Quotes from Franklin D. Roosevelt

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.

A reactionary is a somnambulist walking backwards.

The gains in education are never really lost. Books may be burned and cities sacked, but truth, like the yearning for freedom, lives in the hearts of humble men.

We must recognize the fundamental rights of man. There can be no true national life in our democracy unless we give unqualified recognition to freedom of religious worship and freedom of education.

We want a Supreme Court which will do justice under the Constitution - not over it. In our courts we want a government of laws and not of men.

Our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.

We have the men--the skill--the wealth--and above all, the will.... We must be the great arsenal of democracy.

Democracy alone, of all forms of government, enlists the full force of men's enlightened will.

Our government is based on the belief that a people can be both strong and free, that civilized men need no restraint but that imposed by themselves against abuse of freedom.

We know now that government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob.

Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.

Organized money hates me--and I welcome their hatred!

Happiness is not merely money, which is fun for effort and achievement

True wealth is not a static thing. It is a living thing made out of the disposition of men to create and distribute the good things of life with rising standards of living.

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

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

Above all, try something

Every time an artist dies, part of the vision of mankind passes with him.

Government cannot close its eyes to the pollution of waters, to the erosion of soil, to the slashing of forests any more than it can close its eyes to the need for slum clearance and schools.

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.

The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations.

Do the best you can do and wait the results in peace.

When peace has been broken anywhere, the peace of all countries is in danger.

Peace like charity begins at home.