Hubert H. Humphrey
The good old days were never that good, believe me. The good new days are today, and better days are coming tomorrow. Our greatest songs are still unsung.Collection: Song
The way we treat our children in the dawn of their lives and the way we treat our elderly in the twilight of their lives is a measure of the quality of a nation.Collection: Children
As we begin to comprehend that the earth itself is a kind of manned spaceship hurtling through the infinity of space ~ it will seem increasingly absurd that we have not better organized the life of the human family.Collection: Life
I believe that each of us can make a difference. That what is wrong can be made right. That people possess the basic wisdom and goodness to govern themselves without conflict.Collection: Wisdom
We live by hope. We do not ever get all we want when we want it. But we have to believe that someday, somehow, some way, it will be better and that we can make it so.Collection: Hope
Equality means equality for all - no exceptions, no 'yes, buts', no asterisked footnotes imposing limits.Collection: Wisdom
There is a great deal of difference between living and surviving. You can survive in debauchery, even in sickness and despair. But you live with a spirit of vitality and a spirit of participation, of being wanted, and having something to contribute.Collection: Wisdom
If today there is a proper American "sphere of influence" it is this fragile sphere called earth upon which all men live and share a common fate--a sphere where our influence must be for peace and justice.Collection: Fate
Fortunately, the time has long passed when people liked to regard the United States as some kind of melting pot, taking men and women from every part of the world and converting them into standardized, homogenized Americans. We are, I think, much more mature and wise today. Just as we welcome a world of diversity, so we glory in an America of diversity -- an America all the richer for the many different and distinctive strands of which it is woven.Collection: Wise
The history of the labor movement needs to be taught in every school in this land. America is a living testimonial to what free men and women, organized in free democratic trade unions can do to make a better life. We ought to be proud of it!Collection: School
We can not expect to breed respect for law and order among people who do not share the fruits of our freedom.Collection: Order
The measure of a civilization is how it treats those at the dawn of life, the margins of life and the twilight of life.Collection: Twilight
Just be what you are and speak from your guts and heart - it's all a person has.Collection: Wisdom
There is a lot of difference between failure and defeat. Failure is when you are defeated and neither learn nor contribute anything.Collection: Wisdom
Life's unfairness is not irrevocable; we can help balance the scales for others, if not always for ourselves.Collection: Pain
It is always a risk to speak to the press: they are likely to report what you say.Collection: Risk
You can always debate about what you should have done. The question is what are you going to do?Collection: Wisdom
My philosophy has always been that benefits should percolate up rather than trickle down.Collection: Wisdom
Peace is not passive, it is active. Peace is not appeasement, it is strength. Peace does not 'happen,' it requires work.Collection: Peace
The gap between the rich and the poor is the most dangerous threat to world peace we have.Collection: Wisdom
What we need are critical lovers of America - patriots who express their faith in their country by working to improve it.Collection: Country
My friends, to those who say that we are rushing this issue of civil rights, I say to them we are 172 years late. To those who say that this civil-rights program is an infringement on states’ rights, I say this: The time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadow of states' rights and to walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights.Collection: Party
The ugliness of bigotry stands in direct contradiction to the very meaning of America.Collection: America
People in places many of us never heard of, whose names we can't pronounce or even spell, are speaking up for themselves. They speak in languages we once classified as exotic but whose mastery is now essential for our diplomats and businessmen. But what they say is very much the same the world over. They want a decent standard of living. They want human dignity and a voice in their own futures. They want their children to grow up strong and healthy and free.Collection: Strong
Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms.Collection: Freedom
Our opposition will never understand the Democratic Party. Our Party is--to the unpracticed eyes of the old Republican Tories--a mysterious contraption that usually seems to be moving in a thousand directions. What they don't know is what hurts them. For all that movement in the Democratic Party is caused by the internal combustion of creative ferment, of ideas, of people vigorously committed to the proposition that change and social progress are not only to be desired; they are necessities of twentieth-century America.Collection: Hurt
Peace of mind is another way of saying that you've learned how to love, that you have come to appreciate the importance of giving love in order to be worthy of receiving it.Collection: Love
The President is the peoples lobbyist.Collection: President
More progress results from the violent execution of an imperfect plan than the perfection of a plan to violently execute.Collection: Perfection
What you do, what each of us does, has an effect on the country, the state, the nation, and the world.Collection: Wisdom
I am not here to judge whether people are locked in poverty because of themselves or because of the society in which they live. All I know is that they are there and we are trying to do something about it.Collection: Wisdom
It is all too easy for a society to measure itself against some abstract philosophical principle or political slogan. But in the end, there must remain the question: What kind of life is one society providing to the people that live in it?Collection: Wisdom
The message of the United States is not nuclear power. The message of the United States is a spiritual message. It is the message of human ideals; it is the message of human dignity; it is the message of the freedom of ideas, speech, press, the right to assemble, to worship, and the message of freedom of movement of people.Collection: Spiritual
We should have learnt by now that laws and court decisions can only point the way. They can establish criteria of right and wrong. And they can provide a basis for rooting out the evils of bigotry and racism. But they cannot wipe away centuries of oppression and injustice - however much we might desire it.Collection: Should Have
The right of citizens to bear arms is just one guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against the tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible.Collection: Gun
If I believe in something, I will fight for it, with all I have. But I do not demand all or nothing. I would rather get something than nothing.Collection: Wisdom
The time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadows of states rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rightsCollection: Party
If I believe in something, I will fight for it with all I have. But I do not demand all or nothing. I would rather get something than nothing. Professional liberals want the fiery debate. They glory in defeat. The hardest job for a politician today is to have the courage to be a moderate. It's easy to take an extreme position.Collection: Jobs
Slumism is the pent-up anger of people living on the outside of affluence. Slumism is decay of structure and deterioration of the human spirit. Slumism is a virus which spreads through the body politic. As other "isms," it breeds disorder and demagoguery and hate.Collection: Hate
We need an America with the wisdom of experience. But we must not let America grow old in spirit.Collection: 4th Of July
My favorite sandwich is peanut butter, baloney, cheddar cheese, lettuce, and mayonnaise on toasted bread with catsup on the side.Collection: Food
The great challenge which faces us is to assure that, in our society of big-ness, we do not strangle the voice of creativity, that the rules of the game do not come to overshadow its purpose, that the grand orchestration of society leaves ample room for the man who marches to the music of another drummer.Collection: Creativity
The leadership for civil rights has to take place in the White House or it is going to take place in the streets.Collection: Wisdom
There can be no compromise on the right of personal security; there can be no compromise on securing of human rights.Collection: Rights
The pursuit of peace resembles the building of a great cathedral. It is the work of a generation. In concept it requires a mater-architect; in execution, the labors of many.Collection: Peace
We will be remembered not for the power of our weapons but for the power of our compassion, our dedication to human welfare.Collection: Compassion
I had no money to buy books, so between classes and work, I haunted the library. I even tutored in French with a sliding scale of payment: twenty dollars for an A, fifteen for a B, ten for a C, five for a D.Collection: Book
Our greatest songs are still unsung.Collection: Song