Franklin D. Roosevelt Quotes

Quotes about:

• We must especially beware of that small group of selfish men who would clip the wings of the American Eagle in order to feather their own nests.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Selfish, Men, Eagles

  The Four Freedoms, delivered 6 January, 1941 (photo of FDR in 1936)

  407 Copy quote

• We are a nation of many nationalities, many races, many religions-bound together by a single unity, the unity of freedom and equality. Whoever seeks to set one nationality against another, seeks to degrade all nationalities.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  War, Race, Drug

  Campaign address, Brooklyn, New York, November 1, 1940.

  418 Copy quote

• 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.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Respect, Kindness, Character

  335 Copy quote

• Do Something.
  If it works, do more of it.
  If it doesn't,
  do something else.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Action, Ifs

  64 Copy quote

• The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerated the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Freedom, Power, Essence

  Roosevelt, Franklin D. (1941). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: F.D. Roosevelt, 1938, Volume 7”, p.305, Best Books on

  461 Copy quote

• Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Peace, Truth, Integrity

  Roosevelt, Franklin D. (1941). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: F.D. Roosevelt, 1939, Volume 8”, p.557, Best Books on

  342 Copy quote

• People acting together as a group can accomplish things which no individual acting alone could ever hope to bring about.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Wrestling, People, Acting

  334 Copy quote

• Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  91 Copy quote

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

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  War, Political, Politics

  251 Copy quote

• The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Inspirational, Leadership, Bullying

  First Inaugural Address, 4 Mar. 1933 See Francis Bacon 7; Montaigne 4; Thoreau 16; Wellington 3

  315 Copy quote

• The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Money, Economic Inequality, History

  Second Inaugural Address, 20 Jan. 1937

  299 Copy quote

• Calm seas never made a good sailor

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Sea, Sailor, Calm

  71 Copy quote

• 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.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Country, Witty, Patriotic

  Franklin D. Roosevelt's Address at Marietta, Ohio, July 8, 1938.

  324 Copy quote

• We must save the Constitution from the [Supreme] Court and the Court from itself.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Politics, Constitution, Court

  Franklin D. Roosevelt (1995). “The Essential Franklin Delano Roosevelt”, Gramercy

  4 Copy quote

• 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.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Jobs, Freedom, People

  Franklin D. Roosevelt (1995). “The Essential Franklin Delano Roosevelt”, Gramercy

  355 Copy quote

• It is better to swallow words than to have to eat them later.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Humorous

  36 Copy quote

• Never underestimate a man who overestimates himself.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Men, Vanity, Underestimate

  341 Copy quote

• Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Xenophobia, Patriotic, Usa

  Remarks before Daughters of the American Revolution Convention, Washington, D.C., 21 Apr. 1938. Often paraphrased as Roosevelt's addressing the DAR as "my fellow immigrants."

  394 Copy quote

• More striking still, it appeared that, if the process of concentration goes on at the same rate, at the end of another century we shall have all American industry controlled by a dozen corporations and run by perhaps a hundred men. Put plainly, we are steering a steady course toward economic oligarchy, if we are not there already.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Running, Men, Goes On

  Commonwealth Club Address, delivered 23 Sept 1932, San Francisco, CA

  26 Copy quote

• Change is like fire- if uncontrolled, it will consume us.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Fire, Ifs

  7 Copy quote

• No greater tragedy exists in modern civilization than the aged, worn-out worker who after a life of ceaseless effort and useful productivity must look forward for his declining years to a poorhouse. A modern social consciousness demands a more humane and efficient arrangement.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Years, Civilization, Effort

  Roosevelt, Franklin D. (1941). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: F.D. Roosevelt, 1937, Volume 6”, p.210, Best Books on

  36 Copy quote

• That, in its essence, is Fascism — ownership of Government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Government, Essence, Monopoly Power

  "Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States".

  70 Copy quote

• Freedom of speech...Freedom of worship...Freedom from want...Freedom from fear.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Memorial, Political, Freedom Of Speech

  19 Copy quote

• The real safeguard of democracy is education.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Real, Democracy

  "Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: F.D. Roosevelt, 1938, Volume 7".

  13 Copy quote

• Presidents are selected, not elected.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  President, Politics, Selected

  87 Copy quote

Page 1 of 20

← Prev

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Next →

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin