Harry S. Truman famous quotes

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Inspirational #Motivational #Leadership

Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifices.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Country #Memorial Day #Gratitude

A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Change #Attitude #Positive Thinking

Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Party #People #Needs

The best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Funny #Leadership #Witty

Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Change #Leadership #Men

The most peaceful thing in the world is plowing a field. Chances are you’ll do your best thinking that way.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Thinking #Peaceful #Plowing

Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Country #Government #Voice

Fame is a vapor, popularity is an accident, riches take wings, those who cheer today may curse tomorrow and only one thing endures - character.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Wisdom #Cheer #Character

Tact is the ability to step on a man's toes without messing up the shine on his shoes.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Men #Shoes #Shining

No one in the world can take the place of your mother. Right or wrong, from her viewpoint you are always right. She may scold you for little things, but never for the big ones.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Mom #Mother #Littles

We must remember that the test of our religious principles lies not just in what we say, not only in our prayers, not even in living blameless lives - but in what we do for others
-- Harry S. Truman

#Religious #Prayer #Lying

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Courage #Determination #Jobs

The Republicans believe in the minimum wage -- the more the minimum, the better.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Believe #Political #Minimum Wage

Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Happiness #Attitude #Reading

It is time that all Americans realized that the place of labor is side by side with the businessman and with the farmer, and not one-degree lower.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Presidential #Degrees #Sides

I had faith in Israel before it was established, I have in it now. I believe it has a glorious future before it - not just another sovereign nation, but as an embodiment of the great ideals of our civilization.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Faith #Believe #Israel

The fundamental basis of this nation’s laws was given to Moses on the Mount…If we don’t have a proper fundamental moral background, we will finally end up with a totalitarian government which does not believe in rights for anybody except the State.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Believe #Law #Rights

It's not the hand that signs the laws that holds the destiny of America. It's the hand that casts the ballot.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Destiny #Hands #Law

Every segment of our population, and every individual, has a right to expect from his government a fair deal.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Government #Population #Civil Rights

Children and dogs are as necessary to the welfare of the country as Wall Street and the railroads.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Country #Dog #Children

Carry the battle to them. Don't let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive and don't ever apologize for anything.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Patriotic #Apology #Advice

It is ignorance that causes most mistakes.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Mistake #Ignorance #Causes

[The American President] has to take all sorts of abuse from liars and demagogues.… The people can never understand why the President does not use his supposedly great power to make ’em behave. Well, all the President is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Liars #Kissing #Men

Whenever you put a man on the Supreme Court he ceases to be your friend.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Men #Political #Politics

Work Hard. Do your best. Keep your word. Never get too big for your britches. Trust in God. Have no fear; and Never forget a friend.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Hard Work #Hard Times #Trust In God

The fundamental basis of this Nation's law was given to Moses on the Mount. The fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teachings which we get from Exodus and St. Matthew, from Isaiah and St. Paul.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Bible #God #Religious

There's nothing better than cake but more cake.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Cake

My favorite animal is the mule. He has more horse sense than a horse. He knows when to stop eating - and he knows when to stop working.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Horse #Animal #Pet

I come to the office each morning and stay for long hours doing what has to be done to the best of my ability. And when you've done the best you can, you can't do any better.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Morning #Work #Office

We should resolve now that the health of this nation is a national concern; that financial barriers in the way of attaining health shall be removed; that the health of all it's citizens deserves the help of all the nation.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Food #Healthy #Way

My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there’s hardly any difference.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Life #Music #Wisdom

We must have strong minds, ready to accept facts as they are.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Strong #Truth #Acceptance

Without a strong educational system democracy is crippled. Knowledge is not only key to power. It is the citadel of human freedom.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Strong #Educational #Keys

The only things worth learning are the things you learn after you know it all.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Know It All

Of course I believe in free enterprise but in my system of free enterprise, the democratic principle is that there never was, never has been, never will be, room for the ruthless exploitation of the many for the benefit of the few.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Believe #Political #Principles

