I have little patience with people who take the Bill of Rights for granted. The Bill of Rights, contained in the first ten amendments to the Constitution, is every American’s guarantee of freedom.
I have had enough experience in all my years, and have read enough of the past, to know that advice to grandchildren is usually wasted.
One of the difficulties with all our institutions is the fact that we’ve emphasized the reward instead of the service.
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.
I have to decide Japanese strategy – shall we invade Japan proper or shall we bomb and blockade? That is my hardest decision to date. But I’ll make it when I have all the facts.
The successful man has enthusiasm. Good work is never done in cold blood; heat is needed for forge anything. Every great achievement is the story of a flaming heart.
If that’s art, I’m a Hottentot!
You know of our sympathetic interest in this country in Iran’s desire to control its natural resources. From this point of view we were happy to see that the British Government has on its part accepted the principle of nationalization.
If you want to live like a Republican, you’ve got to vote for a Democrat.
Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with reason and justice.
If we see that Germany is winning we ought to help Russia and if Russia is winning we ought to help Germany, and that way let them kill as many as possible.
I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way.
France is France and a grand place for Frenchman.
The true foundation of the brotherhood of humankind is belief in the knowledge that God is the Father of humankind. For us, therefore, brotherhood is not only a generous impulse but also a divine command.
The United States should not under any circumstances throw away our gun until we are sure the rest of the world cannot arm against us.
We must face the fact that peace must be built on power, as well as upon good will and good deeds.
For reasons of national security and out of consideration for some people still alive I have omitted certain material. Some of this material cannot be made available for many years, perhaps for many generations.
When you can’t do any housecleaning because everything that goes on is a damned secret, then we’re on our way to something the Founding Fathers didn’t have in mind. Secrecy and a free, democratic government don’t mix.
I do not believe in shooting anything that cannot shoot back.
The way in which you endure that which you must endure is more important than the crisis itself.