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Governments Can Err, Presidents Do Make Mistakes, But The Immortal Dante Tells Us That Divine Justice Weighs The Sins Of The Cold-blooded And The Sins Of The Warm-hearted In Different Scales. Better The Occasional Faults Of A Government That Lives In A Spirit Of Charity Than The Constant Omission Of A Government Frozen In The Ice Of Its Own Indifference.

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Governments Can Err, Presidents

Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Governments Can Err, Presidents Do Make Mistakes, But The Immortal Dante Tells Us That Divine Justice Weighs The Sins Of The Cold-blooded And The Sins Of The Warm-hearted In Different Scales. Better The Occasional Faults Of A Government That Lives In A Spirit Of Charity Than The Constant Omission Of A Government Frozen In The Ice Of Its Own Indifference.

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The Presidency Is Not Merely An Administrative Office...it Is Pre-eminently A Place Of Moral Leadership.

Moral Leadership

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.

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. Now, As Always, They Stand For Democracy, Not Tyranny; For Freedom, Not Subjection; And Against A Dictatorship By Mob Rule And The Over-privileged Alike.

This Generation Of Americans Has A Rendezvous With Destiny.

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The Most Difficult Place In The World To Get A Clear And Open Perspective Of The Country As A Whole Is Washington.

Our Constitution Is So Simple And Practical That It Is Possible Always To Meet Extraordinary Needs By Changes In Emphasis And Arrangement Without Loss Of Essential Form.

The Best Customer Of American Industry Is The Well Paid Worker.

Working Conditions

Nationwide Thinking, Nationwide Planning And Nationwide Action Are The Three Great Essentials To Prevent Nationwide Crises For Future Generations To Struggle Through.

We Must Remember That Any Oppression, Any Injustice, Any Hatred, Is A Wedge Designed To Attack Our Civilization.

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.

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.

We Can Afford All That We Need; But We Can Not Afford All [that] We Want.

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.

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.

Our Handicaps Exist Only In Our Minds.

There Is No Group In America That Can Withstand The Force Of An Aroused Public Opinion.

No Business Which Depends For Existence On Paying Less Than Living Wages To Its Workers Has Any Right To Continue In This Country... By Living Wages I Mean More Than A Bare Subsistence Level - I Mean The Wages Of Decent Living.

I Sometimes Think We Consider Too Much The Good Luck Of The Early Bird And Not Enough The Bad Luck Of The Early Worm.

Happiness Lies Not In The Mere Possession Of Money; It Lies In The Joy Of Achievement, In The Thrill Of Creative Effort.

Above All, Try Something

Go For The Moon. If You Don't Get It, You'll Still Be Heading For A Star. Happiness Lies Not In The Mere Possession Of Money; It Lies In The Joy Of Achievement, In The Thrill Of The Creative Effort.

Our Policy Is To Give All Possible Material Aid To The Nations That Still Resist Aggression Across The Atlantic And Pacific Oceans. And We Make It Abundantly Clear That We Intend To Commit None Of The Fatal Errors Of Appeasement. We Have The Thought That In This Nation Of Many States We Have Found The Way In Which Men Of Many Racial Origins May Live Together In Peace. If The Human Race As A Whole Is To Survive, The World Must Find A Way By Which Men And Nations May Live Together In Peace. We Cannot Accept The Doctrine That War Must Be Forever A Part Of Man's Destiny.

It Seems To Me That The Dedication Of A Library Is An Act Of Faith. To Bring Together The Resources Of The Past And To House Them In Buildings Where They Will Be Preserved For The Use Of Men And Women In The Future, A Nation Must Believe In Three Things. It Must Believe In The Past. It Must Believe In The Future. It Must, Above All, Believe In The Capacity Of Its Own People So To Learn From The Past That They Can Gain In Judgment In Creating Their Own Future.

Private Enterprise Is Ceasing To Be Free Enterprise. Private Enterprise, Indeed, Became Too Private. It Became Privileged Enterprise, Not Free Enterprise.

Free Enterprise

Private Enterprise

Industrial Combination Is Not Wrong In Itself. The Danger Lies In Taking Government Into Partnership.

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.

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.

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.

It Is Time To Extend Planning To A Wider Field, In This Instance Comprehending In One Great Project Many States Directly Concerned With The Basin Of One Of Our Greatest Rivers.

Freedom To Learn Is The First Necessity Of Guaranteeing That Man Himself Shall Be Self Reliant Enough To Be Free.

The Hand That Held The Dagger Has Struck It Into The Back Of Its Neighbor.

