Herbert Hoover Quotes & Sayings

One civilization after another has been wrecked upon the attempt to secure sufficient leadership from a single group or class. — Herbert Hoover

Bureaucracy is ever desirous of spreading its influence and its power. You cannot extend the mastery of the government over the daily working life of a people without at the same time
making it the master of the people's souls and thoughts. — Herbert Hoover

I was for a short time on the baseball team as shortstop, where I was no good. — Herbert Hoover

Leadership cannot be created synthetically. Men must be what they were made by the Almighty or the American people will find them out in time. — Herbert Hoover

Competition is not only the basis of protection to the consumer, but is the incentive to progress. — Herbert Hoover

The structure of human betterment cannot be built upon foundations of materialism or business, but upon the bedrock of individual character in free men and women. — Herbert Hoover

It is just as important that business keep out of government as that government keep out of business. — Herbert Hoover

The sole function of Government is to bring about a condition of affairs favorable to the beneficial development of private enterprise. — Herbert Hoover

Thank God she doesn't have to be confirmed by the Senate.
(on the birth of his granddaughter) — Herbert Hoover

The recognition of Russia on November 16, 1933, started forces which were to have considerable influence in the attempt to collectivize the United States. — Herbert Hoover

The wreckage of representative government is strewn with broken promises. — Herbert Hoover

When all the routines and details and the human bores get on our nerves, we just yearn to go away from here to somewhere else. To go fishing is a sound, a valid, and an accepted reason for an escape. It requires no explanation. — Herbert Hoover

Somebody has inquired as to whether I will be going to the opening baseball game. I hope to have that pleasure. — Herbert Hoover

Be patient and calm; no one can catch fish in anger. — Herbert Hoover

The United States fully accepts the profound truth that our own progress, prosperity, and peace are interlocked with the progress, prosperity, and peace of all humanity. — Herbert Hoover

To go fishing is the chance to wash one's soul with pure air, with the rush of the brook, or with the shimmer of sun on blue water. It brings meekness and inspiration from the decency of nature, charity toward tackle-makers, patience toward fish, a mockery of profits and egos, a quieting of hate, a rejoicing that you do not have to decide a darned thing until next week. And it is discipline in the equality of men - for all men are equal before fish. — Herbert Hoover

Self-government does not and should not imply the use of political agencies alone. Progress is born of cooperation in the community - not from governmental restraints. — Herbert Hoover

I want more runs in baseball itself. When you were raised on a sandlot, where the scores ran twenty-three to sixty-one, you yearn for something more than a five to two score. You know as well as I do that the excitement, temperature and decibels of any big game today rise instantly when there is someone on base. It reaches ecstasy when somebody makes a run. — Herbert Hoover

When the outcome of a meeting is to have another meeting, it has been a lousy meeting. — Herbert Hoover

In the great mass of our people there are plenty individuals of intelligence from among whom leadership can be recruited. — Herbert Hoover

American business needs a lifting purpose greater than the struggle of materialism. — Herbert Hoover

Twenty million people are starving. Whatever their politics, they shall be fed! — Herbert Hoover

I, with other Americans, have perhaps unduly resented the stream of criticism of American life ... more particularly have I resented the sneers at Main Street. For I have known that in the cottages that lay behind the street rested the strength of our national character. — Herbert Hoover

The Constitution is America's glue, Democracy is the Constitution's glue. — Herbert Hoover

In my public statements I have earnestly urged that there rested upon government many responsibilities which affect the moral andspiritual welfare of our people. The participation of women in elections has produced a keener realization of the importance of these questions and has contributed to higher national ideals. Moreover, it is through them that our national ideals are ingrained in our children. — Herbert Hoover

The greatness of America has grown out of a political and social system and a method of control of economic forces distinctly its own - our American system. — Herbert Hoover

All progress and growth is a matter of change, but change must be growth within our social and government concepts if it should not destroy them. — Herbert Hoover

You will expect me to discuss the late election. Well, as nearly as I can learn, we did not have enough votes on our side. — Herbert Hoover

Baseball is the greatest of all team sports. — Herbert Hoover

[N]o country can squander itself to prosperity on the ruin of its taxpayers. — Herbert Hoover

We do not need to burn down the house to kill the rats — Herbert Hoover

Children add to the wonder of being alive. — Herbert Hoover

Whatever doubt there may be as to the quality or purpose of our free speech we certainly have ample volumes in production. — Herbert Hoover

No prosaic description can portray the grandeur of 40 miles of rugged mountains rising beyond a placid lake in which each shadowy precipice and each purple gorge is reflected with a vividness that rivals the original. — Herbert Hoover

So far as the personal side is concerned, the victory was to him who lost and the defeat to him who won. I can say that never in the last fifteen years have I had the peace of mind that I
have since the election. I have almost a feeling of elation. — Herbert Hoover

