Harry S. Truman Quotes

Some questions cannot be answered, but they can be decided.

Brave men don't belong to any one country. I respect bravery wherever I see it.

We must remember that the test of our religious principles lies not just in what we say, not only in our prayers, not even in living blameless lives - but in what we do for others

I don't feel qualified to be president either, but I've got the job.

Of course, there are dangers in religious freedom and freedom of opinion. But to deny these rights is worse than dangerous, it is absolutely fatal to liberty. The external threat to liberty should not drive us into suppressing liberty at home. Those who want the government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination.

A President cannot always be popular.

Such an atmosphere is un-American, the most un-American thing we have to contend with today. It is the climate of a totalitarian country in which scientists are expected to change their theories to match changes in the police state's propaganda line.

If you can't dance then you are a loser.

Being a president is like riding a tiger. A man has to keep on riding or he is swallowed.

I enjoyed my new position as vice president, but it took me a while to get used to the fact that I no longer had the voting privileges I had enjoyed for 10 years as a senator.

We are trying to prevent a third world war.

He "wasn't used to being criticized, and he never did get it through his head that's what politics is all about. He was used to getting his ass kissed."

Tact is the ability to step on a man's toes without messing up the shine on his shoes.

It sure is hell to be president.

The only thing new in the world is the history you don't know.

The best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.

Herbert Hoover once ran on the slogan, 'Two cars in every garage'. Apparently, the Republican candidate this year is running on the slogan, 'Two families in every garage'.

I don't believe in anti-anything. A man has to have a program; you have to be for something. Otherwise, you will never get anywhere.

I sincerely regret the unfortunate choice of language which I used in my letter of August 29 to Congressman McDonough concerning the Marine Corps.

It is time that all Americans realized that the place of labor is side by side with the businessman and with the farmer, and not one-degree lower.

I never would have agreed to the formulation of the Central Intelligence Agency back in forty-seven, if I had known it would become the American Gestapo.

Three things ruin a man: power, money, and women. I never wanted power. I never had any money, and the only woman in my life is up at the house right now.

In my generation, this was not the first occasion when the strong had attacked the weak.Communism was acting in Korea just as Hitler, Mussolini, and the Japanese had acted ten, fifteen, and twenty years earlier. I felt certain that if South Korea was allowed to fall, Communist leaders would be emboldened to override nations closer to our own shores.

There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know.

Whenever you put a man on the Supreme Court he ceases to be your friend.

Leadership is getting people to do things that they don't want to do.

Peace is precious to us. It is the way of life we strive for with all the strength and wisdom we possess. But more precious than peace are freedom and justice. We will fight, if fight we must, to keep our freedom and to prevent justice from being destroyed.

I like riding a bicycle built for two--by myself.

Not every reader is a leader, but every leader must be a reader.

We have found that it is easier for men to die together on the field of battle than it is for them to live together at home in peace.

An optimist is presented with a problem and sees an opportunity. A pessimist is presented with an opportunity and sees a problem.

I don't want this office, this responsibility, any longer, even if you want me. Find the strongest and most able and God bless you. Good-bye.

Although I hold the highest civil honour in the world, I have always regarded my rank and title as a Past Grand Master of Masons the greatest honour that had ever come to me.

Give me a one-handed economist! All my economists say, On the one hand on the other.

Art is parasitic on life, just as criticism is parasitic on art.

When the Liberals said they were going to create a million new jobs, I didn't think they were all going to be tax collectors. If you can't convince them, confuse them.

My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. To tell the truth, there's hardly a difference.

It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours.

Nothing is more important in our national life than the welfare of our children.

The record proves that in peaceful commerce the combined efforts of our countries can produce outstanding results. Our trade with each other is far greater than that of any other two nations on earth.

If I want to be great, I have to win the victory over myself...self-d iscipline.

We should resolve now that the health of this nation is a national concern; that financial barriers in the way of attaining health shall be removed; that the health of all it's citizens deserves the help of all the nation.

I fear we are too much concerned with material things to remember that our real strength lies in spiritual values.

If I'd known how much packing I'd have to do, I'd have run again.

It is understanding that gives us an ability to have peace. When we understand the other fellow's viewpoint, and he understands ours, then we can sit down and work out our differences.

The Republicans believe in the minimum wage -- the more the minimum, the better.

I am proud of my part in the creation of this new state. Our Government was the first to recognize the State of Israel.

All through history it's the nations that have given most to generals and the least to the people that have been the first to fall