FDR
Posted by Jae Senn on July 4, 2006
Some quotes from FDR that will be helpful to us if ever history repeats itself before our very eyes in this generation.. besides that, some of these quotes are also relevant in some aspects of our daily lives.
These were among the ideas of great men such as FDR, during an era when men were men, not metrosexuals or "in touch with their feminine side". These were from a time when men were separated from mice, political correctness had not eroded the strength of nations and weakend the minds of people.
Those were times that will forever live in infamy, the finest hours of the greatest leaders during the world’s biggest challenge.
The time is ripe to bring back FDR’s Four Freedoms!
On impending danger
"The Nazi danger to our Western world has long ceased to be a mere possibility. The danger is here now–not only from a military enemy but from an enemy of all law, all liberty, all morality, all religion."
On the personal freedoms of human beings
"I respect the aristocracy of learning; I deplore the plutocracy of wealth; but thank God for the democracy of the heart."
"We would rather die on our feet than live on our knees."
"Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds."
"We believe that the only whole man is a free man."
On democracy and governance
"The ultimate failures of dictatorship cost humanity far more than any temporary failures of democracy."
"Government can err; Presidents do make mistakes, but the immortal
Dante tells us that divine justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded
and the sins of the warm-hearted in different scales. Better the
occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity
than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its
own indifference."
"The object of government is the welfare of the people. The liberty of
the people to carry on their business should not be abridged unless the
larger interests of the many are concerned. When the interests of the
many are concerned the interests of the few must yield. It is the
purpose of the government to see not only that the legitimate interests
of the few are protected but that the welfare and the rights of the
many are conserved. These are the principles which we must remember in
any consideration of the question. This, I take it, is sound
government–not politics. Those are the essential basic conditions
under which government can be of service."
"For too many of us the political equality we once had won was
meaningless in the face of economic inequality. A small group had
concentrated into their own hands an almost complete control over other
people’s property, other people’s money, other people’s labor — other
people’s lives. For too many of us life was no longer free; liberty no
longer real; men could no longer follow the pursuit of happiness.
Against economic tyranny such as this, the American citizen could
appeal only to the organized power of government. The collapse of 1929
showed up the despotism for what it was. The election of 1932 was the
people’s mandate to end it. Under that mandate it is being ended."
"These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the
institutions of America. What they really complain of is that we seek
to take away their power. Our allegiance to American institutions
requires the overthrow of this kind of power. In vain they seek to hide
behind the flag and the Constitution. In their blindness they forget
what the flag and the Constitution stand for. Now, as always, they
stand for democracy, not tyranny; for freedom, not subjection; and
against a dictatorship by mob rule and the over-privileged alike."
On war and conflicts
"Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself– nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."
"We cannot escape danger, or the fear of danger, by crawling into bed and pulling the covers over our heads."
"Many causes produce war. There are ancient hatreds, turbulent
frontiers, the "legacy of old forgotten, far-off things, and battles
long ago." There are new-born fanaticisms. Convictions on the part of
certain peoples that they have become the unique depositories of
ultimate truth and right."
On civil liberties, free societies and sound economies
"If the fires of freedom and civil liberties burn low in other lands, they must be made brighter in our own. If in other lands the press and books and literature of all kinds are censored, we must redouble our efforts here to keep them free. If in other lands the eternal truths of the past are threatened by intolerance, we must provide a safe place for their perception."
"The lessons of history, confirmed by the evidence immediately before
me, show conclusively that continued dependence upon relief induces a
spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the
national fibre. To dole out relief in this way is to administer a
narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit. It is inimical to the
dictates of sound policy."
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance
of those who have too much…it is whether we provide enough for those
who have too little."
"All work undertaken should be useful — not just for a day, or a year,
but useful in the sense that it affords permanent improvement in living
conditions or that it creates future new wealth for the Nation."
On peace and continued determination for the future
"We have learned that we cannot live alone. We cannot live alone at peace. We have learned that our own well-being is dependent on the well-being of other nations far away. We have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the human community."
"Lives of nations are determined, not by the count of years, but by the lifetime of the human spirit. The life of a man is three score years and ten, a little more, a little less. But the life of a nation is the fullness of it’s will to live."
"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today, so let us move forward with strong and active faith."
"If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships–the ability of all people of all kinds, to live together and work together in the same world, at peace."
"We must begin the great task that is before us by abandoning once and for all the illusion that we can ever again isolate ourselfs from the rest of humanity."
"We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future."
Churchill’s words may be elegant, but he’s not quite as expressive and eloquent as FDR.
FDR had the distinction of bringing America back on its feet after the Great Depression, and for leading the United States through World War 2, emerging victorious and stronger than ever.
He was a liberal, but he’s not a left-wing coward. Many of his policies tend to slant towards libertarianism, and he’s repeatedly looked up upon till this day as one of the great presidents alongside George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