We are indebted to the Book of books (Bible) for our national ideals and institution. Their preservation rests in adhering to it's precepts. — Herbert Hoover

The basis of successful relief in national distress is to mobilize and organize the infinite number of agencies of self help in the community. That has been the American way. — Herbert Hoover

We have learned that social injustice is the destruction of justice itself. — Herbert Hoover

America - a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose. — Herbert Hoover

At 17, I went to Stanford University to study engineering. My time was occupied with the required reading and the extracurricular duties of managing the baseball and football teams and earning my way. — Herbert Hoover

Economic freedom cannot be sacrificed if political freedom is to be preserved. — Herbert Hoover

There is no other book so various as the Bible, nor one so full of concentrated wisdom. Whether it be of law, business, morals etc ... he who seeks for guidance ... may look inside its covers & find illumination — Herbert Hoover

I am proud to have been born in Iowa. Through the eyes of a ten-year-old boy, it was a place of adventure and daily discoveries - the wonder of the growing crops, the excitements of the harvest, the journeys to the woods for nuts and hunting, the joys of snowy winters, the comfort of the family fireside, of good food and tender care. — Herbert Hoover

Engineering training deals with the exact sciences. That sort of exactness makes for truth and conscience. It might be good for the world if more men had that sort of mental start in life even if they did not pursue the profession. — Herbert Hoover

Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity. — Herbert Hoover

Above all, we know that although Americans can be led to make great sacrifices, they do not like to be driven. — Herbert Hoover

Even if security from the cradle to the grave could eliminate [all] the risks of life, it would [still] be a dead hand on the creative spirit of the American people. — Herbert Hoover

I am convinced that ... we have reestablished confidence. Wages should remain stable. A very large degree of industrial unemployment and suffering which would otherwise have occurred has been prevented. — Herbert Hoover

Economic depression can not be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement — Herbert Hoover

It is always possible that occasional individuals may have overstepped the law and humanity in treatment of criminals and those charged with crime, and if so, they should be severely punished. — Herbert Hoover

We are now speeding down the road of wasteful spending and debt, and unless we can escape we will be smashed in inflation. — Herbert Hoover

Unemployment in the sense of distress is widely disappearing ... We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poor-house is vanishing from among us. We have not yet reached the goal, but given a change to go forward with the policies of the last eight years, and we shall soon with he help of God be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished from this nation. There is no guarantee against poverty equal to a job for every man. That is the primary purpose of the economic policies we advocate — Herbert Hoover

My boyhood ambition was to be able to earn my own living, without the help of anybody, anywhere, — Herbert Hoover

The Union has become not merely a physical union of states, but rather a spiritual union in common ideals of our people. Within it is room for every variety of opinion, every possible experiment in social progress. Out of such variety comes growth, but only if we preserve and maintain our spiritual solidarity. — Herbert Hoover

Liberalism should be found not striving to spread bureaucracy but striving to set bounds to it. True liberalism seeks all legitimate freedom first in the confident belief that without such freedom the pursuit of all other blessings and benefits is vain. That belief is the foundation of all American progress, political as well as economic. — Herbert Hoover

If America is to be run by the people, it is the people who must think. And we do not need to put on sackcloth and ashes to think. Nor should our minds work like a sundial which records only sunshine. Our thinking must square against some lessons of history, some principles of government and morals, if we would preserve the rights and dignity of men to which this nation is dedicated. — Herbert Hoover

Children are the most wholesome part of the race, the sweetest, for they are the freshest from the hand of god. — Herbert Hoover

Free speech does not live many hours after free industry and free commerce die. — Herbert Hoover

Through baseball we channel boys desire for exercise and let off their explosive violence without letting them get into the police court. — Herbert Hoover

Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die. — Herbert Hoover

Hunger is the mother of anarchy. — Herbert Hoover

You convey too great a compliment when you say that I have earned the right to the presidential nomination. No man can establish such an obligation upon any part of the American people. My country owes me no debt. It gave me, as it gives every boy and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of action, opportunity for service and honor. In no other land could a boy from a country village, without inheritance or influential friends, look forward with unbounded hope. My whole life has taught me what America means. I am indebted to my country beyond any human power to repay. — Herbert Hoover

Prosperity is no idle expression. It is a job for every worker; it is the safety and safeguard of very business and every home. A continuation of the policies of the Republican party is fundamentally necessary to the future advancement of this progress and to the further building up of this prosperity. — Herbert Hoover

My country owes me nothing. It gave me, as it gives every boy and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of action, opportunity for service and honor. — Herbert Hoover

In its broad aspects, the proper feeding of children revolves around a public recognition of the interdependence of the human animal upon his cattle. The white race cannot survive without dairy products. — Herbert Hoover

