Franklin D. Roosevelt Quotes

Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.

Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.

There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still.

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.

Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.

If you treat people right they will treat you right... ninety percent of the time.

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.

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.

Never underestimate a man who overestimates himself.

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.

When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until he has struck to crush him.

In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.

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...

Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.

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.

Be sincere; be brief; be seated.

We have always known that heedless self interest was bad morals, we now know that it is bad economics.

A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.

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.

We, and all others who believe in freedom as deeply as we do, would rather die on our feet than live on our knees.

Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them." - Franklin D. Roosevelt

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.

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 the bare subsistence level - I mean the wages of a decent living.

The Truth is found when men (and Women) are free to pursue it.

I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm.

Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.

Do Something. If it works, do more of it. If it doesn't, do something else.

In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.

The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government of the U.S. since the days of Andrew Jackson.

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.

Taxes, after all, are dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society.

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.

Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are.

Physical strength can never permanently withstand the impact of spiritual force.

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.

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.

There are as many opinions as there are experts.

It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead - and find no one there.

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.

Remember you are just an extra in everyone else's play.

The hopes of the Republic cannot forever tolerate either undeserved poverty or self-serving wealth.

I have no expectation of making a hit every time I come to bat,

I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.

We can gain no lasting peace if we approach it with suspicion and mistrust or with fear. We can gain it only if we proceed with the understanding, the confidence, and the courage which flow from conviction.

The United States Constitution has proved itself the most marvelously elastic compilation of rules of government ever written.

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 principals and aims as two peas in the same pod.

The moment a mere numerical superiority by either states or voters in this country proceeds to ignore the needs and desires of the minority, and for their own selfish purpose or advancement, hamper or oppress that minority, or debar them in any way from equal privileges and equal rights-that moment will mark the failure of our constitutional system.

There is nothing I love as much as a good fight.

Self-interest is the enemy of all true affection.

Peace, like charity, begins at home.

We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization.

War is a contagion.

Confidence... thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance. Without them it cannot live.