Harry S. Truman Quotes

An honest public servant can't become rich in politics. He can only attain greatness and satisfaction by service.

I sincerely regret the unfortunate choice of language which I used in my letter of August 29 to Congressman McDonough concerning the Marine Corps.

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.

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

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.

My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. To tell the truth, there's hardly a difference.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Everybody has the right to express what he thinks. That, of course, lets the crackpots in. But if you cannot tell a crackpot when you see one, then you ought to be taken in.

Term limits would cure both senility and seniority- both terrible legislative diseases.

He "wasn't used to being criticized, and he never did get it through his head that's what politics is all about. He was used to getting his ass kissed."

When the Liberals said they were going to create a million new jobs, I didn't think they were all going to be tax collectors. If you can't convince them, confuse them.

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.

Given the choice between a Republican and someone who acts like a Republican, people will vote for the real Republican all the time

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.

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.

There's nothing better than cake but more cake.

Without a strong educational system — free of government control — democracy is crippled. Knowledge is not only the key to power. It is the citadel of human freedom.

A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.

I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth and they thought it was hell.

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.

The only things worth learning are the things you learn after you know it all.

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.

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

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

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.

Never kick a fresh turd on a hot day.

Religious and racial persecution is moronic at all times, perhaps the most idiotic of human stupidities.

I wonder how far Moses would have gone if he had taken a poll in Egypt? What would Jesus Christ have preached if He had taken a poll in the land of Israel? Where would the Reformation have gone if Martin Luther had taken a poll? It isn't polls or public opinion alone of the moment that counts.

There is some risk involved in action, there always is. But there is far more risk in failure to act.

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.

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.

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.

In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still.

Selfishness and greed, individual or national, cause most of our troubles.

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.

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

The only thing new in the world is the history you don't know.

Intense feeling too often obscures the truth.

I do not understand a mind which sees a gracious beneficence in spending money to slay and maim human beings in almost unimaginable numbers and deprecates the expenditure of a smaller sum to patch up the ills of mankind.

A bureaucrat is a Democrat who holds some office that a Republican wants.

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.

The Marshall Plan will go down in history as one of America's greatest contributions to the peace of the world.

If you want a friend in Washington, buy a dog.

Imperfect action is better than perfect inaction.

I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way. I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid which is essential to economic stability and orderly political processes.