Franklin D. Roosevelt Quotes

If you have spent two years in bed trying to wiggle your big toe, everything else seems easy.

I am accustomed to hearing malicious falsehoods about myself . . . But I think I have a right to resent, to object to libelous statements about my dog.

Every time an artist dies, part of the vision of mankind passes with him.

As Americans, we go forward, in the service of our country, by the will of God.

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.

Let us move forward with strong and active faith.

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.

A program whose basic thesis is, not that the system of free enterprise for profit has failed in this generation, but that it has not yet been tried!

The gains in education are never really lost. Books may be burned and cities sacked, but truth, like the yearning for freedom, lives in the hearts of humble men.

Our Constitution is so simple and practical that it is possible always to meet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form.

It takes a long time to bring the past up to the present.

To win this war, we have been forced into a strategic compromise which will most certainly offend the Russians.

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.

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.

Whoever seeks to set one religion against another seeks to destroy all religion.

Failure is not an American habit.

I regard reduction in Federal spending as one of the most important issues in this campaign. In my opinion it is the most direct and effective contribution that Government can make to business.

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.

There is no group in America that can withstand the force of an aroused public opinion.

The world order which we seek is the co-operation of free countries, working together in a friendly, civilized society.

For three long years I have been going up and down this country preaching that government . . . costs too much. I shall not stop that preaching.

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.

Preparation for defense is an inalienable prerogative of a sovereign state.

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.

Private enterprise is ceasing to be free enterprise.

It [concentration of wealth and power] has been a menace to . . . American democracy.

Change is like fire- if uncontrolled, it will consume us.

It is fun to be in the same decade with you.

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.

We know that enduring peace cannot be bought at the cost of other people's freedom.

Sometimes the best way to keep peace in the family is to keep the members of the family apart for awhile.

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.

I suggest a nationwide reading of the Holy Scriptures during the period from Thanksgiving Day to Christmas.

Industrial combination is not wrong in itself. The danger lies in taking government into partnership.

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.

In time of this grave national danger, when all excess income should go to win the war, no American citizen ought to have a net income, after he has paid his taxes, of more than $25,000 a year.

We can afford all that we need; but we can not afford all [that] we want.

Old women are the secret to the fluffiest cakes.

Our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.

I've fired my last shot. I think I should have another round in my belt.

I believe that in every country the people themselves are more peaceably and liberally inclined than their governments.

Lord, reform Thy world, beginning with me.

Dealing with the State Department is like watching an elephant become pregnant.

We have the men--the skill--the wealth--and above all, the will.... We must be the great arsenal of democracy.

New ideas can be good and bad, just the same as old ones.

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.

I have a terrific pain in the back of my head.

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.

My own party can succeed at the polls only so long as it continues to be the party of militant liberalism.

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.