Franklin D. Roosevelt Quotes

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

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Inequality may linger in the world of material things, but great music, great literature, great art and the wonders of science are, and should be, open to all.

The fate of America cannot depend on any one man. The greatness of America is grounded in principles and not on any single personality.

Chamberlain's visit to Hitler today may bring things to a head or may result in a temporary postponement of what looks to me likean inevitable conflict within the next five years.

We have nothing to fear but fear itself.

Inquisitiveness is the most useful talent.

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.

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

It is time to extend planning to a wider field, in this instance comprehending in one great project many states directly concerned with the basin of one of our greatest rivers.

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.

There is much to be said against the climate on the coast of British Columbia and Alaska; yet, I believe that the scenery of one good day will compensate the tourists who will go there in increasing numbers.

The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the larger centers has owned the Government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson - and I am not wholly excepting the Administration of W. W. The country is going through a repetition of Jackson's fight with the Bank of the United States - only on a far bigger and broader basis.

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.

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

All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service.

If in other lands the press and books and literature of all kinds are censored, we must redouble our efforts here to keep them free

The Nazi danger to our Western world has long ceased to be a mere possibility. The danger is here now--not only from a military enemy but from an enemy of all law, all liberty, all morality, all religion.

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

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

I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.

The real safeguard of democracy is education.

I consider it a public duty to answer falsifications with facts. I will not pretend that I find this an unpleasant duty. I am an old campaigner, and I love a good fight.

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

'Peace on earth, good will toward men' - democracy must cling to that message. For it is my deep conviction that democracy cannot live without that true religion which gives a nation a sense of justice and moral purpose.

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

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.

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

It is time to provide a smashing answer for those cynical men who say that a democracy cannot be honest, cannot be efficient.... We have in the darkest moments of our national trials retained our faith in our own ability to master our own destiny.

It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead - and find no one there.

Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage; We humbly beseech Thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of Thy favor and glad to do Thy will.

Since I am used to speaking in public, I know that it is useless.

Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.

I have a terrific pain in the back of my head.

I want to preach a new doctrine. A complete separation of business and government.

An election cannot give a country a firm sense of direction if it has two or more national parties which merely have different names but are as alike in their principles and aims as peas in the same pod.

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.

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.

The first theory is that if we make the rich richer, somehow they will let a part of their prosperity trickle down to the rest of us. The second theory was the theory that if we make the average of mankind comfortable and secure, their prosperity will rise upward through the ranks.

Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.... we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.

Governments can err, Presidents do make mistakes, but the immortal Dante tells us that divine justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted in different scales. Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the constant omission of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.

Freedom of the press is essential to the preservation of a democracy; but there is a difference between freedom and license. Editorialists who tell downright lies in order to advance their own agendas do more to discredit the press than all the censors in the world.

In the final analysis, the progress of our civilization will be retarded if any large body of citizens falls behind. Without the help of thousands of others, any one of us would die, naked and starved.

No business is above Government; and Government must be empowered to deal adequately with any business that tries to rise above Government.

We know now that government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob.

All free peoples are deeply impressed by the courage and steadfastness of the Greek nation.

Books can not be killed by fire. People die, but books never die. No man and no force can abolish memory... In this war, we know, books are weapons. And it is a part of your dedication always to make them weapons for man's freedom.

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