The Handling Of Our Forests As A Continuous, Renewable Resource Means Permanent Employment And Stability To Our Country Life. The Forests Are Also Needed For Mitigating Extreme Climatic Fluctuations, Holding The Soil On The Slopes, Retaining The Moisture In The Ground, And Controlling The Equable Flow Of Water In Our Streams.

No Greater Tragedy Exists In Modern Civilization Than The Aged, Worn-out Worker Who After A Life Of Ceaseless Effort And Useful Productivity Must Look Forward For His Declining Years To A Poorhouse. A Modern Social Consciousness Demands A More Humane And Efficient Arrangement.

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.

It Is A Terrible Thing To Look Over Your Shoulder When You Are Trying To Lead - And Find No One There.

I See One-third Of A Nation Ill-housed, Ill-clad, Ill-nourished.

The United States Constitution Has Proved Itself The Most Marvelously Elastic Compilation Of Rules Of Government Ever Written.

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Individual Effort

A Reactionary Is A Somnambulist Walking Backwards.

Walking Backwards

The Frontier Of America Is On The Rhine.

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.

Freedom Of The Press Is Essential To The Preservation Of A Democracy; But There Is A Difference Between Freedom And License. Editorialists Who Tell Downright Lies In Order To Advance Their Own Agendas Do More To Discredit The Press Than All The Censors In The World.

All Government Employees Should Realize That The Process Of Collective Bargaining, As Usually Understood, Cannot Be Transplanted Into The Public Service.

Happiness Is Not Merely Money, Which Is Fun For Effort And Achievement

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.

Many Causes Produce War. There Are Ancient Hatreds, Turbulent Frontiers, The "legacy Of Old Forgotten, Far-off Things, And Battles Long Ago." There Are New-born Fanaticisms. Convictions On The Part Of Certain Peoples That They Have Become The Unique Depositories Of Ultimate Truth And Right.

I Have No Expectation Of Making A Hit Every Time I Come To Bat.

In A Democratic Nation, Power Must Be Linked With Responsibility, And Obliged To Defend And Justify Itself Within The Framework Of The General Good.

Sports Is The Very Fiber Of All We Stand For. It Keeps Our Spirits Alive.

'peace On Earth, Good Will Toward Men' - Democracy Must Cling To That Message. For It Is My Deep Conviction That Democracy Cannot Live Without That True Religion Which Gives A Nation A Sense Of Justice And Moral Purpose.

We Have Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself.

Calm Seas Never Made A Good Sailor

I Think That Both Here And In England There Are Two Schools Of Thought--those Who Would Be Altruistic In Regard To The Germans, Hoping That By Loving Kindness To Make Them Christian Again--and Those Who Would Adopt A Much Tougher Attitude. Most Decidedly I Belong To The Latter School, For Though I Am Not Blood-thirsty, I Want The Germans To Know That This Time At Least They Have Definitely Lost The War.

In The Field Of World Policy; I Would Dedicate This Nation To The Policy Of The Good Neighbor.

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 Overwhelming Majority Of Americans Are Possessed Of Two Great Qualities A Sense Of Humor And A Sense Of Proportion.

You Cannot Organize Civilization Around The Core Of Militarism And At The Same Time Expect Reason To Control Human Destinies.

All That Is Within Me Cries Out To Go Back To My Home On The Hudson River

I Am Particularly Interested In The Indications That The People Seem To Understand And Approve The Necessity Of Pursuing The Course That Will Prevent A Further Effort On The Part Of The German Peoples To Continue The Struggle For World Domination, Even Though They Are Thoroughly Beaten In This War.

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.

The Constant Free Flow Of Communication Amount Us-enabling The Free Interchange Of Ideas-forms The Very Bloodstream Of Our Nation. It Keeps The Mind And Body Of Our Democracy Eternally Vital, Eternally Young.

Taxes Are Paid In The Sweat Of Every Man Who Labors.

Books Can Not Be Killed By Fire. People Die, But Books Never Die. No Man And No Force Can Abolish Memory... In This War, We Know, Books Are Weapons. And It Is A Part Of Your Dedication Always To Make Them Weapons For Man's Freedom.

Organized Money Hates Me--and I Welcome Their Hatred!

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!

Books Cannot Be Killed By Fire.

To Reach A Port, We Must Sail - Sail, Not Tie At Anchor - Sail, Not Drift.

Older Men Declare War. But It Is Youth That Must Fight And Die. And It Is Youth Who Must Inherit The Tribulation, The Sorrow And The Triumphs That Are The Aftermath Of War.

