Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Life's unfairness is not irrevocable; we can help balance the scales for others, if not always for ourselves.
We can not expect to breed respect for law and order among people who do not share the fruits of our freedom.
There are not enough jails, not enough police, not enough courts to enforce a law not supported by the people.
We are in danger of making our cities places where business goes on but where life, in its real sense, is lost.
The leadership for civil rights has to take place in the White House or it is going to take place in the streets.
The essence of statesmanship is not a rigid adherence to the past, but a prudent and probing concern for the future.
Propaganda, to be effective, must be believed. To be believed, it must be credible. To be credible, it must be true.
The difference between hearsay and prophecy is often one of sequence. Hearsay often turns out to have been prophecy.
Leadership in today's world requires far more than a large stock of gunboats and a hard fist at the conference table.
There can be no compromise on the right of personal security; there can be no compromise on securing of human rights.
I am absolutely disgusted that anyone would put thousands of America's boys at risk just to win a Political Campaign.
The measure of a civilization is how it treats those at the dawn of life, the margins of life and the twilight of life.
The moral test of a society is how that society treats those who are in the dawn of life: the children; ... the elderly.
Peace is not passive, it is active. Peace is not appeasement, it is strength. Peace does not 'happen,' it requires work.
What we need are critical lovers of America - patriots who express their faith in their country by working to improve it.
More progress results from the violent execution of an imperfect plan than the perfection of a plan to violently execute.
We will be remembered not for the power of our weapons but for the power of our compassion, our dedication to human welfare.
Here we are the way politics ought to be in America; the politics of happiness, the politics of purpose and the politics of joy.
My favorite sandwich is peanut butter, baloney, cheddar cheese, lettuce, and mayonnaise on toasted bread with catsup on the side.
This, then, is the test we must set for ourselves; not to march alone but to march in such a way that others will wish to join us.
A politician never forgets the precarious nature of elective life. We have never established a practice of tenure in public office.
There is a lot of difference between failure and defeat. Failure is when you are defeated and neither learn nor contribute anything.
The Senate is a place filled with goodwill and good intentions, and if the road to hell is paved with them, then it's a pretty good detour.
If I believe in something, I will fight for it, with all I have. But I do not demand all or nothing. I would rather get something than nothing.
Liberalism, above all, means emancipation - emancipation from one's fears, his inadequacies, from prejudice, from discrimination, from poverty.
It is not enough to merely defend democracy. To defend it may be to lose it; to extend it is to strengthen it. Democracy is not property; it is an idea.
When we say, 'One nation under God, with liberty and justice for all', we are talking about all people. We either ought to believe it or quit saying it .
The good old days were never that good, believe me. The good new days are today, and better days are coming tomorrow. Our greatest songs are still unsung.
Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms.
In the minds and hearts of the American people, there is a great hunger for peace based on a universal recognition of the values of freedom and human dignity.
The way we treat our children in the dawn of their lives and the way we treat our elderly in the twilight of their lives is a measure of the quality of a nation.
The time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadows of states rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights
I have seen in the Halls of Congress more idealism, more humanness, more compassion, more profiles of courage than in any other institution that I have ever known.
We live by hope. We do not ever get all we want when we want it. But we have to believe that someday, somehow, some way, it will be better and that we can make it so.
In this time of national crises...per haps we would do well to spend a few minutes in considering projects which grace and embellish the earth, instead of shaking it.
For the first time in the history of mankind, one generation literally has the power to destroy the past, the present and the future, the power to bring time to an end.
The pursuit of peace resembles the building of a great cathedral. It is the work of a generation. In concept it requires a mater-architect; in execution, the labors of many.
Peace of mind is another way of saying that you've learned how to love, that you have come to appreciate the importance of giving love in order to be worthy of receiving it.
I believe that each of us can make a difference. That what is wrong can be made right. That people possess the basic wisdom and goodness to govern themselves without conflict.
None of us would trade freedom of expression for the narrowness of the public censor. America is a free market for people who have something to say, and need not fear to say it.
This is the first generation in all of recorded history that can do something about the scourge of poverty. We have the means to do it. We can banish hunger from the face of the earth.
Hubert Humphrey with kids"Be clear where America stands. Human brotherhood and equal opportunity for every man, woman, and child, we are committed to it, in America and around the world."
In real life, unlike in Shakespeare, the sweetness of the rose depends upon the name it bears. Things are not only what they are. They are, in very important respects, what they seem to be.
Today we know that World War II began not in 1939 or 1941 but in the 1920's and 1930's when those who should have known better persuaded themselves that they were not their brother's keeper.
There is no such thing as an acceptable level of unemployment, because hunger is not acceptable, poverty is not acceptable, poor health is not acceptable, and a ruined life is not acceptable.
There is in every American, I think, something of the old Daniel Boone - who, when he could see the smoke from another chimney, felt himself too crowded and moved further out into the wilderness.
If today there is a proper American "sphere of influence" it is this fragile sphere called earth upon which all men live and share a common fate--a sphere where our influence must be for peace and justice.
I am not here to judge whether people are locked in poverty because of themselves or because of the society in which they live. All I know is that they are there and we are trying to do something about it.
Much of our American progress has been the product of the individual who had an idea; pursued it; fashioned it; tenaciously clung to it against all odds; and then produced it, sold it, and profited from it.
I had no money to buy books, so between classes and work, I haunted the library. I even tutored in French with a sliding scale of payment: twenty dollars for an A, fifteen for a B, ten for a C, five for a D.