Owen D. Young Quotes

It takes vision and courage to create

Capital which overreaches for profits; labor which overreaches for wages, or a public which overreaches for bargains will all destroy such other. There is no salvation for us on that road.

When boasting ends, there dignity begins.

The man who can put himself in the place of other men, who can understand the workings of their minds, need never worry about what the future has in store for him.

What I am concerned about in this fast-moving world in a time of crises, both in foreign and domestic affairs, is not so much a program as a spirit of approach, not so much a mind as a heart. A program lives today and dies tomorrow. A mind, if it be open, may change with each new day, but the spirit and the heart are as unchanging as the tides.

It takes visions and courage to create. It takes faith and courage to prove.

The world does not owe men a living, but business, if it is to fulfill its ideal, owes men an opportunity to earn a living.

We are not to judge thrift solely by the test of saving or spending. If one spends what he should prudently save, that certainly is to be deplored. But if one saves what he should prudently spend, that is not necessarily to be commended. A wise balance between the two is the desired end.

I really believe that more harm is done by old men who cling to their influence than by young men who anticipate it.

Government means politics, and interference by government carries with it always the implication of coercion. We may accept the expanding power of bureaucrats so long as we bask in their friendly smile. But it is a dangerous temptation. Today politics may be our friend and tomorrow we may be its victims.

Markets as well as mobs respond to human emotions; markets as well as mobs can be inflamed to their own destruction.

We wake up to find the whole world building competitive trade barriers, just as we found it a few years ago building competitive armaments. We are trying to reduce armaments to preserve the world's solvency. We shall have to reduce competitive trade barriers to preserve the world's sanity. As between the two, trade barriers are more destructive than armaments and more threatening to the peace of the world.