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[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.

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

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[m]y Conception Of Liberty

Franklin D. Roosevelt

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[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.

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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.

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.

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 Money-changers Have Fled From Their High Seats In The Temple Of Our Civilization. We May Now Restore That Temple To The Ancient Truths.

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

We Have Nothing To Fear But Missing Our Massage Appointment Time

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.

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, 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.

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

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.

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

There Is Nothing So American As Our National Parks. The Scenery And The Wildlife Are Native. The Fundamental Idea Behind The Parks Is Native. It Is, In Brief, That The Country Belongs To The People, That It Is In Process Of Making For The Enrichment Of The Lives Of All Of Us. The Parks Stand As The Outward Symbal Of The Great Human Principle.

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

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.

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.

The First Twelve Years Are The Hardest.

...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.

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.

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

There Comes A Time In The Affairs Of Men When They Must Prepare To Defend Not Their Homes Alone But The Tenets Of Faith And Humanity On Which Their Churches, Their Governments And Their Very Foundations Are Set. The Defense Of Religion, Of Democracy And Of Good Faith Among Nations Is All The Same Fight. To Save One, We Must Now Make Up Our Minds To Save All.

Repetition Does Not Transform A Lie Into A Truth.

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

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

Presidents Are Selected, Not Elected.

I Have A Terrific Headache.

But The Challenge Is Always The Same - Whether Each Generation Facing Its Own Circumstances Can Summon The Practical Devotion To Attain And Retain That Greatest Good For The Greatest Number Which This Government Of The People Was Created To Ensure.

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.

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!

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

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.

I See An America Whose Rivers And Valleys And Lakes Hills And Streams And Plains The Mountains Over Our Land And Nature's Wealth Deep Under The Earth Are Protected As The Rightful Heritage Of All The People.

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.

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.

Remember, Remember Always, That All Of Us, And You And I Especially, Are Descended From Immigrants And Revolutionists.

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

Concentration Of Wealth

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

'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.

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

Rules Are Not Necessarily Sacred, Principles Are.

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.

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.

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.

A Radical Is A Man With Both Feet Firmly Planted-in The Air.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Thanksgiving Day

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

Frankly, I Do Not Know How To Effect A Permanency In American Foreign Policy.

Never Underestimate A Man Who Overestimates Himself.

More Than An End To War, We Want An End To The Beginnings Of All Wars. Yes, An End To This Brutal, Inhuman And Thoroughly Impractical Method Of Settling The Differences Between Governments. The Once Powerful Malignant Nazi State Is Crumbling; The Japanese Warlords Are Receiving In Their Homelands The Retribution For Which They Asked When They Attacked Pearl Harbor. But The Mere Conquest Of Our Enemies Is Not Enough; We Must Go On To Do All In Our Power To Conquer The Doubts And The Fears, The Ignorance And The Greed, Which Made This Horror Possible.

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

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?

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 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.

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.

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.

People Acting Together As A Group Can Accomplish Things Which No Individual Acting Alone Could Ever Hope To Bring About.

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.

Self-interest Is The Enemy Of All True Affection.

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

I Think This Would Be A Good Time For A Beer.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Old Women Are The Secret To The Fluffiest Cakes.

Private Enterprise Is Ceasing To Be Free Enterprise.

Free Enterprise

Private Enterprise

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

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.

A Reactionary Is A Somnambulist Walking Backwards.

Walking Backwards

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

We Had To Struggle With The Old Enemies Of Peace - Business And Financial Monopoly, Speculation, Reckless Banking, Class Antagonism, Sectionalism, War Profiteering. They Had Begun To Consider The Government Of The United States As A Mere Appendage To Their Own Affairs. We Know Now That Government By Organized Money Is Just As Dangerous As Government By Organized Mob. Never Before In All Our History Have These Forces Been So United Against One Candidate As They Stand Today. They Are Unanimous In Their Hate For Me - And I Welcome Their Hatred.

A Conservative Is A Man With Two Perfectly Good Legs Who, However, Has Never Learned How To Walk Forward.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

We All Know That Books Burn, Yet We Have The Greater Knowledge That Books Cannot Be Killed By Fire. People Die, But Books Never Die. No Man And No Force Can Put Thought In A Concentration Camp Forever. No Man And No Force Can Take From The World The Books That Embody Man's Eternal Fight Against Tyranny Of Every Kind.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

People Die, But Books Never Die.

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

Okay, You've Convinced Me. Now Go Out There And Bring Pressure On Me.

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

Meaning Of Life

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.

Lord, Reform Thy World, Beginning With Me.

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

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.

Let Us Never Forget That Government Is Ourselves And Not An Alien Power Over Us.

Democracies Have

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.

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.

