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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.

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

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If The Fires Of

Franklin D. Roosevelt

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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.

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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.

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

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.

Every Time An Artist Dies, Part Of The Vision Of Mankind Passes With Him.

Resort To Force In The Great War (i) Failed To Bring Tranquillity. Victory And Defeat Alike Were Sterile. That Lesson The World Should Have Learned.

Victory And Defeat

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.

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

Research Is One Of The Nation's Very Greatest Resources And The Role Of The Federal Government In Supporting And Stimulating It Needs To Reexamined.

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.

We Have Nothing To Fear But Missing Our Massage Appointment Time

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

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.

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

When A Country Is At War We Want Congressmen, Regardless Of Party, To Back Up The Government Of The United States.

We Defend And We Build A Way Of Life, Not For America Alone, But For All Mankind.

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

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.

I Have A Terrific Headache.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Sometimes The Best Way To Keep Peace In The Family Is To Keep The Members Of The Family Apart For Awhile.

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

This Generation Of Americans Has A Rendezvous With Destiny.

This Generation

I Am A Christian And A Democrat, That's All.

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.

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.

Repetition Does Not Transform A Lie Into A Truth.

I Have A Terrific Pain In The Back Of My Head.

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 Best Customer Of American Industry Is The Well Paid Worker.

Working Conditions

It [concentration Of Wealth And Power] Has Been A Menace To . . . American Democracy.

Concentration Of Wealth

I Hope That Your Committee Will Not Permit Doubt As To Constitutionality, However Reasonable, To Block The Suggested Legislation

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.

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.

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.

Our Handicaps Exist Only In Our Minds.

Against Naked Force The Only Possible Defense Is Naked Force. The Aggressor Makes The Rules For Such A War; The Defenders Have No Alternative But Matching Destruction With More Destruction, Slaughter With Greater Slaughter.

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.

Don't Forget What I Discovered That Over Ninety Percent Of All National Deficits From 1921 To 1939 Were Caused By Payments For Past, Present, And Future Wars.

Courage Is Not The Absence Of Fear, But Rather The Assessment That Something Else Is More Important Than Fear.

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

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.

I Suggest A Nationwide Reading Of The Holy Scriptures During The Period From Thanksgiving Day To Christmas.

Thanksgiving Day

No Political Party Has Exclusive Patent Rights On Prosperity.

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.

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

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.

This Nation Asks For Action, And Action Now.

It Is The Purpose Of The 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.

This Law Represents A Cornerstone In A Structure Which Is Being Built But Is By No Means Completed--a Structure Intended To Lessen The Force Of Possible Future Depressions, To Act As A Protection To Future Administrations Of The Government Against The Necessity Of Going Deeply Into Debt To Furnish Relief To The Needy--a Law To Flatten Out The Peaks And Valleys Of Deflation And Of Inflation--in Other Words, A Law That Will Take Care Of Human Needs And At The Same Time Provide For The United States An Economic Structure Of Vastly Greater Soundness.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

All Work Undertaken Should Be Useful - Not Just For A Day, Or A Year, But Useful In The Sense That It Affords Permanent Improvement In Living Conditions Or That It Creates Future New Wealth For The Nation.

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.

This Great Nation Will Endure As It Has Endured, Will Revive And Will Prosper. So, First Of All, Let Me Assert My Firm Belief That The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself.

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

The Ablest Man I Ever Met Is The Man You Think You Are.

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.

Favor Comes Because For A Brief Moment In The Great Space Of Human Change And Progress Some General Human Purpose Finds In Him A Satisfactory Embodiment.

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

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.

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.

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

The Democratic Aspiration Is No Mere Recent Phase In Human History. It Is Human History.

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.

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.

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

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

Private Enterprise Is Ceasing To Be Free Enterprise.

Free Enterprise

Private Enterprise

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

There Is One Front And One Battle Where Everyone In The United States-every Man, Woman, And Child-is In Action, And Will Be Privileged To Remain In Action Throughout This War. That Front Is Right Here At Home, In Our Daily Lives, And In Our Daily Tasks.

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.

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.

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

...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.

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.

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

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.

Hitler Built A Fortress Around Europe, But He Forgot To Put A Roof On It.

It Has Always Seemed To Me That The Best Symbol Of Common Sense Was A Bridge.

