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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

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Happiness Lies Not In

Franklin D. Roosevelt

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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.

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And Yet Our Distress Comes From No Failure Of Substance. We Are Stricken By No Plague Of Locusts. Compared With The Perils Which Our Forefathers Conquered, Because They Believed And Were Not Afraid, We Have Still Much To Be Thankful For. Nature Still Offers Her Bounty And Human Efforts Have Multiplied It. Plenty Is At Our Doorstep, But A Generous Use Of It Languishes In The Very Sight Of The Supply.

I Fearthat Both Dictators [hitler And Mussolini] Think Their Present Methods Are Succeeding Because Of The Gains They Have Made In Albania, Hungary And Yugoslavia.

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.

The True Conservative Is The Man Who Has A Real Concern For Injustices And Takes Thought Against The Day Of Reckoning.

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.

Here Is My Principle: Taxes Shall Be Levied According To Ability To Pay. That Is The Only American Principle.

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.

Those Newspapers Of The Nation Which Most Loudly Cried Dictatorship Against Me Would Have Been The First To Justify The Beginnings Of Dictatorship By Somebody Else.

Almighty God: Our Sons, Pride Of Our Nation, This Day Have Set Upon A Mighty Endeavor, A Struggle To Preserve Our Republic, Our Religion, And Our Civilization, And To Set Free A Suffering Humanity.

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 - And I Am Not Wholly Excepting The Administration Of W. W. The Country Is Going Through A Repetition Of Jackson's Fight With The Bank Of The United States - Only On A Far Bigger And Broader Basis.

The Trade Agreement Which I Had The Privilege Of Signing With Your Prime Minister Last Autumn Is Tangible Evidence Of The Desire Of The People Of Both Countries To Practice What They Preach When They Speak Of The Good Neighbor. In The Solution Of The Grave Problems That Face The World Today, Frank Dealing, Cooperation And A Spirit Of Give And Take Between Nations Is More Important Than Ever Before.

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

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.

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

In This Nation I See Tens Of Millions Of Its Citizens, A Substantial Part Of Its Whole Population, Who At This Very Moment Are Denied The Greater Part Of What The Very Lowest Standards Of Today Call The Necessities Of Life. I See One Third Of A Nation Ill-housed, Ill-clad, Ill-nourished. 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 Too Little.

If You Have Spent Two Years In Bed Trying To Wiggle Your Big Toe, Everything Else Seems Easy.

To A Great Extent The Achievements Of Invention, Of Mechanical And Of Artistic Creation, Must Of Necessity, And Rightly, Be Individual Rather Than Governmental. It Is The Self-reliant Pioneer In Every Enterprise Who Beats The Path Along Which American Civilization Has Marched. Such Individual Effort Is The Glory Of America.

Individual Effort

I Tell The American People Solemnly That The United States Will Never Survive As A Happy And Fertile Oasis Of Liberty Surrounded By A Cruel Desert Of Dictatorship.

One Thing Is Sure. We Have To Do Something. We Have To Do The Best We Know How At The Moment... If It Doesn't Turn Out Right, We Can Modify It As We Go Along.

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.

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

All Of Us In All The Americas Will Be Living At The Point Of A Gun.

I've Fired My Last Shot. I Think I Should Have Another Round In My Belt.

Old Women Are The Secret To The Fluffiest Cakes.

My Own Party Can Succeed At The Polls Only So Long As It Continues To Be The Party Of Militant Liberalism.

The Country Needs And, Unless I Mistake Its Temper, The Country Demands Bold, Persistent Experimentation. 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. The Millions Who Are In Want Will Not Stand By Silently Forever While The Things To Satisfy Their Needs Are Within Easy Reach.

Democracy Cannot Succeed Unless Those Who Express Their Choice Are Prepared To Choose Wisely. The Real Safeguard Of Democracy, Therefore, Is Education.

No Democracy Can Long Survive Which Does Not Accept As Fundamental To Its Very Existence The Recognition Of The Rights Of Minorities.

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.

Goods Produced Under Conditions Which Do Not Meet A Rudimentary Standard To Decency Should Be Regarded As Contraband And Not Allowed To Pollute The Channels Of International Commerce.

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.

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

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.

The Duty Of The State Toward The Citizen Is The Duty Of The Servant To Its Master.... One Of The Duties Of The State Is That Of Caring For Those Of Its Citizens Who Find Themselves The Victims Of Such Adverse Circumstances As Makes Them Unable To Obtain Even The Necessities For Mere Existence Without The Aid Of Others.... To These Unfortunate Citizens Aid Must Be Extended By Government--not As A Matter Of Charity But As A Matter Of Social Duty.

For Three Long Years I Have Been Going Up And Down This Country Preaching That Government . . . Costs Too Much. I Shall Not Stop That Preaching.

