When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon.
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.
In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.
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.
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
There are as many opinions as there are experts.
Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly, and try another. But by all means, try something.
A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.
Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.
I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.
There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still.
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 little.
Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.
Confidence... thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance. Without them it cannot live.
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.
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.
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm.
A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.
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.
Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are.
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.
The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.
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 goverment.
Be sincere; be brief; be seated.
To reach a port, we must sail - sail, not tie at anchor - sail, not drift.
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.
Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off.
I'm not the smartest fellow in the world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues.
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.
Yesterday, December seventh, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. We will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God.
The virtues are lost in self-interest as rivers are lost in the sea.
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.
If you treat people right they will treat you right... ninety percent of the time.
When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until he has struck to crush him.
Self-interest is the enemy of all true affection.
The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.
It is an unfortunate human failing that a full pocketbook often groans more loudly than an empty stomach.
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.
I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.
We are trying to construct a more inclusive society. We are going to make a country in which no one is left out.
Remember you are just an extra in everyone else's play.
The truth is found when men are free to pursue it.
Physical strength can never permanently withstand the impact of spiritual force.
The United States Constitution has proved itself the most marvelously elastic compilation of rules of government ever written.
Prosperous farmers mean more employment, more prosperity for the workers and the business men of every industrial area in the whole country.
More than an end to war, we want an end to the beginning of all wars - yes, an end to this brutal, inhuman and thoroughly impractical method of settling the differences between governments.
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.
Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.
