Never let yourself be persuaded that any one Great Man, any one leader, is necessary to the salvation of America. When America consists of one leader and 158 million followers, it will no longer be America.

Never question another man's motive. His wisdom, yes, but not his motives.

Pull the string and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all.

Never waste a minute thinking about people you don't like.

Don't join the book burners. Don't think you're going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book...

In most communities it is illegal to cry "fire" in a crowded assembly. Should it not be considered serious international misconduct to manufacture a general war scare in an effort to achieve local political aims?

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 are 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 clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.

We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it.

Never send a battalion to take a hill if a regiment is available.

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

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 are not clothed.

Preventive war was an invention of Hitler. I would not even listen to anyone seriously that came and talked about such a thing.

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

If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom.

The history of free men is never written by chance but by choice - their choice.

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

Extremes to the right and to the left of any political dispute are always wrong.

Should any political party attempt to abolish social security unemployment insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group of course that believes you can do these things. Among them are a few other Texas oil millionaires and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.

You do not lead by hitting people over the head -- that's assault, not leadership.

Always try to associate yourself with and learn as much as you can from those who know more than you do, who do better than you, who see more clearly than you.

shot through the heart, and you're to blame! you give love, a bad name.

Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin.

I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.

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

One day the people of the world will want peaceso much that the governments will have to get outof their way and give it to them.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

Statesmanship is developed in the hard knocks of general experience, private and public.

Leadership consists of nothing but taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong and giving your subordinates credit for everything that goes well.

Don't be afraid to go to your library and read every book as long as any document does not offend your own ideas of decency.

I don’t like the idea of something where you have to depend upon the integrity of the man and not the integrity of the institution.

Pessimism never won any battle.

If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone.

We must achieve both security and solvency. In fact, the foundation of military strength is economic strength,

An atheist is a man who watches a Notre Dame - Southern Methodist University game and doesn't care who wins.

Only Americans can hurt America.

When you appeal to force there's one thing you must never do - lose.

In war there is no substitute for victory.

Morale is the greatest single factor in successful wars.

What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog.

Morale is the greatest single factor in successful wars.

Morale is the greatest single factor in successful wars.

An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows.

I would rather have a lucky general than a smart general. ... They win battles and they make me lucky.

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.

We merely want to live in peace with all the world to trade with them to commune with them to learn from their culture as they may learn from ours so that the products of our toil may be used for our schools and our roads and our churches and not for guns and planes and tanks and ships of war.

Pessimism never won any battle.

What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog.

No one can defeat us unless we first defeat ourselves.

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

If you want total security go to prison. There you're fed clothed given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking ... is freedom.

Morale is the greatest single factor in successful wars.

"Worry" is a word that I don't allow myself to use.

The search for a scapegoat is the easiest of all hunting expeditions.