The Royalists Of The Economic Order Have Conceded That Political Freedom Was The Business Of The Government, But They Have Maintained That Economic Slavery Was Nobody's Business. They Granted That The Government Could Protect The Citizen In His Right To Vote, But They Denied That The Government Could Do Anything To Protect The Citizen In His Right To Work And His Right To Live. Today 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.

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

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

The Public Schools Shall Be Free From Sectarian Influences And, Above All, Free From Any Attitude Of Hostility To The Adherents Of Any Particular Creed.

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

We Know That Equality Of Individual Ability Has Never Existed And Never Will, But We Do Insist That Equality Of Opportunity Still Must Be Sought.

December 7, 1941. A Date Which Will Live In Infamy.

The Liberty Of A Democracy Is Not Safe If The People Tolerated The Growth Of Private Power To A Point Where It Becomes Stronger Than The Democratic State Itself. That In Its Essence Is Fascism: Ownership Of Government By An Individual, By A Group, Or Any Controlling Private Power.

It Took Six Weeks Of Debate In The Senate To Get The Arms Embargo Law Repealed--and We Face Other Delays During The Present Session Because Most Of The Members Of The Congress Are Thinking In Terms Of Next Autumn's Election. However, That Is One Of The Prices That We Who Live In Democracies Have To Pay. It Is, However, Worth Paying, If All Of Us Can Avoid The Type Of Government Under Which The Unfortunate Population Of Germany And Russia Must Exist.

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.

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 Nazi Danger To Our Western World Has Long Ceased To Be A Mere Possibility. The Danger Is Here Now--not Only From A Military Enemy But From An Enemy Of All Law, All Liberty, All Morality, All Religion.

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.

Taxes, After All, Are Dues That We Pay For The Privileges Of Membership In An Organized Society.

The Nation That Destroys Its Soil Destroys Itself.

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.

Frankly, I Do Not Like The Idea Of Conversations To Define The Term "unconditional Surrender."the German People Can Have Dinned Into Their Ears What I Said In My Christmas Eve Speech--in Effect, That We Have No Thought Of Destroying The German People And That We Want Them To Live Through The Generations Like Other European Peoples On Condition, Of Course, That They Get Rid Of Their Present Philosophy Of Conquest.

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

Pearl Harbor Day

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.

Whoever Seeks To Set One Religion Against Another Seeks To Destroy All Religion.

Employers And Employees Alike Have Learned That In Union There Is Strength.

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

Freedom Means The Supremacy Of Human Rights Everywhere. Our Support Goes To Those Who Struggle To Gain Those Rights Or Keep Them.

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

All Private Plans, All Private Lives, Have Been In A Sense Repealed By An Overriding Public Danger.

There Are Many Ways Of Going Forward, But Only One Way Of Standing Still.

People Die, But Books Never Die.

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.

No Country, However Rich, Can Afford The Waste Of Its Human Resources. Demoralization Caused By Vast Unemployment Is Our Greatest Extravagance. Morally, It Is The Greatest Menace To Our Social Order.

We Have Learned The Simple Truth, As Emerson Said That The Only Way To Have A Friend Is To Be One. We Can Gain No Lasting Peace If We Approach It With Suspicion Or Mistrust Or With Fear.

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

The Fate Of America Cannot Depend On Any One Man. The Greatness Of America Is Grounded In Principles And Not On Any Single Personality.

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

Moral Leadership

We Want A Supreme Court Which Will Do Justice Under The Constitution - Not Over It. In Our Courts We Want A Government Of Laws And Not Of Men.

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

The Traditional Jeffersonian Principle Of Religious Freedom Was So Broadly Democratic That It Included The Right To Have No Religion At All - It Gave To The Individual The Right To Worship Any God He Chose Or No God.

True Wealth Is Not A Static Thing. It Is A Living Thing Made Out Of The Disposition Of Men To Create And Distribute The Good Things Of Life With Rising Standards Of Living.

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

Working Conditions

In Our Personal Ambitions We Are Individualists. But In Our Seeking For Economic And Political Progress As A Nation, We All Go Up Or Else All Go Down As One People.

Peace, Like War, Can Succeed Only Where There Is A Will To Enforce It, And Where There Is Available Power To Enforce It.

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!

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

Men Are Not Prisoners Of Fate, But Only Prisoners Of Their Own Minds.

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.

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 Real Safeguard Of Democracy Is Education.

Since I Am Used To Speaking In Public, I Know That It Is Useless.

Liberty Requires Opportunity To Make A Living--a Living Decent According To The Standard Of The Time, A Living Which Gives A Man Not Only Enough To Live By, But Something To Live For.

Democracy, The Practice Of Self-government, Is A Covenant Among Free Men To Respect The Rights And Liberties Of Their Fellows.

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!

In Our Democracy Officers Of The Government Are The Servants, And Never The Masters Of The People.

