Franklin D. Roosevelt

Quotes are word for word from the source.

• Spirit of self-help

  “Self-help and self-control are the essence of the American tradition--not of necessity the form of that tradition, but its spirit.”

  Our noteDefining the core values that drive national recovery.

• Majority Sentiment Analysis

  “I suggested in the spring of 1933 that 85 or 90 percent of all the people in the world were content with the territorial limits of their respective Nations”

  Our noteRoosevelt notes that the vast majority of people desire stability rather than expansion.

• Purposeful Progress

  “It is not enough that the wheels turn. They must carry us in the direction of a greater satisfaction in life for the average man.”

  Our noteHe argues that economic activity is useless unless it leads to a better quality of life for everyone.

• Avoid premature complacency

  “We cannot assume that immediate industrial and commercial activity which mitigates present pressures justifies the national Government at this time in placing the unemployment problem in a filing cabinet of finished business.”

  Our noteRoosevelt warns against ignoring long-term problems just because short-term conditions improve.

• Strength for peace

  “we must keep ourselves adequately strong in self-defense.”

  Our noteHe explains that maintaining strength is necessary to command respect and ensure peaceful solutions in a disordered world.

• Avoiding unintended support

  “At the very least, we can and should avoid any action, or any lack of action, which will encourage, assist or build up an aggressor.”

  Our noteHe warns against policies that accidentally empower competitors or enemies.

• Facing Reality

  “It is not good for the ultimate health of ostriches to bury their heads in the sand.”

  Our noteRoosevelt warns against ignoring global threats and pretending they do not exist.

• Practical solutions

  “they, looking ahead to life, are entitled to action on our part and not merely to admonitions of optimism or lectures on economic laws.”

  Our noteRoosevelt emphasizes the need for real opportunities for the youth rather than empty words.

• Initial Setup Hurdles

  “the greatest difficulty comes at the beginning of the program, when new tools, new plant facilities, new assembly lines, and new ship ways must first be constructed before the actual materiel begins to flow”

  Our noteExplaining why production seems slow during the infrastructure-building phase.

• Unity of purpose

  “Our strength is our unity of purpose. To that high concept there can be no end save victory.”

  Our noteRoosevelt defines national unity as the primary driver of eventual success.

• Attrition strategy

  “As early as one year ago, we set as a primary task in the war of the Pacific a day-by-day and week-by-week and month-by-month destruction of more Japanese war materials than Japanese industry could replace.”

  Our noteRoosevelt explains the strategy of out-producing and out-destroying the enemy's industrial capacity.

• Beyond mere survival

  “I do not think that any of us Americans can be content with mere survival.”

  Our noteEncouraging the nation to strive for a better future rather than just getting by.

• Collective Sacrifice

  “If ever there was a time to subordinate individual or group selfishness to the national good, that time is now.”

  Our noteUrging citizens and interest groups to prioritize the common goal over personal gain.

• Importance of secrecy

  “The success of the two invasions is a tribute also to the ability of many men and women to maintain silence, when a few careless words would have imperiled the lives of hundreds of thousands”

  Our noteRoosevelt discusses how operational security and silence from the public and personnel protected the D-Day invasions.

• Urgency in hiring

  “The need is too pressing to await the outcome of further efforts at recruiting.”

  Our noteHe explains why voluntary recruiting is no longer sufficient for the urgent need for nurses.

• Persistence in duty

  “There is an old and true saying that the Lord hates a quitter.”

  Our noteRoosevelt encourages workers to stay in essential roles rather than quitting for non-essential reasons.

• Private sector reliance

  “Our policy is, of course, to rely as much as possible on private enterprise to provide jobs.”

  Our noteHe clarifies that the primary engine for employment should be private business initiative.

• Success through determination

  “If we attack our problems with determination we shall succeed. And we must succeed. For freedom and peace cannot exist without security.”

  Our noteRoosevelt emphasizes the necessity of resolve to overcome post-war economic and social disturbances.

• Judging by opposition

  “My friends, judge me by the enemies I have made.”

  Our noteRoosevelt spoke to supporters on the campaign trail about his political opposition.

• Kindness and toughness

  “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.”

  Our noteRoosevelt discussed the compatibility of social welfare and national strength.

• Planning for recovery

  “We are coming back more soundly than ever before because we are planning it that way. Don't let anybody tell you differently.”

  Our noteHe spoke about the intentionality behind the economic recovery efforts.

• Beyond monetary profit

  “The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.”

  Our noteHe spoke about redefining success beyond financial metrics during his inauguration.

• Principles of taxation

  “These are based on the broad principle that if a government is to be prudent its taxes must produce ample revenues without discouraging enterprise; and if it is to be just it must distribute the burden of taxes equitably.”

  Our noteProposing changes to tax policy to Congress.

• Threats to free enterprise

  “Individual initiative was crushed in the cogs of a great machine. The field open for free business was more and more restricted. Private enterprise, indeed, became too private. It became privileged enterprise, not free enterprise.”

  Our noteDescribing the impact of economic monopolies at the Democratic National Convention.

• Action over indifference

  “Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.”

  Our noteComparing active government mistakes to the failure of doing nothing.

• Honesty at the Top

  “The first is complete honesty at the top in looking after the use of other people's money, and in apportioning and paying individual and corporate taxes according to ability to pay.”

  Our noteRoosevelt outlines the requirements for a healthy private enterprise system.

• Practical problem solving

  “I should be far more concerned about the general attitude of a candidate toward present day problems and his own inward desire to get practical needs attended to in a practical way.”

  Our noteRoosevelt was discussing the qualities he looks for in a political candidate.

• Facing new responsibilities

  “For a democracy can keep alive only if the settlement of old difficulties clears the ground and transfers energies to face new responsibilities.”

  Our noteHe explained how resolving old conflicts allows a society to move forward.

• Power of mind

  “Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds. They have within themselves the power to become free at any moment.”

  Our noteAddressing the Governing Board of the Pan American Union regarding the future of the world.

• Acceptable mistakes

  “We may make mistakes - but they must never be mistakes which result from faintness of heart or abandonment of moral principle.”

  Our noteRoosevelt discusses the nature of errors in leadership and action.