Great Throughts Treasury

"Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him."

"Decency - generosity - cooperation - assistance in trouble - devotion to duty; these are the things that are of greater value than surface appearances and custom."

"The hopes of the world rest on the flexibility, vigor, capacity for new thought, and the fresh outlook of the young."

"No man can always be right. So the struggle is to do one’s best; to keep the brain and conscience clear; never to be swayed by unworthy motives or inconsequential reasons, but to strive to unearth the basic factors involved and then do one’s duty."

"Generosity has never impoverished the giver; it has enriched the lives of those who have practiced it... And the bread we have cast upon the waters has been returned in blessings a hundredfold."

"The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."

"As never before, the essence of war is fire, famine and pestilence. They contribute to its outbreak; they are among its weapons; they become its consequences."

"Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die."

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms ins not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children... This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."

"Human dignity, economic freedom, individual responsibility, these are the characteristics that distinguish democracy from all other forms devised by man."

"Fundamentally, public opinion wins wars."

"In spite of the publicity given to disorders, riots, and criminal violence, the vast majority of our people are law-abiding and proud of their country and ready to sacrifice on her behalf."

"I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of their way and let them have it."

"I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity."

"Modern man worships at the temple of science, yet science tells him only what is possible, not what is right."

"One day the people of the world will want peace so much that governments are going to have to get out of the way and give it to them."

"Only strength can cooperate. Weakness can only beg."

"Remember, it is not by a tyrant's words, but only by his deeds that we can know him."

"Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin."

"The achievement of brotherhood is the crowning achievement of our society."

"There is no victory at bargain basement prices."

"This is what I found out about religion. It gives you courage to make the decisions you must make in a crisis, and then the confidence to leave the result to Higher Power. Only by trust in God can a man carrying responsibility find repose."

"The supreme quality for a leader is unquestionably integrity. Without is, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, on an arm chair in an office."

"The pact of Munich was a more fell blow to humanity than the atom bomb at Hiroshima. Suffocation of human freedom among a once free people, however quietly and peacefully accomplished, is more far-reaching in its implications and its effects on their future than the destruction of their homes, industrial centers and transportation facilities. Out of rubble heaps, willing hands can rebuild a better city; but out of freedom lost can stem only generations of hate and bitter struggle and brutal oppression."

"Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionaries and rebels – men and women who dared to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion."

"We must never forget that international friendship is achieved through rumors ignored, propaganda challenged and exposed; through patient loyalty to those who have proved themselves worthy of it; through help freely given, where help is need and merited... Peace is more a product of our day-to-day living than of a spectacular program, intermittently executed."

"War is no longer a lively adventure or expedition into romance, matching man against man in the test of the stout-hearted. Instead, it is aimed against the cities mankind has built. Its goal is their total destruction and devastation."

"An immoral nation invites its own ruin."

"Never lose your temper, except intentionally."

"You must not retain for one instant any man in a responsible position where you have become doubtful of his ability to do the job… This matter frequently calls for more courage than any other thing you will have to do, but I expect you to be perfectly cold-blooded about it."

"Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends."

"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."

"It is possible, even probable, that hopelessness among a people can be a far more potent cause of war than greed."