The fundamental business of the country, that is production and distribution of commodities, is on a sound and prosperous basis. — Herbert Hoover

With impressive proof on all sides of magnificent progress, no one can rightly deny the fundamental correctness of our economic system. — Herbert Hoover

One of the primary necessities of the world for the maintenance of peace is the elimination of the frictions which arise from competitive armament. — Herbert Hoover

Peace is not made at the council table or by treaties, but in the hearts of men. — Herbert Hoover

There are things in the world that cannot be brought about. There are mistakes that cannot be repaired. But there is one thing sure
that loyalty and friendship are the most precious possessions a man can have. — Herbert Hoover

America means far more than a continent bounded by two oceans. It is more than pride of military power, glory in war, or in victory. It means more than vast expanse of farms, of great factories or mines, magnificent cities, or millions of automobiles and radios. — Herbert Hoover

Truly every generation discovers the world all new again and knows it can improve it. — Herbert Hoover

Wisdom oft times consists of knowing what to do next. — Herbert Hoover

When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned. — Herbert Hoover

The ancient bitter opposition to improved methods [of production] on the ancient theory that it more than temporarily deprives men of employment ... has no place in the gospel of American progress. — Herbert Hoover

Once the day's work starts there is little chance to walk, to ride or to take part in a game. Taking walks or rides early in the morning is a lonesome business, and the inevitable Secret Service guard when the president leaves the White House grounds is not enlivening company. — Herbert Hoover

The pause between the errors and trials of the day and the hopes of the night. — Herbert Hoover

Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt. — Herbert Hoover

We supported the cooperative movement among farmers. The movement was still young and stubbornly opposed to the commercial distributors. I believed it to be one of the most helpful undertakings, for according to my social theories any organization run by citizens for their own welfare is preferable to the same action by the government. — Herbert Hoover

I have on numerous occasions, as you know, expressed my sympathy in the establishment of a National Home for the Jews in Palestine and, despite the set-backs caused by the disorders there during the last few years, I have been heartened by the progress which has been made and by the remarkable accomplishments of the Jewish settlers in that country. — Herbert Hoover

Democracy is not static. It is a living force. Every new idea, every new invention offers opportunity for both good and evil. — Herbert Hoover

Upon the farm of the uncle with whom I lived, we did know of the mortgage as some dreadful damper on youthful hopes of things that could not be bought. I do have a vivid recollection that the major purpose of a farm was to produce a living right on the spot for the family. — Herbert Hoover

Two courses were open to us. We might have done nothing. That would have been utter ruin. Instead, we met the situation with proposals to private business and to the Congress of the most gigantic program of economic defense and counterattack ever evolved in the history of the Republic. We put that program in action. Our measures have repelled these attacks of fear and panic ... We have used the credit of the Government to aid and protect our institutions, both public and private. We have provided methods and assurances that none suffer from hunger or cold amongst our people. We have instituted measures to assist our farmers and our homeowners. We have created vast agencies for employment. — Herbert Hoover

Along with currency manipulation, the New Deal introduced to Americans the spectacle of Fascist dictation to business, labor, and agriculture. — Herbert Hoover

The gods do not deduct from man's allotted span the hours spent in fishing. — Herbert Hoover

The most essential factor to economic recovery today [1932] is the restoration of confidence. — Herbert Hoover

All men are equal before fish. — Herbert Hoover

If the law is upheld only by government officials, then all law is at an end. — Herbert Hoover

Self-government can succeed only through an instructed electorate. — Herbert Hoover

There is no economic failure so terrible in its import as that of a country possessing a surplus of every necessity of life in which numbers willing and anxious to work, are deprived of dire necessities. It simply cannot be if our moral and economic system is to survive. — Herbert Hoover

I outlived the bastards. — Herbert Hoover

Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die. — Herbert Hoover

The study of the Bible is a post-graduate course in the richest library of human experience. — Herbert Hoover

Free government is the most difficult of all government. But it is everlastingly true that the plain people will make fewer mistakes than any other group of men, no matter how powerful. — Herbert Hoover

Doctors think a lot of patients are cured who have simply quit in disgust. — Herbert Hoover

The association of Mount Ararat and Noah, the staunch Christians who were massacred periodically by the Mohammedan Turks, and the Sunday School collections over fifty years for alleviating their miseries-all cumulate to impress the name Armenia on the front of the American mind. — Herbert Hoover

We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before. — Herbert Hoover

I pride myself on being one of the oldest fans. I can certainly count up about seventy years of devotion. — Herbert Hoover

Honest difference of views and honest debate are not disunity. They are the vital process of policy among free men. — Herbert Hoover

The course of unbalanced budgets is the road to ruin — Herbert Hoover