It can be lost, and it will be, if the time ever comes when these documents are regarded not as the supreme expression of our profound belief, but merely as curiosities in glass cases.
-- Harry S. Truman

#America #Glasses #Expression

I am proud of my part in the creation of this new state. Our Government was the first to recognize the State of Israel.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Government #Israel #Presidential

Never kick a fresh turd on a hot day.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Hot #Turds #Kicks

If there is one basic element in our Constitution, it is civilian control of the military.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Military #Elements #Constitution

I had faith in Israel before it was established, I have faith in it now.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Israel #Presidential #Have Faith

I think one man is just as good as another so long as he's not a n*gger or a Chinaman. Uncle Will says that the Lord made a White man from dust, a n*gger from mud, then He threw up what was left and it came down a Chinaman. He does hate Chinese and Japs. So do I. It is race prejudice, I guess. But I am strongly of the opinion Negroes ought to be in Africa, Yellow men in Asia and White men in Europe and America.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Uncles #Hate #Men

There shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Opportunity #Race #Color

Give me a one-handed economist! All my economists say, On the one hand on the other.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Hands #Giving #Economy

Of course, there are dangers in religious freedom and freedom of opinion. But to deny these rights is worse than dangerous, it is absolutely fatal to liberty. The external threat to liberty should not drive us into suppressing liberty at home. Those who want the government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Suicide #Religious #Home

I have just read your lousy review. You sound like a frustrated old man who never made a success, an eightulcer man on a four ulcer job ... I have never met you but if I do, you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and a supporter below.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Jobs #Eye #Men

Not every reader is a leader, but every leader must be a reader.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Leader #Reader

There is no more fundamental axiom of American freedom than the familiar statement: In a free country we punish men for the crimes they commit but never for the opinions they have.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Country #Men #Liberty

We are profoundly grateful for the blessings bestowed upon us: the preservation of our freedom, so dearly bought and so highly prized; our opportunities for human welfare and happiness, so limitless in their scope; our material prosperity, so far surpassing that of earlier years; and our private spiritual blessings, so deeply cherished by all. For these we offer fervent thanks to God.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Thanksgiving #Spiritual #Grateful

When the decision is up before you-and on my desk I have a motto which says "The buck stops here"-the decision has to be made.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Decision #Bucks #Motto

Herbert Hoover once ran on the slogan, 'Two cars in every garage'. Apparently, the Republican candidate this year is running on the slogan, 'Two families in every garage'.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Running #Years #Two

Dictatorship, by whatever name, is founded on the doctrine that the individual amounts to nothing; that the State is the only one that counts; and that men and women and children were put on earth solely for the purpose of serving the state.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Children #Men #Names

If I want to be great, I have to win the victory over myself...self-d iscipline.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Winning #Self #Victory

I don't believe in anti-anything. A man has to have a program; you have to be for something. Otherwise, you will never get anywhere.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Believe #Men #Belief

There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know.
-- Harry S. Truman

#World

Well, I wouldn't say that I was in the great class, but I had a great time while I was trying to be great.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Time #Greatness #Class

A President cannot always be popular.
-- Harry S. Truman

#President #Popularity

You know that being an American is more than a matter of where your parents came from. It is a belief that all men are created free and equal and that everyone deserves an even break.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Men #Parent #Matter

It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Inspirational #Funny #Depression

A bureaucrat is a Democrat who holds some office that a Republican wants.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Humorous #Office #Political

Actions are the seed of fate deeds grow into destiny.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Patriotic #Fate #Destiny

Study men, not historians.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Men #Study #Historian

You can never get all the facts from just one newspaper, and unless you have all the facts, you cannot make proper judgements about what is going on.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Judgement #Judgemental #Facts

Upon books the collective education of the race depends; they are the sole instruments of registering, perpetuating and transmitting thought.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Education #Book #School

Most of the problems a President has to face have their roots in the past.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Past #Roots #President

