Perfectionism, no less than isolationism or imperialism or power politics, may obstruct the paths to international peace. Let us not forget that the retreat to isolationism a quarter of a century ago was started not by a direct attack against international cooperation but against the alleged imperfections of the peace.

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

The fundamental idea...is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us.

If you hold your fire until you see the whites of his eyes, you will never know what hit you.

If we do not halt this steady process of building commissions and regulatory bodies and the special legislation like huge inverted pyramids over every one of the simple constitutional provisions, we shall soon be spending many billions of dollars more.

...We now realize as we have never before our interdependence on each other; that we cannot merely take, but we must be willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because without such discipline, no progress is made, no leadership becomes effective.

Democracy is not a static thing. It is an everlasting march.