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 Pledge You, I Pledge Myself, To A New Deal For The American People.

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

Be Sincere; Be Brief; Be Seated.

How Many People In The United States Do You Think Will Be Willing To Go To War To Free Estonia, Latvia, And Lithuania?

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.

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

Competition Has Been Shown To Be Useful Up To A Certain Point And No Further, But Cooperation, Which Is The Thing We Must Strive For Today, Begins Where Competition Leaves Off.

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.

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

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

Your Profits Are Going To Be Cut Down To A Reasonably Low Level By Taxation. Your Income Will Be Subject To Higher Taxes. Indeed In These Days, When Every Available Dollar Should Go To The War Effort, I Do Not Think That Any American Citizen Should Have A Net Income In Excess Of $25,000 Per Year After Payment Of Taxes.

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

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.

I Read In A Newspaper That I Was To Be Received With All The Honors Customarily Rendered To A Foreign Ruler. I Am Grateful For The Honors; But Something Within Me Rebelled At That Word 'foreign'. I Say This Because When I Have Been In Canada, I Have Never Heard A Canadian Refer To An American As A 'foreigner'. He Is Just An 'american'. And, In The Same Way, In The United States, Canadians Are Not 'foreigners', They Are 'canadians'. That Simple Little Distinction Illustrates To Me Better Than Anything Else The Relationship Between Our Two Countries.

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.

We Cannot Always Build A Future For Our Youth, But We Can Always Build Our Youth For The Future.

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

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.

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.

Let Us Never Forget That Government Is Ourselves And Not An Alien Power Over Us. The Ultimate Rulers Of Our Democracy Are Not A President And Senators And Congressmen And Government Officials But The Voters Of This Country.

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?

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

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

I Ask You To Judge Me By The Enemies I Have Made.

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

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

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.

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 American People In Their Righteous Might Will Win Through To Absolute Victory.

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

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.

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.

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.

Calm Seas Never Made A Good Sailor

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.

[m]y Conception Of Liberty Does Not Permit An Individual Citizen Or A Group Of Citizens To Commit Acts Of Depredation Against Nature In Such A Way As To Harm Their Neighbors And Especially To Harm The Future Generations Of Americans. If Many Years Ago We Had Had The Necessary Knowledge, And Especially The Necessary Willingness On The Part Of The Federal Government, We Would Have Saved A Sum, A Sum Of Money Which Has Cost The Taxpayers Of America Two Billion Dollars.

Above All, Try Something

We, Too, Born To Freedom, And Believing In Freedom, Are Willing To Fight To Maintain Freedom. We, And All Others Who Believe As Deeply As We Do, Would Rather Die On Our Feet Than Live On Our Knees.

Great Power Involves Great Responsibility

Power And Responsibility

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

Taxes Are Paid In The Sweat Of Every Man Who Labors. If Those Taxes Are Excessive, They Are Reflected In Idle Factories, In Tax-sold Farms, And In Hordes Of Hungry People, Tramping The Streets And Seeking Jobs In Vain. Our Workers May Never See A Tax Bill, But They Pay. They Pay In Deductions From Wages, In Increased Cost Of What They Buy, Or - As Now - In Broad Unemployment Throughout The Land.

The Real Safeguard Of Democracy Is Education.

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.

Rules Are Not Necessarily Sacred, Principles Are.

Let Us Not Confuse Objectives With Methods. Too Many So-called Leaders Of The Nation Fail To See The Forest Because Of The Trees. Too Many Of Them Fail To Recognize The Vital Necessity Of Planning For Definite Objectives. True Leadership Calls For The Setting Forth Of The Objectives And The Rallying Of Public Opinion In Support Of These Objectives.

Books Cannot Be Killed By Fire.

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.

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.

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

Self-interest Is The Enemy Of All True Affection.

Let Me Make It Clear That I Do Not Assert That A President And The Congress Must On All Points Agree With Each Other At All Times. Many Times In History There Has Been Complete Disagreement Between The Two Branches Of The Government, And In These Disagreements Sometimes The Congress Has Won And Sometimes The President Has Won. But During The Administration Of The Present President We Have Had Neither Agreement Nor A Clear-cut Battle.

We Know Now That Government By Organized Money Is Just As Dangerous As Government By Organized Mob.

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.

