Great Throughts Treasury

"Politics is the life blood of democracy. To call politics “dirty” is to call democracy “dirty.”"

"Without a central administrative focus, foreign policy turns into a series of unrelated decisions – crisis-oriented, ad hoc and after-the-fact in nature. We become prisoners of events."

"It is essential that we enable young people to see themselves as participants in one of the most exciting eras in history, and to have a sense of purpose in relation to it."

"America is not just a power, it is a promise. It is not enough for our country to be extraordinary in might; it must be exemplary in meaning."

"There are three periods in life: youth, middle age and "how well you look"."

"There is no doubt that many expensive national projects may add to our prestige or serve science. But none of them must take precedence over human needs. As long as Congress does not revise its priorities, our crisis is not just material, it is a crisis of the spirit."

"Never forget that the most powerful force on earth is love."

"The secret to success is to own nothing, but control everything."

"A fever of nationalism...but the nation-state is becoming less and less competent to perform its international political tasks...These are some of the reasons pressing us to lead vigorously toward the true building of a new world order...Sooner perhaps than we may realize...there will evolve the bases for a federal structure of the free world."

"You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure about you. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us."

"It's hard to be a Communist with a full belly."

"The chief problem of low-income farmers is poverty."

"The nation-state is becoming less and less competent to perform its international political tasks.… These are some of the reasons pressing us to lead vigorously toward the true building of a new world order."

"During this year I have criss-crossed this nation fighting ? to keep the Republican party the party of all the people and warning of the extremist threat, it?s a danger to the party."

"If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success."

"Maybe this Watergate is like the Old Testament. It was visited upon us and maybe were going to benefit from it."

"The methods of these extremist elements, I have experienced first-hand. [Crowd boos.] That's right. Their tactics have ranged from cancellation by coercion of a speaking engagement before a college to outright threats of personal violence."

"The fundamental question for the United States is how it can cooperate to help meet the basic needs of the people of the hemisphere despite the philosophical disagreements it may have with the nature of particular regimes. It must seek pragmatic ways to help people without necessarily embracing their governments. It should recognize that diplomatic relations are merely practical conveniences and not measures of moral judgment."

"Government has an obligation not to inhibit the collection and dissemination of news. I?m convinced that if reporters should ever lose the right to protect the confidentiality of their sources then serious investigative reporting will simply dry up. The kind of resourceful, probing journalism that first exposed most of the serious scandals, corruption and injustice in our nation?s history would simply disappear. And let me tell you, reading about ones failings in the daily papers is one of the privileges of high office in this free country of ours."

"There are three periods in life: youth, middle age and, "how well you look"."

"Wherever we look upon this earth, the opportunities take shape within the problems."