We all know that books burn, yet we have the greater knowledge that books cannot be killed by fire. People die, but books never die. No man and no force can put thought in a concentration camp forever. No man and no force can take from the world the books that embody man's eternal fight against tyranny of every kind.

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.

Democracy can thrive only when it enlists the devotion of those whom Lincoln called the common people. Democracy can hold that devotion only when it adequately respects their dignity by so ordering society as to assure to the masses of men and women reasonable security and hope for themselves and for their children.

I have an unshaken conviction that democracy can never be undermined if we maintain our library resources and a national intelligence capable of utilizing them.

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.

Organized money hates me--and I welcome their hatred!

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