Quotes By Harry S. Truman

In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves... self-discipline with all of them came first.

The President is always abused. If he isn't, he isn't doing anything.

A President needs political understanding to run the government, but he may be elected without it.

Whenever you put a man on the Supreme Court he ceases to be your friend.

Being too good is apt to be uninteresting.

Upon books the collective education of the race depends; they are the sole instruments of registering, perpetuating and transmitting thought.

This administration is going to be cussed and discussed for years to come.

It's plain hokum. If you can't convince 'em, confuse 'em. It's an old political trick. But this time it won't work.

If you can't convince them, confuse them.

A leader in the Democratic Party is a boss, in the Republican Party he is a leader.

Always be sincere, even if you don't mean it.

Washington is a very easy city for you to forget where you came from and why you got there in the first place.

The White House is the finest prison in the world.

Any man who has had the job I've had and didn't have a sense of humor wouldn't still be here.

Those who want the Government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination.

I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.

I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth and they thought it was hell.

It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours.

You and I are stuck with the necessity of taking the worst of two evils or none at all. So-I'm taking the immature Democrat as the best of the two. Nixon is impossible.

All the president is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing, and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.

You know that being an American is more than a matter of where your parents came from. It is a belief that all men are created free and equal and that everyone deserves an even break.

Most of the problems a President has to face have their roots in the past.

There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know.

Whenever a fellow tells me he's bipartisan, I know he's going to vote against me.

The United Nations is designed to make possible lasting freedom and independence for all its members.

The reward of suffering is experience.

In my opinion eight years as president is enough and sometimes too much for any man to serve in that capacity.

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.

Carry the battle to them. Don't let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive and don't ever apologize for anything.

You can always amend a big plan, but you can never expand a little one. I don't believe in little plans. I believe in plans big enough to meet a situation which we can't possibly foresee now.