Roosevelt Franklin Quotes & Sayings

The virtues are lost in self-interest as rivers are lost in the sea. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

I think one of the lessons of the Depression - and this is something that Franklin Roosevelt demonstrated - was that when orthodoxy fails, then you need to try new things. And he was very willing to try unorthodox approaches when the orthodox approach had shown that it was not adequate. — Ben Bernanke

Every man has a right to life. That means that he also has a right to make a comfortable living. — 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

Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

It is one of the characteristics of a free and democratic nation that it have free and independent labor unions. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Men and nature must work hand in hand. The throwing out of balance of the resources of nature throws out of balance also the lives of men. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

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 — Franklin D. Roosevelt

I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

The real safeguard of democracy is education. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Well, Mr Obama inherited probably the biggest inventory of problems, certainly foreign policy problems, than any American president ever has. I think the entire inventory of problems that he inherited is probably as big overall as any president, certainly since Franklin Roosevelt and maybe, in some cases, worse. — Chuck Hagel

The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism
ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power ... Among us today a concentration of private power without equal in history is growing. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

And while I am talking to you mothers and fathers, I give you one more assurance. I have said this before, but I shall say it again and again and again: Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

The money-changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

You are only an extra in everyone else's play. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

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

We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way. The third is freedom from want. The fourth is freedom from fear. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

It has always seemed to me that the best symbol of common sense was a bridge. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

I've fired my last shot. I think I should have another round in my belt. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

What worries me, especially, is that public opinion over here is patting itself on the back every morning and thanking God for theAtlantic Ocean (and the Pacific Ocean). We greatly underestimate the serious implications to our own future ... Things move with such terrific speed these days, that it is really essential to us to think in broader terms and, in effect, to warn the American people that they, too, should think of possible ultimate results in Europe and the Far East. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Calm seas never made a good sailor — 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

Most Americans have no memory of the designs Franklin Roosevelt's New Dealers had for postwar-American foreign policy. Human rights, self-determination and an end to European colonization in the developing world, nuclear disarmament, international law, the World Court, the United Nations - these were all ideas of the progressive left. — Kai Bird

Ronald Reagan is clearly to television what Franklin Roosevelt was to radio. — David Gergen

These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America. What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power. Our allegiance to American institutions requires the overthrow of this kind of power. In vain they seek to hide behind the flag and the Constitution. In their blindness they forget what the flag and the Constitution stand for. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

The ultimate victory of tomorrow is democracy, and through democracy with education, for no people in all the world can be kept eternally ignorant or eternally enslaved. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Since I am used to speaking in public, I know that it is useless. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

The New York Times denounces America's "dancing with dictators." Guilty as charged. Dance we do. And without apology. With no more apology than Franklin Roosevelt offered when he reportedly said of Nicaragua's Anastasio Somoza, "He may be a son of a bitch. But he's our son of a bitch."

Roosevelt was a grownup. He made choices. He slew his dragons one at a time. He understood that we do not live in the best of all possible worlds. He understood that in an international arena populated by sons of bitches, you make your distinctions, or you die. — Charles Krauthammer

Among American citizens, there should be no forgotten men and no forgotten races. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Whoever seeks to set one religion against another seeks to destroy all religion. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that
men have died to win them.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Our only president who has died as U.S. commander in chief in war is Franklin Delano Roosevelt - who died of a cerebral hemorrhage or massive stroke on April 12, 1945, only three weeks before the unconditional surrender of the German armed forces he had laid down as implacable Allied policy two years before. — Nigel Hamilton

Dec. 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy -
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. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

George Washington sets the nation on its democratic path. Abraham Lincoln preserves it. Franklin Roosevelt sees the nation through depression and war. — Robert Dallek

I ask especially that no state shall, by law or otherwise, authorize the return of the saloon, either in its old form or in some modern guise. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

When President Roosevelt signed Social Security into law in 1935, 65 percent of African Americans nationally and between 70 and 80 percent in the South were ineligible. — Ta-Nehisi Coates

Of course we believe these things. We believe in social security. We believe in work for the unemployed. We believe in saving homes. Cross our hearts and hope to die! We believe in all these things. But we do not like the way that the present administration is doing them. Just turn them over to us. We will do all of them, we will do more of them, we will do them better and, most important of all, the doing of them will not cost anybody anything! — Franklin D. Roosevelt

We are fighting to save a great and precious form of government for ourselves and for the world. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

It is the habit of the unthinking to turn to the illusions of economic magic. These unhappy times call for the building of plans that put their faith once more in the forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid — Franklin D. Roosevelt

As President Franklin Delano Roosevelt learned when he tried to pack the Supreme Court, the three branches of government are coequal for a reason. Neither the executive branch or the legislative branch should use the third branch to a pursue a partisan agenda. — Dan Pfeiffer

War is a contagion. — 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

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

I think Democrats made a mistake running away from liberalism. Liberalism, uh, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John and Robert Kennedy - that's what the Democratic party ought to reach for. — Theodore C. Sorensen

My aspirations for this country would be on the scope of what Franklin Roosevelt brought to this country in 1932 when he saw a nation that was broken economically. — Dennis Kucinich

