“A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.”
“Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends.”
“I have only one yardstick by which I test every major problem – and that yardstick is: Is it good for America?”
“I would rather try to persuade a man to go along, because once I have persuaded him, he will stick. If I scare him, he will stay just as long as he is scared, and then he is gone.”
“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”
“Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all.”
“The older I get the more wisdom I find in the ancient rule of taking first things first. A process which often reduces the most complex human problem to a manageable proportion.”
“You don’t lead by hitting people over the head – that’s assault, not leadership.”
“I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.”
“This world of ours… must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.”
“The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.”
“Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose.”
“There is nothing wrong with America that faith, love of freedom, intelligence, and energy of her citizens cannot cure.”
“Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.”
“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”