H

Harry S. Truman

40 quotes

Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) was the 33rd President of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. He made some of the most consequential decisions of the 20th century, including the use of atomic weapons against Japan, the Marshall Plan for European recovery, and the creation of NATO. Truman was known for his plain-spoken honesty and the famous sign on his desk: "The Buck Stops Here."

“I would rather have peace in the world than be President.”

— Harry S. Truman

Peace

All Quotes by Harry S. Truman

“All my life, whenever it comes time to make a decision, I make it and forget about it.”

— Harry S. Truman

Time

“A politician is a man who understands government. A statesman is a politician who's been dead for 15 years.”

— Harry S. Truman

Government

“The Marine Corps is the Navy's police force and as long as I am President that is what it will remain. They have a propaganda machine that is almost equal to Stalin's.”

— Harry S. Truman

History

“You and I are stuck with the necessity of taking the worst of two evils or none at all. So-I'm taking the immature Democrat as the best of the two. Nixon is impossible.”

— Harry S. Truman

Best

“When even one American - who has done nothing wrong - is forced by fear to shut his mind and close his mouth - then all Americans are in peril.”

— Harry S. Truman

Fear

“I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth and they thought it was hell.”

— Harry S. Truman

Truth

“All the president is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing, and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.”

— Harry S. Truman

Politics

“I would rather have peace in the world than be President.”

— Harry S. Truman

Peace

“It's plain hokum. If you can't convince 'em, confuse 'em. It's an old political trick. But this time it won't work.”

— Harry S. Truman

Time

“My father was not a failure. After all, he was the father of a president of the United States.”

— Harry S. Truman

Dad

“Those who want the Government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination.”

— Harry S. Truman

Government

“Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.”

— Harry S. Truman

Change

“Upon books the collective education of the race depends they are the sole instruments of registering, perpetuating and transmitting thought.”

— Harry S. Truman

Education

“Art is parasitic on life, just as criticism is parasitic on art.”

— Harry S. Truman

Art

“Any man who has had the job I've had and didn't have a sense of humor wouldn't still be here.”

— Harry S. Truman

Humor

“When you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship.”

— Harry S. Truman

Government

“The reward of suffering is experience.”

— Harry S. Truman

Experience

“Intense feeling too often obscures the truth.”

— Harry S. Truman

Truth

“The atom bomb was no 'great decision.' It was merely another powerful weapon in the arsenal of righteousness.”

— Harry S. Truman

Great

“A leader in the Democratic Party is a boss, in the Republican Party he is a leader.”

— Harry S. Truman

Politics