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

There Can Be Little Doubt That In Many Ways The Story Of Bridge Building Is The Story Of Civilisation. By It We Can Readily Measure An Important Part Of A People's Progress.

No Man Can Tame A Tiger Into A Kitten By Stroking It. There Can Be No Appeasement With Ruthlessness. There Can Be No Reasoning With An Incendiary Bomb.

Never Before Have We Had So Little Time In Which To Do So Much.

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.

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.

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.

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

There Is Nothing I Love As Much As A Good Fight.

You Sometimes Find Something Good In The Lunatic Fringe. In Fact, We Have Got As Part Of Our Social And Economic Government Today A Whole Lot Of Things Which In My Boyhood Were Considered Lunatic Fringe, And Yet They Are Now Part Of Everyday Life.

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

This Nation Asks For Action, And Action Now.

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.

The First Twelve Years Are The Hardest.

Democracy Is Not A Static Thing. It Is An Everlasting March.

We, And All Others Who Believe In Freedom As Deeply As We Do, Would Rather Die On Our Feet Than Live On Our Knees.

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

What I Seek Is The Highest Possible Batting Average.

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

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?

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

If The Fires Of Freedom And Civil Liberties Burn Low In Other Lands They Must Be Made Brighter In Our Own. 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 In Other Lands The Eternal Truths Of The Past Are Threatened By Intolerance We Must Provide A Safe Place For Their Perpetuation.

...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.

On Both Sides Of The Line, We Are So Accustomed To An Undefended Boundary Three Thousand Miles Long That We Are Inclined Perhaps To Minimize Its Vast Importance, Not Only To Our Own Continuing Relations But Also To The Example Which It Sets To The Other Nations Of The World.

We Are Not Isolationists Except In So Far As We Seek To Isolate Ourselves Completely From War. Yet We Must Remember That So Long As War Exists On Earth There Will Be Some Danger That Even The Nation Which Most Ardently Desires Peace May Be Drawn Into War.

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

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.

It Drives On With A Courage Which Is Stronger Than The Storm. It Drives On With A Mercy Which Does Not Quail In The Presence Of Death. It Drives On As Proof, A Symbol, A Testimony That Man Is Created In The Image Of God And That Valour And Virtue Have Not Perished In The British Race.

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.

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.

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.

As Commander-in-chief, I Take Pleasure In Commending The Reading Of The Bible To All Who Serve In The Armed Forces Of The United States. Throughout The Centuries, Men Of Many Faiths And Diverse Origins Have Found In The Sacred Book Words Of Wisdom, Counsel, And Inspiration. It Is A Fountain Of Strength...an Aid In Attaining The Highest Aspiration Of The Human Soul.

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

Organized Labor

Remember You Are Just An Extra In Everyone Else's Play.

Those Who Have Long Enjoyed Such Privileges As We Enjoy Forget In Time That Men Have Died To Win Them." - Franklin D. Roosevelt

Those (who) Seek To Establish Systems Of Government Based On The Regimentation Of All Human Beings By A Handful Of Individual Rulers...call This A New Order. It Is Not New And It Is Not Order.

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.

If Civilization Is To Survive, The Principles Of The Prince Of Peace Must Be Restored. Shattered Trust Between Nations Must Be Revived. Most Important Of All, The Will For Peace On The Part Of Peace-loving Nations Must Express Itself To The End That Nations That May Be Tempted To Violate Their Agreements And The Rights Of Others Will Desist From Such A Cause. There Must Be Positive Endeavors To Preserve Peace. America Hates War. America Hopes For Peace. Therefore, America Actively Engages In The Search For Peace.

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.

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

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.

I Do Not Look Upon These United States As A Finished Product. We Are Still In The Making.

We Are Trying To Construct A More Inclusive Society. We Are Going To Make A Country In Which No One Is Left Out.

This Generation Of Americans Has A Rendezvous With Destiny.

This Generation

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

It Was Natural And Perhaps Human That The Privileged Princes Of These New Economic Dynasties, Thirsting For Power, Reached Out For Control Over Government Itself. They Created A New Despotism And Wrapped It In The Robes Of Legal Sanction. ...and As A Result The Average Man Once More Confronts The Problem That Faced The Minute Man.

We Have The Men--the Skill--the Wealth--and Above All, The Will.... We Must Be The Great Arsenal Of Democracy.

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.

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.

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.

Our True Destiny Is Not To Be Ministered Unto But To Minister To Ourselves And To Our Fellow Men.

Almighty God, Who Hast Given Us This Good Land For Our Heritage; We Humbly Beseech Thee That We May Always Prove Ourselves A People Mindful Of Thy Favor And Glad To Do Thy Will.

Confidence... Thrives On Honesty, On Honor, On The Sacredness Of Obligations, On Faithful Protection And On Unselfish Performance. Without Them It Cannot Live.

