bad as "The Star-Spangled Banner" so far as music is concerned. — Harry S. Truman

There is no more fundamental axiom of American freedom than the familiar statement: In a free country we punish men for the crimes they commit but never for the opinions they have. — Harry S. Truman

The newcomers quickly learned their way about and soon felt at home. The Homestead Act of 1862 provided them, as well as many other pioneers, with an opportunity to acquire land and establish family farms. To the land-hungry immigrants, the tough prairie sod seemed a golden opportunity and they conquered it by hard work. — Harry S. Truman

You know of our sympathetic interest in this country in Iran's desire to control its natural resources. From this point of view we were happy to see that the British Government has on its part accepted the principle of nationalization. — Harry S. Truman

We are profoundly grateful for the blessings bestowed upon us: the preservation of our freedom, so dearly bought and so highly prized; our opportunities for human welfare and happiness, so limitless in their scope; our material prosperity, so far surpassing that of earlier years; and our private spiritual blessings, so deeply cherished by all. For these we offer fervent thanks to God. — Harry S. Truman

Although I hold the highest civil honour in the world, I have always regarded my rank and title as a Past Grand Master of Masons the greatest honour that had ever come to me. — Harry S. Truman

When a High Explosive shell bursts in fifteen feet and does you no damage, you can bet your sweet life you bear a charmed life and no mistake. — Harry S. Truman

We must earn the peace we seek just as we earned victory in the war, not by wishful thinking but by realistic effort. At no time in our history has unity among our people been so vital as it is at the present time. Unity of purpose, unity of effort, and unity of spirit are essential to accomplish the task before us. — Harry S. Truman

A president either is constantly on top of events or, if he hesitates, events will soon be on top of him. I never felt that I could let up for a moment. — Harry S. Truman

We seek a peaceful world, a prosperous world, a free world, a world of good neighbors, living on terms of equality and mutual respect, as Canada and the United States have lived for generations. — Harry S. Truman

The Marine Corps is the Navy's police force and as long as I am President that is what it will remain. They have a propaganda machine that is almost equal to Stalin's. — Harry S. Truman

The United States is not so strong, the final triumph of the democratic ideal is not so inevitable that we can ignore what the world thinks of us or our record. — Harry S. Truman

All my life, whenever it comes time to make a decision, I make it and forget about it. — Harry S. Truman

We have to get tough with the Russians. They don't know how to behave. They are like bulls in a china shop. They are only 25 years old. We are over 100 and the British are centuries older. We have got to teach them how to behave. — Harry S. Truman

It is through generous giving, that we affirm before the world, our nation's faith in the inalienable right of every man, to a life of freedom, justice and security. — Harry S. Truman

I couldn't see well enough to play (baseball) when I was a boy, so they gave me a special job - they made me an umpire. — Harry S. Truman