You can always amend a big plan, but you can never expand a little one. I don't believe in little plans. I believe in plans big enough to meet a situation which we can't possibly foresee now.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Believe #Political #Politics

About the meanest thing you can say about a man is that he means well.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Mean #Men #Meanness

A President needs political understanding to run the government, but he may be elected without it.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Running #Government #Political

Experience has shown how deeply the seeds of war are planted by economic rivalry and social injustice.
-- Harry S. Truman

#War #Injustice #Economic

We shall never be able to remove suspicion and fear as potential causes of war until communication is permitted to flow, free and open, across international boundaries.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Peace #War #Communication

Art is parasitic on life, just as criticism is parasitic on art.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Art #Criticism #Art Is

A president either is constantly on top of events or, if he hesitates, events will soon be on top of him. I never felt that I could let up for a moment.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Leadership #Hype #President

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Wisdom #Adversity #Gossip

A politician is a man who understands government. A statesman is a politician who's been dead for 15 years.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Patriotic #Men #Years

When even one American - who has done nothing wrong - is forced by fear to shut his mind and close his mouth - then all Americans are in peril.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Fear #War #Marijuana

The United Nations is designed to make possible lasting freedom and independence for all its members.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Freedom #Independence #Lasting Love

You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Funny #Hilarious #Dog

A leader in the Democratic Party is a boss, in the Republican Party he is a leader.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Leadership #Party #Government

Any man who has had the job I've had and didn't have a sense of humor wouldn't still be here.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Jobs #Humor #Men

There are always a lot of people so afraid of rocking the boat that they stop rowing. We can never get ahead that way.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Confidence #Courage #Fear

I would rather have peace in the world than be President.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Peace #President #World

How far would Moses have gone if he had taken a poll in Egypt?
-- Harry S. Truman

#Change #Taken #Egypt

There is enough in the world for everyone to have plenty, to live happily, and to be at peace with his neighbors.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Inspirational #World #Enough

Three things ruin a man: power, money, and women. I never wanted power. I never had any money, and the only woman in my life is up at the house right now.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Men #House #Three

A leader is the man who has the ability to get other people to do what they don't want to do, and like it.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Leadership #Army #Men

Imperfect action is better than perfect inaction.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Perfect #Action #Imperfect

The responsibility of the great states is to serve, and not to dominate, the world.
-- Harry S. Truman

#War #Responsibility #World

If we do not abolish war on this earth, then surely one day war will abolish us from the earth.
-- Harry S. Truman

#War #One Day #Earth

I always remember an epitaph which is in the cemetery at Tombstone, Arizona. It says: 'Here lies Jack Williams. He done his damnedest.' I think that is the greatest epitaph a man can have - When he gives everything that is in him to do the job he has before him. That is all you can ask of him and that is what I have tried to do.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Jobs #Tombstone #Lying

The Republican Party either corrupts its liberals or it expels them.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Party #Republican #Republican Party

The 'C' students run the world.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Running #World #Students

No man should be allowed to be President who does not understand hogs.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Men #President #Doe

I said that an expert was a fella who was afraid to learn anything new because then he wouldn't be an expert anymore.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Learning #Knowledge #Experts

Politics is a fascinating game, because politics is government. It is the art of government.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Art #Government #Games

Being too good is apt to be uninteresting.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Greatness #Be Good

I can assure you that flying saucers, given that they exist, are not constructed by any power on Earth.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Flying #Earth #Given

Washington is a very easy city for you to forget where you came from and why you got there in the first place.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Cities #Firsts #Forget

I never sit on a fence. I am either on one side or another.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Sides #Fence

Although I hold the highest civil honour in the world, I have always regarded my rank and title as a Past Grand Master of Masons the greatest honour that had ever come to me.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Past #Titles #World

I never would have agreed to the formulation of the Central Intelligence Agency back in forty-seven, if I had known it would become the American Gestapo.
-- Harry S. Truman

#Freedom #Agency #Historical