Quote collection
331 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Whether one traces his Americanism back three centuries to the Mayflower, or three years to the steerage, is not half so important as whether his Americanism of today is real and genuine. No matter by what various crafts we came here, we are all now in the same boat."
"Prosperity is only an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshipped."
"Any reward that is worth having only comes to the industrious. The success which is made in any walk of life is measured almost exactly by the amount of hard work that is put into it."
"All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work."
"It is difficult for men in high office to avoid the malady of self-delusion. They are always surrounded by worshipers. They are constantly, and for the most part sincerely, assured of their greatness."
"Don't hesitate to be as revolutionary as science. Don't hesitate to be as reactionary as the multiplication table."
"Heroism is not only in the man, but in the occasion."
"In life there is nothing more common than talent and intelligence. What is missing is passion, persistence, commitment, and dedication."
"It is not in violence and crime that our greatest danger lies. These evils are so perfectly apparent that they very quickly arouse the moral power of the people for their suppression. A far more serious danger lurks in the shirking of those responsibilities of citizenship, where the evil may not be so noticeable but is more insidious and likely to be more devastating."
"If American democracy is to remain the greatest hope of humanity, it must continue abundantly in the faith of the Bible"
"There's more, much more, to Christmas Than candlelight and cheer; It's the spirit of sweet friendship That brightens all year. It's thoughtfulness and kindness, It's hope reborn again, For peace, for understanding, And for goodwill to men!"
"We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once."
"Duty is not collective; it is personal."
"America's present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration; not agitation, but adjustment; not surgery, but serenity; not the dramatic, but the dispassionate; not experiment, but equipoise; not submergence in internationality, but sustainment in triumphant nationality."
"When more and more people are thrown out of work, unemployment results."
"There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time."
"Governments do not make ideals, but ideals make governments."
"There is new life in the soil for every man. There is healing in the trees for tired minds and for our overburdened spirits, there is strength in the hills, if only we will lift up our eyes. Remember that nature is your great restorer."
"The welfare of the weakest and the welfare of the most powerful are inseparably bound together. ... The general welfare cannot be provided for in any one act, but it is well to remember that the benefit of one is the benefit of all, and the neglect of one is the neglect of all."
"Our domestic problems are for the most part economic. We have our enormous debt to pay, and we are paying it. We have the high cost of government to diminish, and we are diminishing it. We have a heavy burden of taxation to reduce, and we are reducing it. But while remarkable progress has been made in these directions, the work is yet far from accomplished."