This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
33rd President of the United States
"I don't know whether you fellows ever had a load of hay fall on you, but when they told me yesterday what had happened, I felt like the moon, the stars and all the planets had fallen on me. I've got the most terribly responsible job a man ever had."
"I doubt if there is any problem in the world today - social, political or economic - that would not find a happy solution if approached in the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount."
"I don't want it torn down. I think it's the greatest monstrosity in America."
"I don't think the son of a bitch [Richard Nixon] knows the difference between telling the truth and lying."
"I hope for some sort of peace—but I fear that machines are ahead of morals by some centuries and when morals catch up there'll be no reason for any of it."
"I learned that a great leader is a man who has the ability to get other people to do what they don't want to do and like it."
"I never would have agreed to the formulation of the Central Intelligence Agency back in forty-seven, if I had known it would become the American Gestapo."
"I realize the tragic significance of the atomic bomb. Its production and its use were not lightly undertaken by this Government. But we knew that our enemies were on the search for it. We know now how close they were to finding it. And we knew the disaster which would come to this Nation, and to all peace-loving nations, to all civilization, if they had found it first. That is why we felt compelled to undertake the long and uncertain and costly labor of discovery and production. We won the race of discovery against the Germans. Having found the bomb we have used it. We have used it against those who attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor, against those who have starved and beaten and executed American prisoners of war, against those who have abandoned all pretense of obeying international laws of warfare. We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans. We shall continue to use it until we completely destroy Japan's power to make war. Only a Japanese surrender will stop us."
"I fired MacArthur because he wouldn't respect the authority of the president. That's the answer to that. I didn't fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that's not against the law for generals. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail."
"I found that the men and women who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work."
"I have never met you but if I do, you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and a supporter below"
"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."
"I have no desire to crow over anybody or to see anybody eating crow, figuratively or otherwise. We should all get together and make a country in which everybody can eat turkey whenever he pleases."
"I have just read your lousy review [of a concert by Truman’s daughter, Margaret] buried in the back pages. You sound like a frustrated old man who never made a success, an eight-ulcer man on a four-ulcer job, and all four ulcers working. I have never met you, but if I do you’ll need a new nose and plenty of beefsteak and perhaps a supporter below."
"I studied the lives of great men and famous women, and I found that the men and women who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work."
"I sincerely wish that every member of Congress could visit the displaced person's camp in Germany and Austria and see just what is happening to 500,000 human beings through no fault of their own."
"I really look with commiseration over the great body of my fellow citizens who, reading newspapers, live and die in the belief that they have known something of what has been passing in their time."
"I tried never to forget who I was and where I'd come from and where I was going back to"
"I was the only calm one in the house. You see I’ve been shot at by experts."
"I would rather have peace in the world than be President."
"I remember when I first came to Washington. For the first six months you wonder how the hell you ever got here. For the next six months you wonder how the hell the rest of them ever got here."
"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."
"I’ve said many a time that I think the Un-American Activities Committee in the House of Representatives was the most un-American thing in America!"
"If I hadn't been President of the United States, I probably would have ended up a piano player in a bawdy house."
"If I'd known how much packing I'd have to do, I'd have run again."
"If there is one basic element in our Constitution, it is civilian control of the military."
"If wars in the future are to be prevented the nations must be united in their determination to keep the peace under law. Nothing is more essential to the future peace of the world than continued cooperation of the nations which had to muster the force necessary to defeat the conspiracy of the Axis powers to dominate the world. While these great states have a special responsibility to enforce the peace, their responsibility is based upon the obligations resting upon all states, large and small, not to use force in international relations except in the defense of law. The responsibility of the great states is to serve and not to dominate the world."
"If we see that Germany is winning we ought to help Russia and if Russia is winning we ought to help Germany, and that way let them kill as many as possible, although I don't want to see Hitler victorious under any circumstances. Neither of them thinks anything of their pledged word."
"If I want to be great I have to win the victory over myself... self-discipline."
"If we do not abolish war on this earth, then surely one day war will abolish us from the earth."
"If you can't dance then you are a loser."
"If you want to get elected, shake hands with 25, 000 people between and November 7."
"If you can read this, thank a teacher."
"If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog."
"If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another."
"I'm just a politician from Missouri and proud of it."
"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."
"In my opinion eight years as president is enough and sometimes too much for any man to serve in that capacity."
"In my Sunday School class there was a beautiful little girl with golden curls. I was smitten at once and still am."
"In the simplest terms, what we are doing in Korea is this: We are trying to prevent a third world war."
"In this shrinking world, it is futile to seek safety behind geographical barriers. Real security will be found only in law and in justice."
"It is ignorance that causes most mistakes."
"It is not enough to yearn for peace. We must work, and if necessary, fight for it. The task of creating a sound international organization is complicated and difficult. Yet, without such organization, the rights of man on earth cannot be protected. Machinery for the just settlement of international differences must be found. Without such machinery, the entire world will have to remain an armed camp. The world will be doomed to deadly conflict, devoid of hope for real peace."
"Intense feeling too often obscures the truth."
"It is part of my responsibility as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces to see to it that our country is able to defend itself against any possible aggressor. Accordingly, I have directed the Atomic Energy Commission to continue its work on all forms of atomic weapons, including the so-called hydrogen or super-bomb."
"It is an awful responsibility which has come to us. We thank God that it has come to us, instead of to our enemies; and we pray that He may guide us to use it in His ways and for His purposes."
"It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe. The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East. Before 1939, it was the accepted belief of scientists that it was theoretically possible to release atomic energy. But no one knew any practical method of doing it. By 1942, however, we knew that the Germans were working feverishly to find a way to add atomic energy to the other engines of war with which they hoped to enslave the world. But they failed. We may be grateful to Providence that the Germans got the V-1's and V-2's late and in limited quantities and even more grateful that they did not get the atomic bomb at all."
"It is understanding that gives us an ability to have peace. When we understand the other fellow’s viewpoint, and he understands ours, then we can sit down and work out our differences."
"It is terrible-and I mean terrible-nuisance to be kin to the president of the United States."
"It isn't important who is ahead at one time or another in either an election or horse race. It's the horse that comes in first at the finish line that counts."