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Franklin D. Roosevelt

42 quotes

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) was the 32nd President of the United States, serving an unprecedented four terms from 1933 to 1945. He led the nation through the Great Depression with his New Deal programs and through most of World War II. His leadership during two of America's greatest crises made him one of the most consequential presidents in history.

“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

Government

All Quotes by Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Whoever seeks to set one religion against another seeks to destroy all religion.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Religion

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Fear

“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

Government

“We are trying to construct a more inclusive society. We are going to make a country in which no one is left out.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Society

“The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the goverment.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Freedom

“War is a contagion.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

War

“It takes a long time to bring the past up to the present.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Time

“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

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

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Good

“Don't forget what I discovered that over ninety percent of all national deficits from 1921 to 1939 were caused by payments for past, present, and future wars.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Future

“The overwhelming majority of Americans are possessed of two great qualities a sense of humor and a sense of proportion.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Great

“Art is not a treasure in the past or an importation from another land, but part of the present life of all living and creating peoples.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Art

“Not only our future economic soundness but the very soundness of our democratic institutions depends on the determination of our government to give employment to idle men.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Future

“We continue to recognize the greater ability of some to earn more than others. But we do assert that the ambition of the individual to obtain for him a proper security is an ambition to be preferred to the appetite for great wealth and great power.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Great

“Put two or three men in positions of conflicting authority. This will force them to work at loggerheads, allowing you to be the ultimate arbiter.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Men

“Selfishness is the only real atheism aspiration, unselfishness, the only real religion.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Religion

“Favor comes because for a brief moment in the great space of human change and progress some general human purpose finds in him a satisfactory embodiment.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Change

“If I went to work in a factory the first thing I'd do is join a union.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Work

“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

“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

Good