Top 300 Harry S. Truman Quotes (2025 Update)
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101. “In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still.”

— Harry S. Truman

102. “Nothing is more important in our national life than the welfare of our children.”

— Harry S. Truman

103. “I don’t give a damn about “The Missouri Waltz” but I can’t say it out loud because it’s the song of Missouri. It’s as bad as “The Star-Spangled Banner” so far as music is concerned.”

— Harry S. Truman

104. “You know that being an American is more than a matter of where your parents came from. It is a belief that all men are created free and equal and that everyone deserves an even break.”

— Harry S. Truman

105. “It’s tougher to be a football coach than the President of the United States. You’ve got four years as a president, and they guard you. A football coach doesn’t have anyone to protect him when things go wrong.”

— Harry S. Truman

106. “We seek a peaceful world, a prosperous world, a free world, a world of good neighbors, living on terms of equality and mutual respect, as Canada and the United States have lived for generations.”

— Harry S. Truman

107. “Secrecy and a free, democratic government don’t mix.”

— Harry S. Truman

108. “No nation on this globe should be more internationally minded than America because it was built by all nations.”

— Harry S. Truman

109. “You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog.”

— Harry S. Truman

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

— Harry S. Truman

111. “A man who is not interested in politics is not doing his patriotic duty toward maintaining the constitution of the United States.”

— Harry S. Truman

112. “The true foundation of the brotherhood of humankind is belief in the knowledge that God is the Father of humankind. For us, therefore, brotherhood is not only a generous impulse but also a divine command.”

— Harry S. Truman

113. “We are trying to prevent a third world war.”

— Harry S. Truman

114. “A President cannot always be popular.”

— Harry S. Truman

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

— Harry S. Truman

116. “Being too good is apt to be uninteresting.”

— Harry S. Truman

117. “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.”

— Harry S. Truman

118. “Never, never waste a minute on regret. It’s a waste of time.”

— Harry S. Truman

119. “You should never form judgments from front page headlines. As with a contract, the fine print on the inside pages should be carefully studied.”

— Harry S. Truman

120. “Any man who has had the job I’ve had and didn’t have a sense of humor wouldn’t still be here.”

— Harry S. Truman

121. “Art is parasitic on life, just as criticism is parasitic on art.”

— Harry S. Truman

122. “The only thing you have to worry about is bad luck. I never had bad luck.”

— Harry S. Truman

123. “Today, America has become one of the most powerful forces for good on earth. We must keep it so.”

— Harry S. Truman

124. “The atom bomb was no ‘great decision.’ It was merely another powerful weapon in the arsenal of righteousness.”

— Harry S. Truman

125. “The successful man has enthusiasm. Good work is never done in cold blood; heat is needed for forge anything. Every great achievement is the story of a flaming heart.”

— Harry S. Truman

126. “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.”

— Harry S. Truman

127. “I sit here all day trying to persuade people to do the things they ought to have the sense to do without my persuading them. That’s all the powers of the President amount to.”

— Harry S. Truman

128. “In the simplest of terms, what we are doing in Korea is this: We are trying to prevent a third world war.”

— Harry S. Truman

129. “When we refused to be forced out of Berlin, we demonstrated to the people of Europe that with their cooperation we would act, and act resolutely, when their freedom was threatened.”

— Harry S. Truman

130. “Ignorance and its hand-maidens, prejudice, intolerance, suspicion of our fellowman, breed dictators and breed wars.”

— Harry S. Truman

131. “Nixon is one of the few in the history of this country to run for high office talking out of both sides of his mouth at the same time and lying out of both sides.”

— Harry S. Truman

132. “About the meanest thing you can say about a man is that he means well.”

— Harry S. Truman

133. “Here lies Jack Williams. He done his damndest.”

— Harry S. Truman

134. “If that’s art, I’m a Hottentot!”

— Harry S. Truman

135. “Such an atmosphere is un-American, the most un-American thing we have to contend with today. It is the climate of a totalitarian country in which scientists are expected to change their theories to match changes in the police state’s propaganda line.”

— Harry S. Truman

136. “You can always amend a big plan, but you can never expand a little one. I don’t believe in little plans. I believe in plans big enough to meet a situation which we can’t possibly foresee now.”

— Harry S. Truman

137. “As you get older, you get tired of doing the same things over and over again, so you think Christmas has changed. It hasn’t. It’s you who has changed.”

— Harry S. Truman

138. “He’ll sit there are he’ll say “Do this! Do that!” and nothing will happen. Poor Ike – it won’t be a bit like the army.”

— Harry S. Truman

139. “Men often mistake notoriety for fame, and would rather be noticed for their vices than not be noticed at all.”

— Harry S. Truman

140. “You can never get all the facts from just one newspaper, and unless you have all the facts, you cannot make proper judgements about what is going on.”

— Harry S. Truman

141. “No one in the world can take the place of your mother. Right or wrong, from her viewpoint you are always right. She may scold you for little things, but never for the big ones.”

— Harry S. Truman

142. “Some questions cannot be answered, but they can be decided.”

— Harry S. Truman

143. “Every segment of our population, and every individual, has a right to expect from his government a fair deal.”

— Harry S. Truman

144. “The United Nations is designed to make possible lasting freedom and independence for all its members.”

— Harry S. Truman

145. “Children and dogs are as necessary to the welfare of the country as Wall Street and the railroads.”

— Harry S. Truman

146. “Any story worth telling is worth exaggerating.”

— Harry S. Truman

147. “Beware of the guy praying loudest in the amen corner.”

— Harry S. Truman

148. “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.”

— Harry S. Truman

149. “Canada and the United States have reached the point where we no longer think of each other as ‘foreign’ countries. We think of each other as friends, as peaceful and cooperative neighbors on a spacious and fruitful continent.”

— Harry S. Truman

150. “A leader in the Democratic Party is a boss, in the Republican Party he is a leader.”

— Harry S. Truman