Harry S. Truman Quotes

I have little patience with people who take the Bill of Rights for granted. The Bill of Rights, contained in the first ten amendments to the Constitution, is every American's guarantee of freedom.

There is no more fundamental axiom of American freedom than the familiar statement: In a free country we punish men for the crimes they commit but never for the opinions they have.

Some of my best friends never agree with me politically.

Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima. . . . The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East.

You can always amend a big plan, but you can never expand a little one. I don't believe in little plans. I believe in plans big enough to meet a situation which we can't possibly foresee now.

I can assure you that flying saucers, given that they exist, are not constructed by any power on Earth.

We must face the fact that peace must be built on power, as well as upon good will and good deeds.

Although I hold the highest civil honour in the world, I have always regarded my rank and title as a Past Grand Master of Masons the greatest honour that had ever come to me.

The Marine Corps is the Navy's police force and as long as I am President that is what it will remain. They have a propaganda machine that is almost equal to Stalin's.

In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves... self-discipline with all of them came first.

A President cannot always be popular.

I would rather have peace in the world than be President.

I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.

The responsibility of the great states is to serve, and not to dominate, the world.

Actions are the seed of fate deeds grow into destiny.

There shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.

I do not believe in shooting anything that cannot shoot back.

I am proud of my part in the creation of this new state. Our Government was the first to recognize the State of Israel.

I said that an expert was a fella who was afraid to learn anything new because then he wouldn't be an expert anymore.

It is time that all Americans realized that the place of labor is side by side with the businessman and with the farmer, and not one-degree lower.

Children and dogs are as necessary to the welfare of the country as Wall Street and the railroads.

This Nation was established by men who believed in God. ... You will see the evidence of this deep religious faith on every hand.

Today, America has become one of the most powerful forces for good on earth. We must keep it so.

I wonder how many times you have to be hit on the head before you find out who's hitting you? It's about time that the people of America realized what the Republicans have been doing to them.

Always be sincere, even if you don't mean it.

The United States has become great because we, as a people, have been able to work together for great objectives even while differing about details.

We all have to recognise - no matter how great our strength - that we must deny ourselves the licence to do always as we please.

I don't believe in anti-anything. A man has to have a program; you have to be for something. Otherwise, you will never get anywhere.

I have no desire to crow over anybody or to see anybody eating crow, figuratively or otherwise. We should all get together and make a country in which everybody can eat turkey whenever he pleases.

Well, I wouldn't say that I was in the great class, but I had a great time while I was trying to be great.

It isn't polls or public opinion at the moment that counts. It is right and wrong and leadership--men with fortitude, honesty, and a belief in the right that makes epochs in the history of the world.

We must build a new world, a far better world - one in which the eternal dignity of man is respected.

It's plain hokum. If you can't convince 'em, confuse 'em. It's an old political trick. But this time it won't work.

The White House is the finest prison in the world.

I remember when I first came to Washington. For the first six months you wonder how the hell you ever got here. For the next six months you wonder how the hell the rest of them ever got here.

Being too good is apt to be uninteresting.

In this shrinking world, it is futile to seek safety behind geographical barriers. Real security will be found only in law and in justice.

Give me a one-handed economist! All my economists say, On the one hand on the other.

The United Nations is designed to make possible lasting freedom and independence for all its members.

This generation, raised on "Eyewitness News," conditioned by the instant replay, and spared the illumination that comes from tedious historical study, tends to be even more ahistorical than most.

The President hears a hundred voices telling him that he is the greatest man in the world. He must listen carefully indeed to hear the one voice that tells him his is not.

Keep working on a plan. Make no little plans. Make the biggest plan you can think of and spend the rest of your life carrying it out.

If there is one basic element in our Constitution, it is civilian control of the military.

Most of the problems a President has to face have their roots in the past.

I'm the ultimately responsible person in this organization. Other people can pass the buck to me, but I can't pass the buck to anyone else.

If you tell Congress everything about the world situation, they get hysterical. If you tell them nothing, they go fishing.

Doing the right thing is easy. [It is] much more difficult [to...] figure out what [the right thing] is.

Men often mistake notoriety for fame, and would rather be remarked for their vices and follies than not be noticed at all!

Art is parasitic on life, just as criticism is parasitic on art.

If you can't stand the heat, then move to Minnesota. They have snow in May.