Top 350 Franklin D. Roosevelt Quotes (2025 Update)
Page 4 of 8

151. “Every man has a right to life. That means that he also has a right to make a comfortable living.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

152. “The function of Government must be to favor no small group at the expense of its duty to protect the rights of personal freedom and of private property of all its citizens.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

153. “Continued dependence on relief inducers a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fiber.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

154. “Nationwide thinking, nationwide planning and nationwide action are the three great essentials to prevent nationwide crises for future generations to struggle through.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

155. “All private plans, all private lives, have been in a sense repealed by an overriding public danger.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

156. “Goods produced under conditions which do not meet a rudimentary standard to decency should be regarded as contraband and not allowed to pollute the channels of international commerce.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

157. “I ask especially that no state shall, by law or otherwise, authorize the return of the saloon, either in its old form or in some modern guise.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

158. “The American People in their Righteous Might will win through to Absolute Victory.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

159. “Among American citizens, there should be no forgotten men and no forgotten races.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

160. “The future lies with those wise political leaders who realize that the great public is interested more in government than in politics.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

161. “We know that enduring peace cannot be bought at the cost of other people’s freedom.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

162. “There can be little doubt that in many ways the story of bridge building is the story of civilisation. By it we can readily measure an important part of a people’s progress.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

163. “To some generations much is given. Of other generations, much is expected.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

164. “I think this would be a good time for a beer.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

165. “All that is within me cries out to go back to my home on the Hudson River.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

166. “We, and all others who believe in freedom as deeply as we do, would rather die on our feet than live on our knees.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

167. “The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man or one party or one nation. It must be a peace which rests on the cooperative effort of the whole world.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

168. “We know that equality of individual ability has never existed and never will, but we do insist that equality of opportunity still must be sought.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

169. “The fate of America cannot depend on any one man. The greatness of America is grounded in principles and not on any single personality.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

170. “The point in history at which we stand is full of promise and danger. The world will either move forward toward unity and widely shared prosperity – or it will move apart.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

171. “General de Gaulle was a thoroughly bad boy. The day he arrived, he thought he was Joan of Arc and the following day he insisted that he was Georges Clemenceau.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

172. “Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage; We humbly beseech Thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of Thy favor and glad to do Thy will.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

173. “The United States Constitution has proved itself the most marvelously elastic compilation of rules of government ever written.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

174. “Inequality may linger in the world of material things, but great music, great literature, great art and the wonders of science are, and should be, open to all.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

175. “We have learned that we cannot live alone, at peace; that our own well-being is dependent on the well-being of other nations far away. We have learned that we must live as men, not as ostriches, nor as dogs in the manger.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

176. “The gains in education are never really lost. Books may be burned and cities sacked, but truth, like the yearning for freedom, lives in the hearts of humble men.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

177. “Friendship among nations, as among individuals, calls for constructive efforts to muster the forces of humanity in order that an atmosphere of close understanding and cooperation may be cultivated.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

178. “If I went to work in a factory the first thing I’d do is join a union.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

179. “Any Government, like any family, can for a year spend a little more than it earns. But you and I know that a continuation of that habit means the poorhouse.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

180. “People die, but books never die.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

181. “The Democratic Party will live and continue to receive the support of the majority of Americans just so long as it remains a liberal party.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

182. “It is better to swallow words than to have to eat them later.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

183. “It is time to extend planning to a wider field, in this instance comprehending in one great project many states directly concerned with the basin of one of our greatest rivers.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

184. “I believe that in every country the people themselves are more peaceably and liberally inclined than their governments.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

185. “My own party can succeed at the polls only so long as it continues to be the party of militant liberalism.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

186. “I see an America whose rivers and valleys and lakes hills and streams and plains the mountains over our land and nature’s wealth deep under the earth are protected as the rightful heritage of all the people.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

187. “The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

188. “Research is one of the Nation’s very greatest resources and the role of the Federal Government in supporting and stimulating it needs to reexamined.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

189. “I am neither bitter nor cynical but I do wish there was less immaturity in political thinking.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

190. “To stand upon ramparts and die for our principles is heroic, but to sally forth to battle and win for our principles is something more than heroic.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

191. “We do not see faith, hope, and charity as unattainable ideals, but we use them as stout supports of a nation fighting the fight for freedom in a modern civilization.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

192. “If in other lands the press and books and literature of all kinds are censored, we must redouble our efforts here to keep them free.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

193. “There should be no bitterness or hate where the sole thought is the welfare of the United States of America. No man can occupy the office of President without realizing that he is President of all the people.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

194. “Books cannot be killed by fire.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

195. “I hope that you have re-read the Constitution of the United States in these past few weeks. Like the Bible, it ought to be read again and again.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

196. “Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

197. “New ideas can be good and bad, just the same as old ones.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

198. “We defend and we build a way of life, not for America alone, but for all mankind.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

199. “All work undertaken should be useful – not just for a day, or a year, but useful in the sense that it affords permanent improvement in living conditions or that it creates future new wealth for the Nation.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

200. “It is to the real advantage of every producer, every manufacturer and every merchant to cooperate in the improvement of working conditions, because the best customer of American industry is the well-paid worker.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt