Political Figure Quotes

If you have to compromise, be sure to compromise up.

This freedom of which men speak, for which they fight, seems to some people a perilous thing. It has to be earned at a bitter cost and then — it has to be lived with. For freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility.

In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.

Ability is not something to be saved, like money, in the hope that you can draw interest on it. The interest comes from the spending. Unused ability, like unused muscles, will atrophy. It is tragic to realize that the majority of human beings, even the so-called educated, call upon only the smallest fraction of their potential capacity. They leave many talents dormant. They fail to develop their mental qualities. They are almost unaware of the degree of energy upon which they might call to build a full and rewarding life.

Life was meant to be lived.

Sometimes I wonder if we shall ever grow up in our politics and say definite things which mean something, or whether we shall always go on using generalities to which everyone can subscribe, and which mean very little.

Only a man's character is the real criterion of worth.

You can't move so fast that you try to change the mores faster than people can accept it. That doesn't mean you do nothing, but it means that you do the things that need to be done according to priority.

I found that almost everyone had something interesting to contribute to my education.

Every day do something that frightens you.

A woman is like a tea bag - you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.

If man is to be liberated to enjoy more leisure, he must also be prepared to enjoy this leisure fully and creatively.

The morality of a [political] party must grow out of the conscience and the participation of the voters.

Do the things that interest you and do them with all your heart. Don't be concerned about whether people are watching you or criticizing you. The chances are that they aren't paying any attention to you. It's your attention to yourself that is so stultifying. But you have to disregard yourself as completely as possible. If you fail the first time then you'll just have to try harder the second time. After all, there's no real reason why you should fail. Just stop thinking about yourself.

There is no more precious experience in life than friendship. And I am not forgetting love and marriage as I write this; the lovers, or the man and wife, who are not friends are but weakly joined together. One enlarges his circle of friends through contact with many people. One who limits those contacts narrows the circle and frequently his own point of view as well.

When it's better for everyone, it's better for everyone.

experience should teach us that it is always the unexpected that does occur.

Make the most of What you have, When you have it, Where you are.

To be a citizen in a democracy, a human being must be given a healthy start.

To most teenagers, life is a strange uncharted land filled with a mixture of new joys, intensely felt, and painful confusions for which they know no anodyne.

If we fail to meet our problems here, no one else in the world will do so. If we fail, the heart goes out of progressives throughout the world.

Education is the cornerstone of liberty.

More people are ruined by victory, I imagine, than be defeat.

The giving of love and understanding is an education in itself.

I never waste time looking back.

Marriage and the up-bringing of children in the home require as well-trained a mind and as well-disciplined a character as any other occupation that might be considered a career.

One should always sleep in all of one's guest beds, to make sure that they are comfortable.

People who 'view with alarm' never build anything.

The war for freedom will never really be won because the price of freedom is constant vigilance over ourselves and over our Government.

When you are genuinely interested in one thing, it will always lead to something else.

No, I have never wanted to be a man. I have often wanted to be more effective as a woman, but I have never felt that trousers would do the trick!

I feel quite sure that the American people, if they have knowledge and leadership, can meet any crisis just as well as they met it over and over again in the past.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

Most women, I think, though they may complain a little about this, would agree that meeting the needs of others is not a real burden; it is what makes life worth living. It is probably the deepest satisfaction a woman has.

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.

If you approach each new person you meet in a spirit of adventure, you will find yourself endlessly fascinated by the new channels of thought and experience and personality that you encounter.

I am convinced that every effort must be made in childhood to teach the young to use their own minds. For one thing is sure: If they don't make up their minds, someone will do it for them.

I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do.

Your life is your own. You mold it. You make it. All anyone can do is to point out ways and means which have been helpful to others. Perhaps they will serve as suggestions to stimulate your own thinking until you know what it is that will fulfill you, will help you to find out what you want to do with your life.

Friends, you and me... you brought another friend... and then there were three... we started our group... our circle of friends... and like that circle... there is no beginning or end.

This is not a time when women should be patient. We are in a war and we need to fight it with all our ability and every weapon possible. Women pilots, in this particular case, are a weapon waiting to be used.

Be flexible, but stick to your principles.

Each time you learn something new you must readjust the whole framework of your knowledge

Understanding is a two-way street.

Usefulness, whatever form it may take, is the price we should pay for the air we breathe and the food we eat and the privilege of being alive.

Be confident, not certain

It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.

So I took an interest in politics, but I don't know whether I enjoyed it! It was a wife's duty to be interested in whatever interested her husband, whether it was politics, books, or a particular dish for dinner.

How hard it is to project oneself into the future. We are always prone to think of the conditions which are with us today as being permanent conditions.

To be mature you have to realize what you value most... Not to arrive at a clear understanding of one's own values is a tragic waste. You have missed the whole point of what life is for.

Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be.

You always admire what you really don't understand. - Eleanor Roosevelt

We need our radicals.

Somehow we must be able to show people that democracy is not about words, but action.

You need not be proud of me.... I'm only being active till you can be again--it isn't such a great desire on my part to serve theworld and I'll fall back into habits of sloth quite easily!

talking too much is a far greater social fault than talking too little.

I think if the people of this country can be reached with the truth, their judgment will be in favor of the many, as against the privileged few

Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home.

Of course Mahatma Gandhi you might say did not have so much physical vigor but he certainly seemed to have extraordinary resistance, which perhaps is rather different from physical vigor.

Always be on time. Never try to make any personal engagements. Do as little talking as humanly possible. Never be disturbed by anything. Always do what you're told to do as quickly as possible. Remember to lean back in a parade, so that people can see your husband. Don't get too fat to ride three on a seat. Get out of the way as quickly as you're not needed.