Franklin D. Roosevelt Quotes (139 Quotes)

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.

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 goverment.

The truth is found when men are free to pursue it.

I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going.

A nation, like a person, has a mind - a mind that must be kept informed and alert, that must know itself, that understands the hopes and needs of its neighbors - all the other nations that live within the narrowing circle of the world

Confidence... thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance. Without them it cannot live.

Never before have we had so little time in which to do so much.

The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profits

We are fighting to save a great and precious form of government for ourselves and for the world

It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead -- and find no one there.

The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.

Never underestimate a man who overestimates himself.

Do Something. If it works, do more of it. If it doesn't, do something else.

Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.

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

In the time of this grave national danger, when all excess income should go to win the war, no American citizen ought to have a net income, after he has paid his taxes, of more than 25,000 a year

Freedom of speech is of no use to a man who has nothing to say and freedom of worship is of no use to a man who has lost his God.

It is one of the characteristics of a free and democratic nation that is have free and independent labor unions.

When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until he has struck to crush him.

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

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.

It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something. - former US President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Too often in recent history liberal governments have been wrecked on rocks of loose fiscal policy

Government run by organized money is the same as government run by the organized mob

A government can be no better than the public opinion which sustains it

Freedom to learn is the first necessity of guaranteeing that man himself shall be self-reliant enough to be free

If you treat people right they will treat you right... ninety percent of the time.

Remember you are just an extra in everyone else's play.

Be sincere; be brief; be seated.

Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.

Taxes, are the dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society.

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

The overwhelming majority of Americans are possessed of two great qualities a sense of humor and a sense of proportion.

The virtues are lost in self-interest as rivers are lost in the sea.

War is a contagion.

The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize.

There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.

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

It is an unfortunate human failing that a full pocketbook often groans more loudly than an empty stomach.

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

If we can boondoggle ourselves out of this depression, that word is going to be enshrined in the hearts of the American people for years to come.

When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.

We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace-business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob. Never before in history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hatred for me - and I welcome their hatred. I should like to have it said of my first administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like to have it said of my second administration that in it these forces met their master.- President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Speech at Madison Square Garden.

He stands in the unbroken line of patriots who have dared to die that freedom might live, and grow, and increase its blessings. Freedom lives, and through it, he lives - in a way that humbles the undertakings of most men.

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 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.

Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch.

Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly, and try another. But by all means, try something.

I am a Christian and a Democrat, that's all.

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