“There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still.”

The presidency is not merely an administrative office. It is pre-eminently a place of moral leadership.

Do Something. If it works, do more of it. If it doesn’t, do something else.

A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.

We are trying to construct a more inclusive society. We are going to make a country in which no one is left out.

There are as many opinions as there are experts.

To some generations much is given. Of other generations, much is expected.

Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are.

True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

An election cannot give a country a firm sense of direction if it has two or more national parties which merely have different names but are as alike in their principles and aims as peas in the same pod.

Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.

It is better to swallow words than to have to eat them later.

No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country… By living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level – I mean the wages of decent living.

We have always known that heedless self interest was bad morals, we now know that it is bad economics.

Presidents are selected, not elected.

In these days of difficulty, we Americans everywhere must and shall choose the path of social justice…, the path of faith, the path of hope, and the path of love toward our fellow man.

If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships – the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace.

One day every major city in America will have a telephone.

One person can bring favor to many during the storm.

I love walking in the woods, on the trails, along the beaches. I love being part of nature. I love walking alone. It is therapy. One needs to be alone, to recharge one’s batteries.

When one door closes, another one opens.

One must never miss an opportunity of quoting things by others which are always more interesting than those one thinks up oneself.

I believe that India is such a big country that one must do as much work as possible. So I keep doing that.

Rosa Parks wasn’t the first one to rebel against the segregated seats. I was the first one.

Your mind and a computer have one thing in common: neither of them know the difference between the truth and what you tell it.