Quotes By Harry S. Truman

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.

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

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

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.

A president either is constantly on top of events or, if he hesitates, events will soon be on top of him. I never felt that I could let up for a moment.

Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.

A bureaucrat is a Democrat who holds some office that a Republican wants.

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.

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

When you get to be President, there are all those things, the honors, the twenty-one gun salutes, all those things. You have to remember it isn't for you. It's for the Presidency.

Art is parasitic on life, just as criticism is parasitic on art.

The only things worth learning are the things you learn after you know it all.

We shall never be able to remove suspicion and fear as potential causes of war until communication is permitted to flow, free and open, across international boundaries.

I would rather have peace in the world than be President.

If I'd known how much packing I'd have to do, I'd have run again.

A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.