Quotes by Franklin D. Roosevelt

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“ If you treat people right they will treat you right ninety percent of the time. “

-Franklin D. Roosevelt-

If you treat people right they will treat you right ninety percent of the time.

The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.

A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.

We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way. The third is freedom from want. The fourth is freedom from fear.

The American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

In these days of difficulty, we Americans everywhere must and shall choose the path of social justice... the path of faith, the path of hope, and the path of love toward our fellow man.

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

If you are convinced you should go, go. I have had enough of this 'I don't know.'

When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until he has struck to crush him.

We have nothing to fear but fear itself.

Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.

It is time to know more about our jobs and to take the mystery out of them. We should measure the results of our activities against the actual needs of the people we serve.

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

The truth is found when men are free to pursue it.

We must be the great arsenal of democracy.

To reach a port, we must sail—Sail, not tie at anchor—Sail, not drift.

Peace, like charity, begins at home.

Favor comes because for a brief time your opponent has simply forgotten to be rude. Such conduct is never to be mistaken for friendship.

When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.

No country, however rich, can afford the waste of its human resources. Demoralization caused by vast unemployment is our greatest extravagance.

In our seeking for economic and political progress, we all go up - or else we all go down.

The future lies with those wise political leaders who realize that the great public is interested more in government than in politics.

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.

Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.

We, and all others who believe in freedom as deeply as we do, would rather die on our feet than live on our knees.

Self-interest is the enemy of all true affection.

It is the duty of the President to propose and it is the privilege of the Congress to dispose.

In our seeking for economic and political progress, we all go up—or else we all go down, as one people.

believe that in every country the people themselves are more peaceably and liberally inclined than their governments.

The United States Constitution has proved itself the most marvelously elastic compilation of rules of government ever written.

I ask you to keep your faith and to remain calm and patient.

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.

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.

There are as many opinions as there are experts.

It is a sound principle of finance, and a still sounder principle of government, that those who enjoy the blessings of liberty must share in the work of their country.

The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people.

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.

We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.

It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead—and find no one there.

Our national determination to keep free of foreign wars and foreign entanglements cannot prevent us from feeling deep concern when ideals and principles that we have cherished are challenged.

But while they prate of economic laws, men and women are starving. We must lay hold of the fact that economic laws are not made by nature. They are made by human beings.

Be sincere; be brief; be seated.

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.

Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights and keep them.

In our seeking for economic and political progress, we all go up - or else we all go down, as one people.

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

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.

Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.

The principle on which this country was founded and by which it has always been governed is that Americanism is a matter of the mind and heart; Americanism is not, and never was, a matter of race or ancestry.

Prosperous farmers mean more employment, more prosperity for the workers and the business men of every industrial area in the whole country.

The value of love will always be stronger than the value of hate. Any nation or group of nations which employs hatred eventually is torn to pieces by hatred.

One thing is sure. We have to do something. We have to do the best we know how at the moment... If it doesn't turn out right, we can modify it as we go along.

Physical strength can never permanently withstand the impact of spiritual force.

The virtues are lost in self-interest as rivers are lost in the sea.

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

Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are.

If you treat people right they will treat you right... ninety percent of the time.

The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize.

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

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

It isn't sufficient just to want - you've got to ask yourself what you are going to do to get the things you want.

There is nothing I love as much as a good fight.

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.

Remember you are just an extra in everyone else's play.

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

There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations, much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.

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.

To reach a port, we must sail - sail, not tie at anchor - sail, not drift.

The only things we have to fear is fear itself.

In our personal ambitions we are individualists. But in our seeking for economic and political progress as a nation, we all go up or else all go down as one people.

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

The point in history at which we stand is full of promise and danger. The world will either move forward toward unity and widely shared prosperity - or it will move apart.

Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.

I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.

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 its government.

Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly, and try another. But by all means, try something.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

Freedom from fear... Freedom from want... Freedom of speech... Freedom of worship. Everywhere in the world.

Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights and keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose.

In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.

Courage conquers fear.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.

Introducing Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt, often referred to as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving an unprecedented four terms from 1933 to 1945. Born on January 30, 1882, into a prominent New York family, he entered politics in 1910 and became a key figure in American history for leading the country through two of its greatest crises: the Great Depression and World War II. His New Deal programs helped stabilize the U.S. economy, providing relief, recovery, and reform to millions of Americans. FDR's leadership during WWII helped shape the modern world, as he played a critical role in forming the Allied powers and guiding the U.S. to victory. He is also known for his strong advocacy of social welfare programs and his efforts to expand the federal government’s role in the economy. Despite being diagnosed with polio in 1921, which left him partially paralyzed, Roosevelt's resilience and optimism became symbols of hope for the American people. He passed away in office on April 12, 1945, just months before the end of World War II.