We Must Be The Great Arsenal Of Democracy.

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

Organized Labor

The Whole World Is One Neighborhood.

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.

I Believe That We Are Going To Get Along Very Well With Him [josef Stalin] And The Russian People - Very Well Indeed.

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

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

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

Self-help And Self-control Are The Essence Of The American Tradition.

We Must Especially Beware Of That Small Group Of Selfish Men Who Would Clip The Wings Of The American Eagle In Order To Feather Their Own Nests.

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

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

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.

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

Freedom Of Speech

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

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.

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

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.

Tell That To The Marines!

To Win This War, We Have Been Forced Into A Strategic Compromise Which Will Most Certainly Offend The Russians.

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

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.

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.

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.

To Reach A Port We Must Set Sail

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

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

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.

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.

If You Hold Your Fire Until You See The Whites Of His Eyes, You Will Never Know What Hit You.

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.

So Many Figures Are Quoted To Prove So Many Things. Sometimes It Depends On What Paper You Read Or What Broadcast You Listen In On.

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.

Change Is Like Fire- If Uncontrolled, It Will Consume Us.

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.

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.

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.

It Is To The Real Advantage Of Every Producer, Every Manufacturer And Every Merchant To Cooperate In The Improvement Of Working Conditions, Because The Best Customer Of American Industry Is The Well-paid Worker.

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.

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.

A Serf-supporting And Self-respecting Democracy Can Plead No Justification For The Existence Of Child Labor, No Economic Reason For Chiseling Workers' Wages Or Stretching Workers' Hours.

Government Cannot Close Its Eyes To The Pollution Of Waters, To The Erosion Of Soil, To The Slashing Of Forests Any More Than It Can Close Its Eyes To The Need For Slum Clearance And Schools.

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.

This Generation Of Americans Has A Rendezvous With Destiny.

This Generation

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

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

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

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 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.

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.

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

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

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...it Is Pre-eminently A Place Of Moral Leadership.

Moral Leadership

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.

I Have Seen War ... I Hate War.

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

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

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.

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

The Lessons Of Religious Toleration - A Toleration Which Recognizes Complete Liberty Of Human Thought, Liberty Of Conscience - Is One Which, By Precept And Example, Must Be Inculcated In The Hearts And Minds Of All Americans If The Institutions Of Our Democracy Are To Be Maintained And Perpetuated. We Must Recognize The Fundamental Rights Of Man. There Can Be No True National Life In Our Democracy Unless We Give Unqualified Recognition To Freedom Of Religious Worship And Freedom Of Education.

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.

All Free Peoples Are Deeply Impressed By The Courage And Steadfastness Of The Greek Nation.

Do Something. If It Works, Do More Of It. If It Doesn't, Do Something Else.

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 Believe That The Fundamental Proposition Is That We Must Recognize That The Hostilities In Europe, In Africa, And In Asia Are All Parts Of A Single World Conflict. We Must, Consequently, Recognize That Our Interests Are Menaced Both In Europe And In The Far East.

Calm Seas Never Made A Good Sailor

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.

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.

The Forgotten Man At The Bottom Of The Economic Pyramid.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

...we Now Realize As We Have Never Before Our Interdependence On Each Other; That We Cannot Merely Take, But We Must Be Willing To Sacrifice For The Good Of A Common Discipline, Because Without Such Discipline, No Progress Is Made, No Leadership Becomes Effective.

Perfectionism, No Less Than Isolationism Or Imperialism Or Power Politics, May Obstruct The Paths To International Peace. Let Us Not Forget That The Retreat To Isolationism A Quarter Of A Century Ago Was Started Not By A Direct Attack Against International Cooperation But Against The Alleged Imperfections Of The Peace.

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

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

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.

For Out Of This Modern Civilization Economic Royalists Carved New Dynasties. New Kingdoms Were Built Upon Concentration Of Control Over Material Things. Through New Uses Of Corporations, Banks And Securities, New Machinery Of Industry And Agriculture, Of Labor And Capital - All Undreamed Of By The Fathers - The Whole Structure Of Modern Life Was Impressed Into This Royal Service.

In Politics, Nothing Happens By Accident. If It Happens, You Can Bet It Was Planned That Way.

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.

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.

The Lessons Of History, Confirmed By The Evidence Immediately Before Me, Show Conclusively That Continued Dependence Upon Relief Induces A Spiritual Disintegration Fundamentally Destructive To The National Fiber. To Dole Out Relief In This Way Is To Administer A Narcotic, A Subtle Destroyer Of The Human Spirit. It Is Inimical To The Dictates Of A Sound Policy. It Is In Violation Of The Traditions Of America.

Welfare Programs

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.

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

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.

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Albert Schweitzer

Frederick Sanger

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