Inspirational Life

There's Nothing To Fear But A Wide Receiver Who Can Run A 100-yard Dash In Under 10 Seconds.

I Am Neither Bitter Nor Cynical But I Do Wish There Was Less Immaturity In Political Thinking.

The Very Nature And Purposes Of Government Make It Impossible For Administrative Officials To Represent Fully Or To Bind The Employer In Mutual Discussions With Government Employee Organizations.

Are You Laboring Under The Impression That I Read These Memoranda Of Yours? I Can't Even Lift Them.

On This Tenth Day Of June, Nineteen Hundred And Forty, The Hand That Held The Dagger Has Struck It Into The Back Of Its Neighbor.... In Our Unity, In Our American Unity We Will Pursue Two Obvious And Simultaneous Courses; We Will Extend To The Opponents Of Force The Material Resources Of This Nation, And At The Same Time We Will Harness And Speed Up The Use Of Those Resources In Order That We Ourselves In The Americas May Have Equipment And Training Equal To The Task Of Any Emergency And Every Defense.

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.

The Success Of Our Whole National Program Depends, Of Course, On The Cooperation Of The Public--on Its Intelligent Support And Its Use Of A Reliable System.

It Is One Of The Characteristics Of A Free And Democratic Nation That It Have Free And Independent Labor Unions.

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No Man Can Tame A Tiger Into A Kitten By Stroking It.

Pearl Harbor Day

The Winds That Blow Through The Wide Sky In These Mounts, The Winds That Sweep From Canada To Mexico, From The Pacific To The Atlantic - Have Always Blown On Free Men.

As A Nation, We May Take Pride In The Fact That We Are Softhearted; But We Cannot Afford To Be Soft-headed.

No Group And No Government Can Properly Prescribe Precisely What Should Constitute The Body Of Knowledge With Which True Education Is Concerned.

I Am Accustomed To Hearing Malicious Falsehoods About Myself . . . But I Think I Have A Right To Resent, To Object To Libelous Statements About My Dog.

Every Man Has A Right To Life, And This Means That He Has Also A Right To Make A Comfortable Living.

A Liberal Is A Man Who Uses His Legs And His Hands At The Behest-at The Command-of His Head.

On The European Front The Most Important Development Of The Past Year Has Been The Crushing Offensive Of The Great Armies Of Russia.

Our National Debt After All Is An Internal Debt Owed Not Only By The Nation But To The Nation. If Our Children Have To Pay Interest On It They Will Pay That Interest To Themselves. A Reasonable Internal Debt Will Not Impoverish Our Children Or Put The Nation Into Bankruptcy.

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."

An Election Cannot Give A Country A Firm Sense Of Direction If It Has Two Or More National Parties Which Merely Have Different Names But Are As Alike In Their Principles And Aims As Peas In The Same Pod.

The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself.

The Peoples Of Many Countries Are Being Taxed To The Point Of Poverty And Starvation In Order To Enable Governments To Engage In A Mad Race In Armament Which, If Permitted To Continue, May Well Result In War. 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 It Must Be Met By The Concerted Actions Of The Peoples Of All Nations.

A Radical Is A Man With Both Feet Firmly Planted-in The Air. A Conservative Is A Man With Two Perfectly Good Legs, Who, However, Has Never Learned To Walk Forward. A Reactionary Is A Somnambulist Walking Backwards. A Liberal Is A Man Who Uses His Legs And Hands At The Behest Of His Head.

Art Is Not A Treasure In The Past Or An Importation From Another Land, But Part Of The Present Life Of All Living And Creating Peoples.

To Reach A Port We Must Set Sail

True Individual Freedom Cannot Exist Without Economic Security And Independence. People Who Are Hungry And Out Of A Job Are The Stuff Of Which Dictatorships Are Made.

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.

I Have Seen War. I Have Seen War On Land And Sea. I Have Seen Blood Running From The Wounded. I Have Seen Men Coughing Out Their Gassed Lungs. I Have Seen The Dead In The Mud. I Have Seen Cities Destroyed. I Have Seen 200 Limping, Exhausted Men Come Out Of Line—the Survivors Of A Regiment Of 1,000 That Went Forward 48 Hours Before. I Have Seen Children Starving. I Have Seen The Agony Of Mothers And Wives. I Hate War.

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.

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.

It Will Never Be Possible For Any Length Of Time For Any Group Of The American People, Either By Reason Of Wealth Or Learning Or Inheritance Or Economic Power, To Retain Any Mandate, Any Permanent Authority To Arrogate To Itself The Political Control Of American Public Life.