The Future Lies With Those Wise Political Leaders Who Realize That The Great Public Is Interested More In Government Than In Politics. The Growing Independence Of Voters, After All, Has Been Proven By The Votes In Every Presidential Election Since My Childhood And The Tendency, Frankly, Is On The Increase.

You'll Have To Learn That Public Life Takes A Lot Of Sweat; But It Doesn't Need To Worry You. You Won't Always Be Right, But You Mustn't Suffer From Being Wrong. That's What Kills People Like Us.

There Is Much To Be Said Against The Climate On The Coast Of British Columbia And Alaska; Yet, I Believe That The Scenery Of One Good Day Will Compensate The Tourists Who Will Go There In Increasing Numbers.

We May Not Be Able To Prepare The Future For Our Children, But We Can At Least Prepare Our Children For The Future.

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

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

The Core Of Our Defense Is The Faith We Have In The Institutions We Defend.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

We Count, In The Future As In The Past, On The Driving Power Of Individual Initiative, On The Incentive Of Fair Private Profit, Strengthened Of Course With The Acceptance Of Those Obligations To The Public Interest Which Rest Upon Us All.

These Republican Leaders Have Not Been Content With Attacks On Me, On My Wife, Or On My Sons. No, Not Content With That, They Now Include My Little Dog, Fala. Well, Of Course, I Don't Resent Attacks... But Fala Does Resent Them.

We Must Be The Great Arsenal Of Democracy.

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

No Business Is Above Government; And Government Must Be Empowered To Deal Adequately With Any Business That Tries To Rise Above Government.

Real Estate Cannot Be Lost Or Stolen, Nor Can It Be Carried Away. Purchased With Common Sense, Paid For In Full, And Managed With Reasonable Care, It Is About The Safest Investment In The World.

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.

We Have Always Known That Heedless Self-interest Was Bad Morals; We Know Now That It Is Bad Economics. Out Of The Collapse Of A Prosperity Whose Builders Boasted Their Practicality Has Come The Conviction That In The Long Run Economic Morality Pays.

But While They Prate Of Economic Laws, Men And Women Are Starving. We Must Lay Hold Of The Fact That Economic Laws Are Not Made By Nature. They Are Made By Human Beings.

Among American Citizens, There Should Be No Forgotten Men And No Forgotten Races.

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

This Great Nation Will Endure As It Has Endured, Will Revive And Will Prosper.

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.

We Have Faith That Future Generations Will Know Here, In The Middle Of The Twentieth Century, There Came A Time When Men Of Good Will Found A Way To Unite, And Produce, And Fight To Destroy The Forces Of Ignorance, And Intolerance, And Slavery, And War.

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

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.

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

I Believe That In Every Country The People Themselves Are More Peaceably And Liberally Inclined Than Their Governments.

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.

Continued Dependence On Relief Inducers A Spiritual And Moral Disintegration Fundamentally Destructive To The National Fiber.

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 Forgotten Man At The Bottom Of The Economic Pyramid.

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.

Our National Determination To Keep Free Of Foreign Wars And Foreign Entanglements Cannot Prevent Us From Feeling Deep Concern When Ideals And Principles That We Have Cherished Are Challenged.

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.

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

For Every Advance That The Japanese Have Made Since They Started Their Frenzied Career Of Conquest, They Have Had To Pay A Very Heavy Toll In Warships, In Transports, In Planes, And In Men. They Are Feeling The Effects Of Those Losses.

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 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.

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

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.

No Greater Blessing Could Come To Our Land Today Than A Revival Of The Spirit Of Religion. I Doubt If There Is Any Problem In The World Today -- Social, Political, Or Economic -- That Would Not Find Happy Solution If Approached In The Spirit Of The Sermon On The Mount.

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

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.

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.

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

Pearl Harbor Day

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.

They Fight Not For The Lust Of Conquest. They Fight To End Conquest. They Fight To Liberate.

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.

The Future Lies With Those Wise Political Leaders Who Realize That The Great Public Is Interested More In Government Than In Politics.

If I Went To Work In A Factory The First Thing I'd Do Is Join A Union.

Organized Labor

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

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

The People Of America Are In Agreement In Defending Their Liberties At Any Cost, And The First Line Of That Defense Lies In The Protection Of Economic Security.

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

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Walter F. Mondale

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