Top 300 Harry S. Truman Quotes (2025 Update)
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251. “I enjoyed my new position as vice president, but it took me a while to get used to the fact that I no longer had the voting privileges I had enjoyed for 10 years as a senator.”

— Harry S. Truman

252. “I had faith in Israel before it was established, I have in it now. I believe it has a glorious future before it – not just another sovereign nation, but as an embodiment of the great ideals of our civilization.”

— Harry S. Truman

253. “The human animal cannot be trusted for anything good except en masse. The combined thought and action of the whole people of any race, creed or nationality, will always point in the right direction.”

— Harry S. Truman

254. “This generation, raised on “Eyewitness News,” conditioned by the instant replay, and spared the illumination that comes from tedious historical study, tends to be even more ahistorical than most.”

— Harry S. Truman

255. “A man cannot have character unless he lives within a fundamental system of morals that creates character.”

— Harry S. Truman

256. “I do not understand a mind which sees a gracious beneficence in spending money to slay and maim human beings in almost unimaginable numbers and deprecates the expenditure of a smaller sum to patch up the ills of mankind.”

— Harry S. Truman

257. “The world has experienced a revival of an old faith in the everlasting moral force of justice. At no time in history has there been a more important Conference, or a more necessary meeting, than this one in San Francisco, which you are opening today.”

— Harry S. Truman

258. “I come to the office each morning and stay for long hours doing what has to be done to the best of my ability. And when you’ve done the best you can, you can’t do any better.”

— Harry S. Truman

259. “Partisanship must end at the waters edge.”

— Harry S. Truman

260. “The Republican party still helps the rich and sticks a knife in the back of the poor.”

— Harry S. Truman

261. “We must remember that the test of our religious principles lies not just in what we say, not only in our prayers, not even in living blameless lives – but in what we do for others.”

— Harry S. Truman

262. “If you tell Congress everything about the world situation, they get hysterical. If you tell them nothing, they go fishing.”

— Harry S. Truman

263. “Since childhood at my mother’s knee, I have believed in honor, ethics and right living as its own reward. I find a very small minority who agree with me on that premise.”

— Harry S. Truman

264. “If I’d known how much packing I’d have to do, I’d have run again.”

— Harry S. Truman

265. “I sincerely regret the unfortunate choice of language, which I used in my letter of Aug 29 to Congress McDonough concerning the Marine Corps...”

— Harry S. Truman

266. “This attack has made it clear, beyond all doubt, that the international Communist movement is willing to use armed invasion to conquer independent nations. An act of aggression such as this creates a very real danger to the security of all free nations.”

— Harry S. Truman

267. “It is time that all Americans realized that the place of labor is side by side with the businessman and with the farmer, and not one-degree lower.”

— Harry S. Truman

268. “I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way.”

— Harry S. Truman

269. “The difficulty with businessmen entering politics, after they’ve had a successful business career, is that they want to start at the top.”

— Harry S. Truman

270. “The friendless, the weak, the victims of prejudice and public excitement are entitled to the same quality of justice and fair play that the rich, the powerful, the well-connected, and the fellow with pull thinks he can get.”

— Harry S. Truman

271. “Millions do not now have protection or security against the economic effects of sickness.”

— Harry S. Truman

272. “Study men, not historians.”

— Harry S. Truman

273. “I am proud of my part in the creation of this new state. Our Government was the first to recognize the State of Israel.”

— Harry S. Truman

274. “This government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine, and recognition has been requested by the provisional government thereof. The United States recognizes the provisional government as the de facto authority of the new State of Israel.”

— Harry S. Truman

275. “Nearly every crisis seems to be the worst one, but after it’s over, it isn’t so bad.”

— Harry S. Truman

276. “Democracy alone can supply the vitalizing force to stir the peoples of the world into triumphant action, not only against their human oppressors, but also against their ancient enemies-hunger, misery, and despair.”

— Harry S. Truman

277. “We must help to the limits of our strength. And we will.”

— Harry S. Truman

278. “Canadian-American relations for many years did not develop spontaneously. The example of accord provided by our two countries did not come about merely through the happy circumstance of geography. It is compounded of one part proximity and nine parts good will and common sense.”

— Harry S. Truman

279. “We have found that it is easier for men to die together on the field of battle than it is for them to live together at home in peace.”

— Harry S. Truman

280. “I don’t want this office, this responsibility, any longer, even if you want me. Find the strongest and most able and God bless you. Good-bye.”

— Harry S. Truman

281. “Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with reason and justice.”

— Harry S. Truman

282. “If you want to get elected, shake hands with 25, 000 people between and November 7.”

— Harry S. Truman

283. “I consider Monroe a pretty minor president. In spite of the Monroe Doctrine. That’s the only important thing he ever did more or less on his own, when you really get down to it.”

— Harry S. Truman

284. “It can be lost, and it will be, if the time ever comes when these documents are regarded not as the supreme expression of our profound belief, but merely as curiosities in glass cases.”

— Harry S. Truman

285. “Whenever a fellow tells me he’s bipartisan, I know he’s going to vote against me.”

— Harry S. Truman

286. “Well, I wouldn’t say that I was in the great class, but I had a great time while I was trying to be great.”

— Harry S. Truman

287. “One of the difficulties with all our institutions is the fact that we’ve emphasized the reward instead of the service.”

— Harry S. Truman

288. “Most of the problems a President has to face have their roots in the past.”

— Harry S. Truman

289. “We can all pray. We all should pray. We should ask the fulfillment of Gods will. We should ask for courage, wisdom, for the quietness of soul which comes alone to them who place their lives in His hands.”

— Harry S. Truman

290. “Upon books the collective education of the race depends; they are the sole instruments of registering, perpetuating and transmitting thought.”

— Harry S. Truman

291. “Some of the presidents were great and some of them weren’t. I can say that, because I wasn’t one of the great presidents, but I had a good time trying to be one, I can tell you that.”

— Harry S. Truman

292. “If wars in the future are to be prevented the nations must be united in their determination to keep the peace under law.”

— Harry S. Truman

293. “The record proves that in peaceful commerce the combined efforts of our countries can produce outstanding results. Our trade with each other is far greater than that of any other two nations on earth.”

— Harry S. Truman

294. “All through history it’s the nations that have given most to generals and the least to the people that have been the first to fall.”

— Harry S. Truman

295. “On tight money: It reflects a reversion to the old idea that the tree can be fertilized at the top instead of at the bottom – the old trickle-down theory.”

— Harry S. Truman

296. “You can’t have anything worthwhile without difficulties.”

— Harry S. Truman

297. “A President needs political understanding to run the government, but he may be elected without it.”

— Harry S. Truman

298. “The United States has become great because we, as a people, have been able to work together for great objectives even while differing about details.”

— Harry S. Truman

299. “In most of my campaigns, I find it is best not to mention my opponent by name because, by doing so, it just gives him a chance to get into the headlines.”

— Harry S. Truman

300. “In my opinion eight years as president is enough and sometimes too much for any man to serve in that capacity.”

— Harry S. Truman