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

I Hope That You Have Re-read The Constitution Of The United States In These Past Few Weeks. Like The Bible, It Ought To Be Read Again And Again.

Do Not Confuse Objectives With Methods. When The Nation Becomes Substantially United In Favor Of Planning The Broad Objectives Of Civilization, Then True Leadership Must Unite Thought Behind Definite Methods.

The Presidency Is Not Merely An Administrative Office. Thats The Least Of It. It Is More Than An Engineering Job, Efficient Or Inefficient. It Is Pre-eminently A Place Of Moral Leadership. All Our Great Presidents Were Leaders Of Thought At Times When Certain Historic Ideas In The Life Of The Nation Had To Be Clarified.

Moral Leadership

The Real Safeguard Of Democracy Is Education.

Inside The Polling Booth Every American Man And Woman Stands As The Equal Of Every Other American Man And Woman. There They Have No Superiors. There They Have No Masters Save Their Own Minds And Consciences.

Governments Can Err, Presidents Do Make Mistakes, But The Immortal Dante Tells Us That Divine Justice Weighs The Sins Of The Cold-blooded And The Sins Of The Warm-hearted In Different Scales. Better The Occasional Faults Of A Government That Lives In A Spirit Of Charity Than The Constant Omission Of A Government Frozen In The Ice Of Its Own Indifference.

Physical Strength Can Never Permanently Withstand The Impact Of Spiritual Force.

The Test Of Our Progress Is Not Whether We Add More To The Abundance Of Those Who Have Much It Is Whether We Provide Enough For Those Who Have Little.

Economic Inequality

There Should Be No Bitterness Or Hate Where The Sole Thought Is The Welfare Of The United States Of America. No Man Can Occupy The Office Of President Without Realizing That He Is President Of All The People.

They Realize That In Thirty-four Months We Have Built Up New Instruments Of Public Power. In The Hands Of A Peoples Government This Power Is Wholesome And Proper. But In The Hands Of Political Puppets Of An Economic Autocracy Such Power Would Provide Shackles For The Liberties Of The People.

Tell That To The Marines!

I Am ... Willing To Make It Clear That American Foreign Policy Must Uphold The Sanctity Of International Treaties. That Is The Cornerstone On Which All Relations Between Nations Must Rest.

We Are Fighting To Save A Great And Precious Form Of Government For Ourselves And For The World.

That Is The Spiral Galaxy In Andromeda. It Is As Large As Our Milky Way. It Is One Of A Hundred Million Galaxies. It Consists Of One Hundred Billion Suns. Now I Think We Are Small Enough.

The First Twelve Years Are The Hardest.

Prosperous Farmers Mean More Employment, More Prosperity For The Workers And The Business Men Of Every Industrial Area In The Whole Country.

We Must Save The Constitution From The [supreme] Court And The Court From Itself.

The Whole World Is One Neighborhood.

Failure Is Not An American Habit.

The American People Want Their Government To Act, And Not Merely To Talk, Whenever And Wherever There Is A Threat To World Peace.

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.

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.

The World Order Which We Seek Is The Co-operation Of Free Countries, Working Together In A Friendly, Civilized Society.

...since 1775 The United States Marines Have Upheld A Fine Tradition Of Service To Their Country. They Are Doing So Today. I Am Confident They Will Continue To Do So.

Labor Day Symbolizes Our Determination To Achieve An Economic Freedom For The Average Man Which Will Give His Political Freedom Realty.

The Nation That Destroys Its Soil Destroys Itself.

I've Never Been Unemployed. I've Never Been Very Fully Employed Either.

We Know That There Are Chiselers. At The Bottom Of Every Case Of Criticism And Obstruction We Have Found Some Selfish Interest, Some Private Axe To Grind.

A Government Can Be No Better Than The Public Opinion Which Sustains It.

People Die, But Books Never Die. No Man And No Force Can Abolish Memory.

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.

This Generation

If We Do Not Halt This Steady Process Of Building Commissions And Regulatory Bodies And The Special Legislation Like Huge Inverted Pyramids Over Every One Of The Simple Constitutional Provisions, We Shall Soon Be Spending Many Billions Of Dollars More.

We Need Enthusiasm, Imagination And The Ability To Face Facts, Even Unpleasant Ones, Bravely. We Need To Correct, By Drastic Means If Necessary, The Faults In Our Economic System From Which We Now Suffer. We Need The Courage Of The Young. 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. May Every One Of Us Be Granted The Courage, The Faith And The Vision To Give The Best That Is In Us To That Remaking!