Friendship Among Nations, As Among Individuals, Calls For Constructive Efforts To Muster The Forces Of Humanity In Order That An Atmosphere Of Close Understanding And Cooperation May Be Cultivated.

These Are Bad Days For All Of Us Who Remember Always That When Real World Forces Come Into Conflict, The Final Result Is Never As Dark As We Mortals Guess It In Very Difficult Days.

I Regard Reduction In Federal Spending As One Of The Most Important Issues In This Campaign. In My Opinion It Is The Most Direct And Effective Contribution That Government Can Make To Business.

It Is The Duty Of The President To Propose And It Is The Privilege Of The Congress To Dispose.

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.

Inequality May Linger In The World Of Material Things, But Great Music, Great Literature, Great Art And The Wonders Of Science Are, And Should Be, Open To All.

Forests Are The Lungs Of Our Land.

Lord, Reform Thy World, Beginning With Me.

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.

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

Taxation According To Income Is The Most Effective Instrument Yet Devised To Obtain Just Contribution From Those Best Able To Bear It And To Avoid Placing Onerous Burdens Upon The Mass Of Our People.

The Creed Of Our Democracy Is That Liberty Is Acquired And Kept By Men And Women Who Are Strong And Self-reliant, And Possessed Of Such Wisdom As God Gives Mankind - Men And Women Who Are Just, And Understanding, And Generous To Others - Men And Women Who Are Capable Of Disciplining Themselves. For They Are The Rulers And They Must Rule Themselves.

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

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

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.

We Have Always Known That Heedless Self Interest Was Bad Morals, We Now Know That It Is Bad Economics.

"appeasement" Is The Policy Of Feeding Your Friends To A Crocodile, One At A Time, In Hopes That The Crocodile Will Eat You Last.

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

To Return To Higher Standards Of Living We Must Abandon The False Prophets And Seek New Leaders Of Our Own Choosing.

The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself.

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.

When Peace Has Been Broken Anywhere, The Peace Of All Countries Is In Danger.

Freedom Of Speech...freedom Of Worship...freedom From Want...freedom From Fear.

Freedom Of Speech

We Must Be The Great Arsenal Of Democracy. For Us This Is An Emergency As Serious As War Itself. We Must Apply Ourselves To Our Task With The Same Resolution, The Same Sense Of Urgency, The Same Spirit Of Patriotism And Sacrifice As We Would Show Were We At War.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Books Cannot Be Killed By Fire.

Peace Can Endure Only So Long As Humanity Really Insists Upon It, And Is Willing To Work For It And Sacrifice For It.

The Only Thing We Have To Fear...is Audiovisual Glitches At Our Annual Event.

In The Truest Sense, Freedom Cannot Be Bestowed; It Must Be Achieved.

We Cannot Read The History Of Our Rise And Development As A Nation, Without Reckoning With The Place The Bible Has Occupied In Shaping The Advances Of The Republic. Where We Have Been The Truest And Most Consistent In Obeying Its Precepts, We Have Attained The Greatest Measure Of Contentment And Prosperity.

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

No Government Can Help The Destinies Of People Who Insist In Putting Sectional And Class Consciousness Ahead Of General Weal.

Great Power Involves Great Responsibility

Power And Responsibility

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.

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

Our Security Is Not A Matter Of Weapons Alone. The Arm That Wields Them Must Be Strong, The Eye That Guides Them Clear, The Will That Directs Them Indomitable.

Any Government, Like Any Family, Can For A Year Spend A Little More Than It Earns. But You And I Know That A Continuation Of That Habit Means The Poorhouse.

A Reactionary Is A Somnambulist Walking Backwards.

Walking Backwards

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

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.

Democracy Alone, Of All Forms Of Government, Enlists The Full Force Of Men's Enlightened Will.

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

The Virtues Are Lost In Self-interest As Rivers Are Lost In The Sea.

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

That, In Its Essence, Is Fascism — Ownership Of Government By An Individual, By A Group, Or By Any Other Controlling Private Power.

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.

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.

The Country Needs And, Unless I Mistake Its Temper, The Country Demands Bold, Persistent Experimentation .

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.

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.

What America Needs Now Is A Drink.

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

America Has Been The New World In All Tongues, To All Peoples, Not Because This Continent Was A New-found Land, But Because All Those Who Came Here Believed They Could Create Upon This Continent A New Life -- A Life That Should Be New In Freedom.

Never Underestimate A Man Who Overestimates Himself.

We Know Now That Government By Organized Money Is Just As Dangerous As Government By Organized Mob.... [the Organized Moneyed People] Are Unanimous In Their Hate For Me And I Welcome Their Hatred.... I Should Like To Have It Said Of My Second Administration That These Forces Met Their Master.

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.

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