Quotes by Franklin D. Roosevelt

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

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Success

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Courage

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

Wisdom

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

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Hope

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

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Education

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

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Truth

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

Wisdom

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

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Life

Yesterday, December seventh, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. We will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God.

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Wisdom

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

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Wisdom

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

Freedom

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

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Wisdom

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.

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Courage

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

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Wisdom

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

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Wisdom

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

Life

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

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Wisdom

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.

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Education

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

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Education

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.

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Wisdom

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.

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Wisdom

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

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Wisdom

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.

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Wisdom

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.

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Life