Franklin D. Roosevelt Quotes

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

Education, Prepared, Express, Unless

Not only our future economic soundness but the very soundness of our democratic institutions depends on the determination of our government to give employment to idle men.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Give, Depends, Very, Institutions

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

Voting, Will, Could, Themselves

We continue to recognize the greater ability of some to earn more than others. But we do assert that the ambition of the individual to obtain for him a proper security is an ambition to be preferred to the appetite for great wealth and great power.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Wealth, Some, Obtain, Great Power

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

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Politics, However, Perfectly, Legs

Our national determination to keep free of foreign wars and foreign entanglements cannot prevent us from feeling deep concern when ideals and principles that we have cherished are challenged.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Deep, Ideals, Cherished, Foreign

It is the duty of the President to propose and it is the privilege of the Congress to dispose.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Duty, Congress, Dispose, Propose

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

Hope, Better, Always, Better Life

No government can help the destinies of people who insist in putting sectional and class consciousness ahead of general weal.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Consciousness, Putting, Insist

Favor comes because for a brief moment in the great space of human change and progress some general human purpose finds in him a satisfactory embodiment.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Purpose, Some, Brief, Embodiment

There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Generation, Some, Given, Events

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.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Move, Which, Shared, Move 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.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Want, Going, Get, Sufficient

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

Brutal, Thoroughly, Method, Inhuman

Be sincere; be brief; be seated.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Brief, Sincere, Seated

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

Cruel, Nation, Fiber, Stamina

A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Strength, Nation, Air, Our People

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

Government, Country, Over, President

Self-interest is the enemy of all true affection.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Enemy, True, Self-Interest, Affection

No group and no government can properly prescribe precisely what should constitute the body of knowledge with which true education is concerned.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Education, Concerned, Which, Prescribe

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

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Chance, Think, I Think, Early

Prosperous farmers mean more employment, more prosperity for the workers and the business men of every industrial area in the whole country.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Business, Country, Area, Employment

Yesterday, December seventh, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. We will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

War, Date, United, Empire

Art is not a treasure in the past or an importation from another land, but part of the present life of all living and creating peoples.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Art, Living, In The Past, Present Life

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

Freedom, Individual, Which, Dictatorships

I am neither bitter nor cynical but I do wish there was less immaturity in political thinking.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Political, Less, Immaturity, Cynical

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

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Confidence, Honor, Unselfish

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

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Remember, Play, Everyone, Extra

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

Sense, Another, Method, Common Sense

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

Relationship, Survive, Kinds, To Survive

I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Myself, New, Deal, Pledge

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

Been, Which, Loudly, Dictatorship

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

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Wait, See, Rattlesnake, Struck

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

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Faith, Never, Withstand, Physical Strength

In our personal ambitions we are individualists. But in our seeking for economic and political progress as a nation, we all go up or else all go down as one people.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Political, Go, Nation, Economic

But while they prate of economic laws, men and women are starving. We must lay hold of the fact that economic laws are not made by nature. They are made by human beings.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Fact, Laws, Starving, Economic

In our seeking for economic and political progress, we all go up - or else we all go down.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Political, Go, Else, Economic

We must lay hold of the fact that economic laws are not made by nature. They are made by human beings.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Fact, Laws, Lay, Economic

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 goverment.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Freedom, Over, Informed, Sovereign

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.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Work, Will, Ultimate, Arbiter

To reach a port, we must sail - sail, not tie at anchor - sail, not drift.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Sail, Port, Tie, Drift

Are you laboring under the impression that I read these memoranda of yours? I can't even lift them.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Them, Read, Even, Lift

One thing is sure. We have to do something. We have to do the best we know how at the moment... If it doesn't turn out right, we can modify it as we go along.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Go, Sure, One Thing, Modify

The overwhelming majority of Americans are possessed of two great qualities a sense of humor and a sense of proportion.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Sense Of Humor, Proportion, Overwhelming

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

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Against, Set, Whoever, Seeks

When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Motivational, Hang, Tie, Knot

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

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Today, Will, Doubts, Realization

The virtues are lost in self-interest as rivers are lost in the sea.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Lost, Rivers, Virtues, Self-Interest

There are as many opinions as there are experts.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Opinions, Many, Experts

I'm not the smartest fellow in the world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Intelligence, World, Sure, Smartest

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

Been, Which, Certain Point, Useful

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

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Men, Fate, Minds, Prisoners

If we can boondoggle ourselves out of this depression, that word is going to be enshrined in the hearts of the American people for years to come.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

American, Going, Enshrined, Hearts

If I went to work in a factory the first thing I'd do is join a union.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Work, Join, Factory, The First Thing

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

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

You, Decade, Same, Fun

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

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Politics, Nothing, Bet, Accident

It is an unfortunate human failing that a full pocketbook often groans more loudly than an empty stomach.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

More, Loudly, Unfortunate, Pocketbook

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

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Past, Long Time, Bring, Present

I do not look upon these United States as a finished product. We are still in the making.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Product, United States, Finished Product

Don't forget what I discovered that over ninety percent of all national deficits from 1921 to 1939 were caused by payments for past, present, and future wars.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

War, Over, Discovered, Present

I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Judge Me, Ask, Made, Enemies

War is a contagion.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

War, Contagion

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

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Treat, Will, Ninety, Ninety Percent

The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Nation, Soil, Itself, Destroys

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

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Rules, United, United States, Marvelously

This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Destiny, Generation, Rendezvous

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

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Success, Happiness, Joy, Creative

A reactionary is a somnambulist walking backwards.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Walking, Backwards, Reactionary

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

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Wisdom, Standing, Still, Only One Way

Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Here, Principle, According, Ability

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

History, Test, Add, Much

Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Rules, Sacred, Necessarily, Principles

The truth is found when men are free to pursue it.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Truth, Men, Found, Truth Is

Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly, and try another. But by all means, try something.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Admit, Take, Means, Frankly

The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

School, Last, Which, Expenditure

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

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Country, More, Inclined

I am a Christian and a Democrat, that's all.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

I Am, Christian, Am, Democrat

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

Society, Inclusive, Which, Construct

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Fear, The Only Thing, Itself, Thing

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