Franklin D. Roosevelt Quotes

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

A reactionary is a somnambulist walking backwards.

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.

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.

We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon.

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

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

Be sincere; be brief; be seated.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

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

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

Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.

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

Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are.

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.

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

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

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.

There is nothing I love as much as a good fight.

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

We are trying to construct a more inclusive society. We are going to make a country in which no one is left out.

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.

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

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.

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

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

This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.

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

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

There are as many opinions as there are experts.

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

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

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