Franklin Delano Roosevelt[a] (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), commonly known as FDR, was an American politician who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. He was a member of the Democratic Party and is the only U.S. president to have served more than two terms. His initial two terms were centered on combating the Great Depression, while his third and fourth saw him shift his focus to America’s involvement in World War II. A member of the Delano family and Roosevelt family, after attending university, Roosevelt began to practice law in New York City. He was elected a member of the New York State Senate from 1911 to 1913 and was then the assistant secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson during World War I. Roosevelt was James M. Cox’s running mate on the Democratic Party’s ticket in the 1920 U.S. presidential election, but Cox lost to Republican nominee Warren G. Harding. In 1921, Roosevelt contracted a paralytic illness that permanently paralyzed his legs. Partly through the encouragement of his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, he returned to public office as governor of New York from 1929 to 1933, during which he promoted programs to combat the Great Depression. In the 1932 presidential election, Roosevelt defeated Republican president Herbert Hoover in a landslide.
During his first 100 days as president, Roosevelt spearheaded unprecedented federal legislation and directed the federal government during most of the Great Depression, implementing the New Deal in response to the most significant economic crisis in American history. He also built the New Deal coalition, realigning American politics into the Fifth Party System and defining American liberalism throughout the mid-20th century. He created numerous programs to provide relief to the unemployed and farmers while seeking economic recovery with the National Recovery Administration and other programs. He also instituted major regulatory reforms related to finance, communications, and labor, and presided over the end of Prohibition. In 1936, Roosevelt won a landslide reelection with the economy having improved from 1933, but the economy relapsed into a deep recession in 1937 and 1938. He was unable to expand the Supreme Court in 1937, the same year the conservative coalition was formed to block the implementation of further New Deal programs and reforms. Major surviving programs and legislation implemented under Roosevelt include the Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Labor Relations Act, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and Social Security. In 1940, he ran successfully for reelection, becoming the only American president to serve for more than two terms.
With World War II looming after 1938 in addition to the Japanese invasion of China and the aggression of Nazi Germany, Roosevelt gave strong diplomatic and financial support to China, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, while the U.S. remained officially neutral. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, he obtained a declaration of war on Japan, Germany, and Italy. He worked closely with other national leaders in leading the Allies against the Axis powers. Roosevelt supervised the mobilization of the American economy to support the war effort and implemented a Europe-first strategy. He also initiated the development of the first atomic bomb and worked with the other Allied leaders to lay the groundwork for the United Nations and other post-war institutions, even coining the term “United Nations”.[2] Roosevelt won reelection in 1944 but died in 1945 after his physical health seriously and steadily declined during the war years. Since then, several of his actions have come under substantial criticism, including his ordering of the internment of Japanese Americans in concentration camps. Nonetheless, historical rankings consistently place him as one of the greatest American presidents.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Quotes
1. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
2. “We are a nation of many nationalities, many races, and 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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
3. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
4. “The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate 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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
5. “Do Something.
If it works, do more of it.
If it doesn’t,
do something else.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
6. “Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
7. “People acting together as a group can accomplish things that no individual acting alone could ever hope to bring about.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
8. “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
9. “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
10. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
11. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
12. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
13. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
14. “Calm seas never made a good sailor.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
15. “It is better to swallow words than to have to eat them later.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
16. “Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
17. “Never underestimate a man who overestimates himself.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
18. “Change is like fire- if uncontrolled, it will consume us.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
19. “We know now that government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
20. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
21. “Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
22. “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
23. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
24. “We may make mistakes-but they must never be mistakes which result from faintness of heart or abandonment of moral principles.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
25. “We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
26. “We may not be able to prepare the future for our children, but we can at least prepare our children for the future.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
27. “We may make mistakes-but they must never be mistakes which result from faintness of heart or abandonment of moral principles.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
28. “In our democracy officers of the government are the servants, and never the masters of the people.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
29. “The motto of war is: “Let the strong survive; let the weak die.” The motto of peace is: “Let the strong help the weak to survive.” ”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
30. “Presidents are selected, not elected.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
31. “Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
32. “When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until he has struck to crush him.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
33. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
34. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
35. “The Nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
36. “I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
37. “The truth is found when men are free to pursue it.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
38. “What America needs now is a drink.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
39. “I am neither bitter nor cynical but I do wish there was less immaturity in political thinking.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
40. “The loneliest feeling in the world is when you think you are leading the parade and turn to find that no one is following you. No president who badly misguesses public opinion will last very long.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
41. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
42. “The whole world is one neighborhood.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
43. “The barrier to success is not something which exists in the real world; it is composed purely and simply of doubts about ability.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
44. “There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
45. “Be sincere; be brief; be seated.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
46. “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 government.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
47. “We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
48. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
49. “We, and all others who believe in freedom as deeply as we do, would rather die on our feet than live on our knees.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
50. “Freedom of conscience, of education, of speech, of assembly are among the very fundamentals of democracy and all of them would be nullified should freedom of the press ever be successfully challenged.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
51. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
52. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
53. “That, in its essence, is Fascism — ownership of Government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
54. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
55. “The principle on which this country was founded and by which it has always been governed is that Americanism is a matter of the mind and heart; Americanism is not, and never was, a matter of race or ancestry.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
56. “Physical strength can never permanently withstand the impact of spiritual force.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
57. “A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
58. “Remember you are just an extra in everyone else’s play.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
59. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
60. “There are as many opinions as there are experts.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