We Stand Committed To The Proposition That Freedom Is No Half-and-half Affair. If The Average Citizen Is Guaranteed Equal Opportunity In The Polling Place, He Must Have Equal Opportunity In The Market Place.

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.

I Am Perhaps Being A Bit Facetious But If Some Of My Good Baptist Brethren In Georgia Had Done A Little Preaching From The Pulpitagainst The K.k.k. In The '20s, I Would Have A Little More Genuine American Respect For Their Christianity!

We Know That Enduring Peace Cannot Be Bought At The Cost Of Other People's Freedom.

In The Formative Days Of The Republic, The Directing Influence The Bible Exercised Upon The Fathers Of The Nation Is Conspicuously Evident.

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.

More Than An End To War, We Want An End To The Beginning Of All Wars - Yes, An End To This Brutal, Inhuman And Thoroughly Impractical Method Of Settling The Differences Between Governments.

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.

The Value Of Love Will Always Be Stronger Than The Value Of Hate. Any Nation Or Group Of Nations Which Employs Hatred Eventually Is Torn To Pieces By Hatred.

Repetition Does Not Transform A Lie Into A Truth.

Hostilities Exist. There Is No Blinking At The Fact That Our People, Our Territory And Our Interests Are In Grave Danger. With Confidence In Our Armed Forces, With The Unbounding Determination Of Our People, We Will Gain The Inevitable Triumph, So Help Us God.

As Americans, We Go Forward, In The Service Of Our Country, By The Will Of God.

We Had To Struggle With The Old Enemies Of Peace - Business And Financial Monopoly, Speculation, Reckless Banking, Class Antagonism, Sectionalism, War Profiteering

We Have Always Held To The Hope, The Belief, The Conviction That There Is A Better Life, A Better World, Beyond The Horizon.

One Reason--perhaps The Chief--of The Virility Of The Roosevelts Is [their] Very Democratic Spirit. They Have Never Felt That Because They Were Born In A Good Position They Could Put Their Hands In Their Pockets And Succeed. They Have Felt, Rather, That Being Born In A Good Position, There Is No Excuse For Them If They Did Not Do Their Duty By The Community.

The Chief Problem Is, Of Course, Whether The Marching Of The General Spirit Of Things Is Heading Consciously Or Sub- Consciously Toward An Idea Of Extension Of Boundaries.

New Orleans Makes It Possible To Go To Europe Without Ever Leaving The United States.

The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is A Giant Wheelchair-crushing Squid. Well... Uh... Actually, I Guess That's The Only Thing I Have To Fear.

New Ideas Can Be Good And Bad, Just The Same As Old Ones.

General De Gaulle Was A Thoroughly Bad Boy. The Day He Arrived, He Thought He Was Joan Of Arc And The Following Day He Insisted That He Was Georges Clemenceau.

I Call For Effort, Courage, Sacrifice, Devotion. Granting The Love Of Freedom, All Of These Are Possible. And The Love Of Freedom Is Still Fierce And Steady In The Nation Today. June 10, 1940

The Truth Is Found When Men Are Free To Pursue It.

Do The Best You Can Do And Wait The Results In Peace.

Yesterday, December 7, 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.

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!

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.

More Than Just An End To War, We Want An End To The Beginnings Of All Wars.

The Moment A Mere Numerical Superiority By Either States Or Voters In This Country Proceeds To Ignore The Needs And Desires Of The Minority, And For Their Own Selfish Purpose Or Advancement, Hamper Or Oppress That Minority, Or Debar Them In Any Way From Equal Privileges And Equal Rights-that Moment Will Mark The Failure Of Our Constitutional System.

We Are Going To Tax And Tax, Spend And Spend, Elect And Elect.

A World Turned Into A Stereotype, A Society Converted Into A Regiment, A Life Translated Into A Routine, Make It Difficult For Either Art Or Artists To Survive. Crush Individuality In Society And You Crush Art As Well. Nourish The Conditions Of A Free Life And You Nourish The Arts, Too.

Religion, By Teaching Man His Relationship To God, Gives The Individual A Sense Of His Own Dignity And Teaches Him To Respect Himself By Respecting His Neighbors.

It Takes A Long Time To Bring The Past Up To The Present.

Once You've Spent Two Years Trying To Wiggle One Toe, Everything Is In Proportion.

The Barrier To Success Is Not Something Which Exists In The Real World; It Is Composed Purely And Simply Of Doubts About Ability.