All agree that, the first responsibility for the alleviation of poverty and distress and for the care of the victims of the depression rests upon the locality - its individuals, organizations and Government. It rests, first of all, perhaps, upon the private agencies of philanthropy, secondly, other social organizations, and last, but not least, the Church. Yet all agree that to leave to the locality the entire responsibility would result in placing the heaviest burden in most cases upon those who are the least able to bear it. In other words, the communities that have the most difficult problem, like Detroit, would be the communities that would have to bear the heaviest of the burdens. And so the State should step in to equalize the burden by providing for a large portion of the care of the victims of poverty and by providing assistance and guidance for local communities. Above and beyond that duty of the States the national Government has a responsibility. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Our government is based on the belief that a people can be both strong and free, that civilized men need no restraint but that imposed by themselves against abuse of freedom. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

If we will not prepare to give all that we have and that all that we are to preserve Christian civilization in our land, we shall go to destruction. — 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

Sports is the very fiber of all we stand for. It keeps our spirits alive. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

What America needs now is a drink, — Franklin D. Roosevelt

One of the great creative statesmen of our age was Franklin Roosevelt. He was creative precisely because he preferred experiment to ideology. — Robert Kennedy

People acting together as a group can accomplish things which no individual acting alone could ever hope to bring about. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

It isn't sufficient just to want - you've got to ask yourself what you are going to do to get the things you want. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

In these days of difficulty, we Americans everywhere must and shall choose the path of social justice ... , the path of faith, the path of hope, and the path of love toward our fellow man. — 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

I do not believe in communism any more than you do but there is nothing wrong with the Communists in this country. Several of the best friends I have got are Communists. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

As a nation we may take pride in the fact that we are softhearted; but we cannot afford to be soft-headed — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, "America's greatest contribution to the world is the summer camp." Anyone — Susan Wiggs

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

The first theory is that if we make the rich richer, somehow they will let a part of their prosperity trickle down to the rest of us. The second theory was the theory that if we make the average of mankind comfortable and secure, their prosperity will rise upward through the ranks. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

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 the government. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

If you have spent two years in bed trying to wiggle your big toe, everything else seems easy. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

When Franklin D. Roosevelt was asked what book he could give the Soviets to teach them about the advantages of American society, he pointed to the Sears catalogue. — Alain De Botton

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

Are we going to take the hands of the federal government completely off any effort to adjust the growing of national crops, and go right straight back to the old principle that every farmer is a lord of his own farm and can do anything he wants, raise anything, any old time, in any quantity, and sell any time he wants? — Franklin D. Roosevelt

It is time to provide a smashing answer for those cynical men who say that a democracy cannot be honest, cannot be efficient ... We have in the darkest moments of our national trials retained our faith in our own ability to master our own destiny. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

The driving force of a nation lies in its spiritual purpose, made effective by free, tolerant but unremitting national will. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Preparation for defense is an inalienable prerogative of a sovereign state. — 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

The Social Security Act offers to all our citizens a workable and working method of meeting urgent present needs and of forestalling future need. It utilizes the familiar machinery of our Federal-State government to promote the common welfare and the economic stability of the Nation. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

The Democratic Party will live and continue to receive the support of the majority of Americans just so long as it remains a liberal party. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Yesterday, December seventh, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. We will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

People are not prisoners of fate, but prisoners of their own minds. — 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

A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people. — 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

The democratic aspiration is no mere recent phase in human history. It is human history. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

FDR's struggle with illness and subsequent metal-filled life are remarkably similar to the story of another great leader who was part robot: Iron Man. FDR, much like Tony Stark, was cocky and arrogant before his life-changing diagnosis, but the years of suffering changed all of that, and he emerged more humble, more fearless, and ready to defend America. Also, FDR wore iron braces and used a wheelchair, which, for the purposes of this comparison, is exactly like a well-armed robot suit. — Daniel O'Brien

The loneliest feeling in the world is when you think you are leading the parade and turn to find that no one is following you. No president who badly misguesses public opinion will last very long. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Peace, like war, can succeed only where there is a will to enforce it, and where there is available power to enforce it. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

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

Finally, in our progress toward a resumption of work we require two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order: there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments; there must be an end to speculation with other people's money, and there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Beware of that profound enemy of the free enterprise system who pays lip-service to free competition, but also labels every antitrust prosecution as a persecution. — 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

We and all others who believe in freedom as deeply as we do, would rather die on our feet than live on our knees. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

The point in history at which we stand is full of promise and danger. The world will either move forward toward unity and widely shared prosperity - or it will move apart. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

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

They have given their sons to the military services. They have stoked the furnaces and hurried the factory wheels. They have made the planes and welded the tanks. Riveted the ships and rolled the shells. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keeness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment
let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Once I prophesied that this generation of Americans had a rendezvous with destiny. That prophecy now comes true. To us much is given; more is expected. This generation will nobly save or mainly lose the last best hope of earth. The way is plain, peaceful, generous just. A way, which if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

We are trying to construct a more inclusive society. We are going to make a country in which no one is left out. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

All of us in all the Americas will be living at the point of a gun. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

All of our people all over the country-except the pure-blooded Indians-are immigrants or descendants of immigrants, including even those who came over here on the Mayflower. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

I suggest a nationwide reading of the Holy Scriptures during the period from Thanksgiving Day to Christmas. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

All safe deposit boxes in banks or financial institutions have been sealed ... and may only be opened in the presence of an agent of the I.R.S. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

All that is within me cries out to go back to my home on the Hudson River — Franklin D. Roosevelt