Hubert H. Humphrey Quotes
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It is not enough to merely defend democracy. To defend it may be to lose it; to extend it is to strengthen it. Democracy is not property; it is an idea.
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In this time of national crises...per haps we would do well to spend a few minutes in considering projects which grace and embellish the earth, instead of shaking it.
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This is the first generation in all of recorded history that can do something about the scourge of poverty. We have the means to do it. We can banish hunger from the face of the earth.
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The essence of statesmanship is not a rigid adherence to the past, but a prudent and probing concern for the future.
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If there is dissatisfaction with the status quo, good. If there is ferment, so much the better. If there is restlessness, I am pleased. Then let there be ideas, and hard thought, and hard work. If man feels small, let man make himself bigger.
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To be realistic today is to be visionary. To be realistic is to be starry-eyed.
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Before people will do anything, they have got to eat. And if you are really looking for a way for people to lean on you and to be dependent on you, in terms of their cooperation with you, it seems to me that food dependence would be terrific.
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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.
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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.
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Never give up on anybody.
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It is always a risk to speak to the press: they are likely to report what you say.
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I've never thought my speeches were too long; I've rather enjoyed them.
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Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate.
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National isolation breeds national neurosis.
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When people generally are aware of a problem, it can be said to have entered the public consciousness. When people get on their hind legs and holler, the problem has not only entered the public consciousness -- it has also become a part of the public conscience. At that point, things in our democracy begin to hum.
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Life's unfairness is not irrevocable; we can help balance the scales for others, if not always for ourselves.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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Unfortunately, our affluent society has also been an effluent society.
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To err is human. To blame someone else is politics.
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Today we know that World War II began not in 1939 or 1941 but in the 1920's and 1930's when those who should have known better persuaded themselves that they were not their brother's keeper.
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American public opinion is like an ocean, it cannot be stirred by a teaspoon.
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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. This is not to say that firearms should not be very carefully used and that definite safety rules of precaution should not be taught and enforced. But the right of citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, and one more safeguard against tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible.
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Just be what you are and speak from your guts and heart - it's all a person has.
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We need an America with the wisdom of experience. But we must not let America grow old in spirit.
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Though everyone has an equal right to speak, not all have earned an equal right to be taken seriously.
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The President has only 190 million bosses. The Vice President has 190 million and one.
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The leadership for civil rights has to take place in the White House or it is going to take place in the streets.
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I am absolutely disgusted that anyone would put thousands of America's boys at risk just to win a Political Campaign.
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Hubert H. Humphrey
- Born: May 27, 1911
- Died: January 13, 1978
- Occupation: Former Vice President of the United States
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