First Of All, Let Me Assert My Firm Belief That The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself - Nameless, Unreasoning, Unjustified Terror Which Paralyzes Needed Efforts To Convert Retreat Into Advance.

The Hopes Of The Republic Cannot Forever Tolerate Either Undeserved Poverty Or Self-serving Wealth.

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.

The Fundamental Idea...is That The Country Belongs To The People, That It Is In Process Of Making For The Enrichment Of The Lives Of All Of Us.

I Pledge You, Pledge Myself, To A New Deal For The American People. Let Us All Here Assembled Constitute Ourselves Prophets Of A New Order Of Competence And Of Courage. This Is More Than A Political Campaign; It Is A Call To Arms. Give Me Your Help, Not To Win Votes Alone, But To Win In This Crusade To Restore America To Its Own People.

Forests Are The Lungs Of Our Land.

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

When You See A Rattlesnake Poised To Strike, You Do Not Wait Until He Has Struck To Crush Him.

The Real Truth Of The Matter Is, As You And I Know, That A Financial Element In The Larger Centers Has Owned The Government Ever Since The Days Of Andrew Jackson...

World Government

Democracy Can Thrive Only When It Enlists The Devotion Of Those Whom Lincoln Called The Common People. Democracy Can Hold That Devotion Only When It Adequately Respects Their Dignity By So Ordering Society As To Assure To The Masses Of Men And Women Reasonable Security And Hope For Themselves And For Their Children.

Presidents Are Selected, Not Elected.

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.

Freedom Of Speech

Dealing With The State Department Is Like Watching An Elephant Become Pregnant.

Eternal Truths Will Be Neither True Nor Eternal Unless They Have Fresh Meaning For Every New Social Situation.

Meaning Of Life

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.

To Bring About Government By Oligarchy, Masquerading As Democracy, It Is Fundamentally Essential That Practically All Authority And Control Be Centralized In Our Federal Government. . . The Individual Sovereignty Of Our States Must First Be Destroyed.

I Propose To Create A Civilian Conservation Corps To Be Used In Simple Work...more Important, However, Than The Material Gains Will Be The Moral And Spiritual Value Of Such Work.

I Never Forget That I Live In A House Owned By All The American People And That I Have Been Given Their Trust.

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.

Rules Are Not Necessarily Sacred, Principles Are.

Your Boys Are Not Going To Be Sent Into Any Foreign Wars.

We Are A Nation Of Many Nationalities, Many Races, Many Religions-bound Together By A Single Unity, The Unity Of Freedom And Equality. Whoever Seeks To Set One Nationality Against Another, Seeks To Degrade All Nationalities.

If You Treat People Right They Will Treat You Right... Ninety Percent Of The Time.

It Is Highly Unlikely That An Airplane, Or Fleet Of Them, Could Ever Sink A Fleet Of Navy Vessels Under Battle Conditions.

In My Inaugural I Laid Down The Simple Proposition That Nobody Is Going To Starve In This Country. It Seems To Me To Be Equally Plain That No Business Which Depends For Existence On Paying Less Than Living Wages To Its Workers Has Any Right To Continue In This Country. By "business" I Mean The Whole Of Commerce As Well As The Whole Of Industry; By Workers I Mean All Workers, The White Collar Class As Well As The Men In Overalls; And By Living Wages I Mean More Than A Bare Subsistence Level - I Mean The Wages Of Decent Living.

We May Make Mistakes-but They Must Never Be Mistakes Which Result From Faintness Of Heart Or Abandonment Of Moral Principle.

We Have Learned That We Cannot Live Alone, At Peace; That Our Own Well-being Is Dependent On The Well-being Of Other Nations Far Away. We Have Learned That We Must Live As Men, Not As Ostriches, Nor As Dogs In The Manger.

We Think Of Our Land And Water And Human Resources Not As Static And Sterile Possessions But As Life Giving Assets To Be Directed By Wise Provisions For Future Days.

[the United States Is] Founded On The Principles Of Christianity

The School Is The Last Expenditure Upon Which America Should Be Willing To Economize.

It Is An Unfortunate Human Failing That A Full Pocketbook Often Groans More Loudly Than An Empty Stomach.

It Is A Good Thing To Demand Liberty For Ourselves And For Those Who Agree With Us, But It Is A Better Thing And A Rarer Thing To Give Liberty To Others Who Do Not Agree With Us.

Preparation For Defense Is An Inalienable Prerogative Of A Sovereign State.

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