Herbert Hoover Quotes

Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity.

Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement. Economic wounds must be healed by the action of the cells of the economic body - the producers and consumers themselves.

Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt.

Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die.

It is a paradox that every dictator has climbed to power on the ladder of free speech. Immediately on attaining power each dictator has suppressed all free speech except his own.

My country owes me nothing. It gave me, as it gives every boy and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of action, opportunity for service and honor.

Peace is not made at the council table or by treaties, but in the hearts of men.

The great liability of the engineer compared to men of other professions is that his works are out in the open where all can see them. His acts, step by step, are in hard substance. He cannot bury his mistakes in the grave like the doctors. He cannot argue them into thin air or blame the judge like the lawyers. He cannot, like the architects, cover his failures with trees and vines. He cannot, like the politicians, screen his shortcomings by blaming his opponents and hope the people will forget. The engineer simply cannot deny he did it. If his works do not work, he is damned.

Every collectivist revolution rides in on a Trojan horse of "emergency". It was the tactic of Lenin, Hitler, and Mussolini. In the collectivist sweep over a dozen minor countries of Europe, it was the cry of men striving to get on horseback. And "emergency" became the justification of the subsequent steps. This technique of creating emergency is the greatest achievement that demagoguery attains.

Being a politician is a poor profession. Being a public servant is a noble one.

To the engineer falls the job of clothing the bare bones of science with life, comfort, and hope.

All men are equal before fish.

Absolute freedom of the press to discuss public questions is a foundation stone of American liberty.

To go fishing is the chance to wash one's soul with pure air, with the rush of the brook, or with the shimmer of sun on blue water. It brings meekness and inspiration from the decency of nature, charity toward tackle-makers, patience toward fish, a mockery of profits and egos, a quieting of hate, a rejoicing that you do not have to decide a darned thing until next week. And it is discipline in the equality of men - for all men are equal before fish.

The budget should be balanced not by more taxes, but by reduction of follies.

When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.

The whole inspiration of our civilization springs from the teachings of Christ and the lessons of the prophets. To read the Bible for these fundamentals is a necessity of American life.

Honest difference of views and honest debate are not disunity. They are the vital process of policy among free men.

About the time we can make the ends meet, somebody moves the ends.

The association of Mount Ararat and Noah, the staunch Christians who were massacred periodically by the Mohammedan Turks, and the Sunday School collections over fifty years for alleviating their miseries-all cumulate to impress the name Armenia on the front of the American mind.

Children are our most valuable natural resource.

Love what is ahead by loving what has come before.

No public man can be just a little crooked. There is no such thing as a no-man's land between honesty and dishonesty.

Engineering without imagination sinks to a trade.

Fishing is much more than fish. It is the great occasion when we may return to the fine simplicity of our forefathers.

The only trouble with capitalism is capitalists; they're too damn greedy.

Prosperity cannot be restored by raids upon the public Treasury.

Any practice of business which would dominate the country by its own selfish interest is a destruction of equality of opportunity. Government in business, except in emergency, is also a destruction of equal opportunity and the incarnation of tyranny through bureaucracy.

You cannot extend the mastery of government over the daily life of a people without somewhere making it master of people's souls and thoughts.... Every step in that direction poisons the very roots of liberalism. It poisons political equality, free speech, free press, and equality of opportunity. It is the road not to more liberty but to less liberty.

It is a great profession. There is the fascination of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper. Then it moves to realization in stone or metal or energy. Then it brings jobs and homes to men. Then it elevates the standards of living and adds to the comforts of life. That is the engineer's high privilege.

Words without actions are the assassins of idealism.

Freedom requires that government keep the channels of competition and opportunity open, prevent monopolies, economic abuse and domination.

When we are sick, we want an uncommon doctor; when we have a construction job to do, we want an uncommon engineer, and when we are at war, we want an uncommon general. It is only when we get into politics that we are satisfied with the common man.

Our strength lies in spiritual concepts. It lies in public sensitivities to evil. Our greatest danger is not from invading armies. Our dangers are that we may commit suicide from within by complaisance with evil, or by public tolerance of scandalous behavior.

Never worry about anything that is past. Charge it up to experience and forget the trouble. There are always plenty of troubles ahead, so don't turn and look back on any behind you.

We need to add to the three R's, namely Reading, 'Riting, and 'Rithmetic, a fourth--- RESPONSIBILITY.

Lots of people committed crimes during the year who would not have done so if they had been fishing. The increase of crime is among those deprived of the regenerations that impregnate the mind and character of the fisherman.

If we could have but one generation of properly born, trained, educated, and healthy children, a thousand other problems of government would vanish.

The sole function of Government is to bring about a condition of affairs favorable to the beneficial development of private enterprise.

Engineering is a great profession. There is the satisfaction of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper. Then it moves to realization in stone or metal or energy. Then it brings homes to men or women. Then it elevates the standard of living and adds to the comforts of life. This is the engineer's high privilege.

So far as the personal side is concerned, the victory was to him who lost and the defeat to him who won. I can say that never in the last fifteen years have I had the peace of mind that I have since the election. I have almost a feeling of elation.

Prosperity is just around the corner.

Please find me a one-armed economist so we will not always hear, "On the other hand..."

The Constitution is America's glue, Democracy is the Constitution's glue.

Sportsmanship, next to the Church, is the greatest teacher of morals.

Along this road of spending, the government either takes over, which is Socialism, or dictates institutional and economic life, which is Fascism.

I am willing to pledge myself that if the time should ever come that the voluntary agencies of the country together with the localand state governments are unable to find resources with which to prevent hunger and sufferingI will ask the aid of every resource of the Federal Government.... I have the faith in the American people that such a day will not come.

True American Liberalism utterly denies the whole creed of socialism.

It is well to remember that the office of Chief Executive is in part a symbol of the nation and that leaders in a nation may differ in their own house but they have instant solidarity in the presence of foreign attack

The more one observes, the more clearly does he see that it is in the soil of pure science that are found the origins of all our modern industry and commerce. In fact,our civilization is wholly built upon our scientific discoveries.