A president either is constantly on top of events or, if he hesitates, events will soon be on top of him. I never felt that I could let up for a moment.
Dictatorship, by whatever name, is founded on the doctrine that the individual amounts to nothing; that the State is the only one that counts; and that men and women and children were put on earth solely for the purpose of serving the state.
Never kick a fresh turd on a hot day.
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.
There is no more fundamental axiom of American freedom than the familiar statement: In a free country we punish men for the crimes they commit but never for the opinions they have.
How do you live a long life? “Take a two-mile walk every morning before breakfast.”
Study men, not historians.
It can be lost, and it will be, if the time ever comes when these documents are regarded not as the supreme expression of our profound belief, but merely as curiosities in glass cases.
There shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.
Without a strong educational system democracy is crippled. Knowledge is not only key to power. It is the citadel of human freedom.
I can assure you that flying saucers, given that they exist, are not constructed by any power on Earth.
Politics is a fascinating game, because politics is government. It is the art of government.
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.
Washington is a very easy city for you to forget where you came from and why you got there in the first place.
Art is parasitic on life, just as criticism is parasitic on art.
Give me a one-handed economist! All my economists say, ‘On the one hand... on the other.’
When the decision is up before you-and on my desk I have a motto which says “The buck stops here”-the decision has to be made.
We must build a new world, a far better world – one in which the eternal dignity of man is respected.
I would rather have peace in the world than be President.
We must have strong minds, ready to accept facts as they are.