Franklin Delano Roosevelt, (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945):
A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.
A radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.
Be sincere, be brief, be seated.
Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.
Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.
Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel in order to be tough.
I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.
I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm.
In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.
It is an unfortunate human failing that a full pocketbook often groans more loudly than an empty stomach.
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.
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country.
People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.
Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.
The fate of America cannot depend on any one man. The greatness of America is grounded in principles and not on any single personality.
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 government.
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the larger centers has owned the Government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson.
The saving grace of America lies in the fact that the overwhelming majority of Americans are possessed of two great qualities: a sense of humor and a sense of proportion.
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 too little.
The truth is found when men are free to pursue it.
The ultimate failures of dictatorship cost humanity far more than any temporary failures of democracy.
They (who) seek to establish systems of government based on the regimentation of all human beings by a handful of individual rulers... call this a new order. It is not new and it is not order.
We have, however, a clear mandate from the people, that Americans must forswear that conception of the acquisition of wealth which, through excessive profits, creates undue private power over private affairs and, to our misfortune, over public affairs as well.
We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.
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.
We must scrupulously guard the civil rights and civil liberties of all our citizens, whatever their background. We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization.
When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until he has struck to crush him.
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