61. “Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
62. “We are trying to construct a more inclusive society. We are going to make a country in which no one is left out.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
63. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
64. “No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country… By living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level – I mean the wages of decent living.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
65. “Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
66. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
67. “The real safeguard of democracy is education.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
68. “To some generations much is given. Of other generations, much is expected.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
69. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
70. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
71. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
72. “Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
73. “Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
74. “Hitler built a fortress around Europe, but he forgot to put a roof on it.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
75. “We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals, we now know that it is bad economics.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
76. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
77. “Every man has a right to life, and this means that he has also a right to make a comfortable living.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
78. “The best customer of American industry is the well-paid worker.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
79. “The presidency is not merely an administrative office…It is pre-eminently a place of moral leadership.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
80. “The Social Security Act offers to all our citizens a workable and working method of meeting urgent present needs and forestalling future needs. It utilizes the familiar machinery of our Federal-State government to promote the common welfare and the economic stability of the Nation.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
81. “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!”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
82. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
83. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
84. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
85. “If you treat people right they will treat you right… ninety percent of the time.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
86. “A good leader can’t get too far ahead of his followers.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
87. “The virtues are lost in self-interest as rivers are lost in the sea.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
88. “Governments can err, Presidents do make mistakes, but the immortal Dante tells us that divine justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted in different scales. Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the constant omission of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
89. “Peace, like charity, begins at home.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
90. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
91. “The fate of America cannot depend on any one man. The greatness of America is grounded in principles and not on any single personality.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
92. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
93. “The first theory is that if we make the rich richer, somehow they will let a part of their prosperity trickle down to the rest of us. The second theory was the theory that if we make the average of mankind comfortable and secure, their prosperity will rise upward through the ranks.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
94. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
95. “Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
96. “They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
97. “Above all, try something.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
98. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
99. “Tell that to the Marines!”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
100. “It is an unfortunate human failing that a full pocketbook often groans more loudly than an empty stomach.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
101. “Democracy can thrive only when it enlists the devotion of those whom Lincoln called the common people. Democracy can hold that devotion only when it adequately respects their dignity by so ordering society as to assure to the masses of men and women reasonable security and hope for themselves and for their children.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
102. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
103. “I want to preach a new doctrine. A complete separation of business and government.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
104. “No government can help the destinies of people who insist in putting sectional and class consciousness ahead of general wealth.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
105. “Do the best you can do and wait the results in peace.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
106. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
107. “It is one of the characteristics of a free and democratic nation that it have free and independent labor unions.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
108. “Organized money hates me–and I welcome their hatred!”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
109. “Never before have we had so little time in which to do so much.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
110. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
111. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
112. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
113. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
114. “Freedom of speech…Freedom of worship…Freedom from want…Freedom from fear.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
115. “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…”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
116. “ “Appeasement” is the policy of feeding your friends to a crocodile, one at a time, in hopes that the crocodile will eat you last.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
117. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
118. “The Presidency is not merely an administrative office. That’s 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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
119. “No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
120. “This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
121. “Taxes, after all, are dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
122. “We know that enduring peace cannot be bought at the cost of other people’s freedom.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
123. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
124. “If you have spent two years in bed trying to wiggle your big toe, everything else seems easy.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
125. “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
126. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
127. “We defend and we build a way of life, not for America alone, but for all mankind.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
128. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
129. “The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
130. “History proves that dictatorships do not grow out of strong and successful governments, but out of weak and helpless ones. If by democratic methods people get a government strong enough to protect them from fear and starvation, their democracy succeeds; but if they do not, they grow impatient. Therefore, 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 its government.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
131. “No business is above Government; and Government must be empowered to deal adequately with any business that tries to rise above Government.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
132. “Self-interest is the enemy of all true affection.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
133. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
134. “If you hold your fire until you see the whites of his eyes, you will never know what hit you.
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
135. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
136. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
137. “Sports is the very fiber of all we stand for. It keeps our spirits alive.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
138. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
139. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
140. “Among American citizens, there should be no forgotten men and no forgotten races.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
141. “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
142. “The only thing we have to fear is a giant wheelchair-crushing squid. Well… uh… actually, I guess that’s the only thing I have to fear.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
143. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
144. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
145. “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.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
146. “I’m not the smartest fellow in the world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
147. “Necessitous men are not free men.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
148. “It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead – and find no one there.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
149. “A reactionary is a somnambulist walking backward.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
150. “People die, but books never die.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
