Top 271 Quotes & Sayings by Herbert Hoover - Page 2

A whole people with the ballot in their hands possess the most conclusive and unlimited power ever entrusted to humanity.

Engineering training deals with the exact sciences. That sort of exactness makes for truth and conscience. It might be good for the world if more men had that sort of mental start in life even if they did not pursue the profession.

The opportunities of America opened out to me the public schools. They carried me to the professional training of an American university. I began by working with my own hands for my daily bread.

The glory of the nation rests in the character of her men. And character comes from boyhood. Thus, every boy is a challenge to his elders.

At 15 years of age, I left school to practice the profession of Office Boy in a business firm in Salem, Oregon.

If the law is upheld only by government officials, then all law is at an end.

Upon the farm of the uncle with whom I lived, we did know of the mortgage as some dreadful damper on youthful hopes of things that could not be bought. I do have a vivid recollection that the major purpose of a farm was to produce a living right on the spot for the family.

The Ritz Hotel has never yet provided game of such wondrous flavor as the bird plucked and half-cooked over the small boys' camp fire.

This is not a showman's job. I will not step out of character.

Those who have a true understanding of America know that we have no desire for territorial expansion, for economic or other domination of other peoples. Such purposes are repugnant to our ideals of human freedom.

True liberal government is founded on the emancipation of men.

With impressive proof on all sides of magnificent progress, no one can rightly deny the fundamental correctness of our economic system.

Peace can be promoted by the limitation of arms and by the creation of the instrumentality for peaceful settlement of controversies. But it will become a reality only through self-restraint and active effort in friendliness and helpfulness.

When all the routines and details and the human bores get on our nerves, we just yearn to go away from here to somewhere else. To go fishing is a sound, a valid, and an accepted reason for an escape. It requires no explanation.

No greater nor more affectionate honor can be conferred on an American than to have a public school named after him.

My earliest realization of the stir of national life was the torch parade in the Garfield campaign. On that occasion, I was not only allowed out that night, but I saw the lamps being filled and lighted.

The engineer performs many public functions from which he gets only philosophical satisfactions. Most people do not know it, but he is an economic and social force.

The United States fully accepts the profound truth that our own progress, prosperity, and peace are interlocked with the progress, prosperity, and peace of all humanity.

Peace can be contributed to by respect for our ability in defense.

There is no other book so various as the Bible, nor one so full of concentrated wisdom. Whether it be of law, business, morals...he who seeks for guidance...may look inside its covers and find illumination...

Along this road of spending, the government either takes over, which is Socialism, or dictates institutional and economic life, which is Fascism.

The great liability of the engineer compared to men of other professions is that his works are out in the open where all can see them. His acts, step by step, are in hard substance. He cannot bury his mistakes in the grave like the doctors. He cannot argue them into thin air or blame the judge like the lawyers. He cannot, like the architects, cover his failures with trees and vines. He cannot, like the politicians, screen his shortcomings by blaming his opponents and hope the people will forget. The engineer simply cannot deny he did it. If his works do not work, he is damned.

Presidents cannot always kick evil-minded persons out of the front door. Such persons are often selected by the electors to represent them.

Please find me a one-armed economist so we will not always hear, "On the other hand..."

Our strength lies in spiritual concepts. It lies in public sensitivities to evil. Our greatest danger is not from invading armies. Our dangers are that we may commit suicide from within by complaisance with evil, or by public tolerance of scandalous behavior.

Children are the most wholesome part of the race, the sweetest, for they are the freshest from the hand of god.

You cannot extend the mastery of government over the daily life of a people without somewhere making it master of people's souls and thoughts.... Every step in that direction poisons the very roots of liberalism. It poisons political equality, free speech, free press, and equality of opportunity. It is the road not to more liberty but to less liberty.

Engineering without imagination sinks to a trade.

Prosperity is just around the corner.

The Constitution is America's glue, Democracy is the Constitution's glue.

We are in danger of developing a cult of the Common Man, which means a cult of mediocrity.

It is a great profession. There is the fascination of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper. Then it moves to realization in stone or metal or energy. Then it brings jobs and homes to men. Then it elevates the standards of living and adds to the comforts of life. That is the engineer's high privilege.

Every collectivist revolution rides in on a Trojan horse of EMERGENCY.

No public man can be just a little crooked. There is no such thing as a no-man's land between honesty and dishonesty.

We need to add to the three R's, namely Reading, 'Riting, and 'Rithmetic, a fourth--- RESPONSIBILITY.

Every collectivist revolution rides in on a Trojan horse of "emergency". It was the tactic of Lenin, Hitler, and Mussolini. In the collectivist sweep over a dozen minor countries of Europe, it was the cry of men striving to get on horseback. And "emergency" became the justification of the subsequent steps. This technique of creating emergency is the greatest achievement that demagoguery attains.

Wisdom often consists of knowing what to do next.

My country owes me nothing. It gave me, as it gives every boy and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of action, opportunity for service and honor.

A boy has two jobs. One is just being a boy. The other is growing up to be a man.

Being a politician is a poor profession. Being a public servant is a noble one.

It [freedom] is a thing of the spirit. Men must be free to worship, to think, to hold opinions, to speak without fear. They must be free to challenge wrong and oppression with the surety of justice.

Honest difference of views and honest debate are not disunity. They are the vital process of policy among free men.

The durability of free speech and free press rests on the simple concept that it search for the truth and tell the truth.

Twenty million people are starving. Whatever their politics, they shall be fed!

The whole inspiration of our civilization springs from the teachings of Christ and the lessons of the prophets. To read the Bible for these fundamentals is a necessity of American life.

The only trouble with capitalism is capitalists; they're too damn greedy.

Freedom requires that government keep the channels of competition and opportunity open, prevent monopolies, economic abuse and domination.

Any practice of business which would dominate the country by its own selfish interest is a destruction of equality of opportunity. Government in business, except in emergency, is also a destruction of equal opportunity and the incarnation of tyranny through bureaucracy.

I am willing to pledge myself that if the time should ever come that the voluntary agencies of the country together with the localand state governments are unable to find resources with which to prevent hunger and sufferingI will ask the aid of every resource of the Federal Government.... I have the faith in the American people that such a day will not come.

Be patient and calm; no one can catch fish in anger.

The budget should be balanced not by more taxes, but by reduction of follies.

Never worry about anything that is past. Charge it up to experience and forget the trouble. There are always plenty of troubles ahead, so don't turn and look back on any behind you.

Absolute freedom of the press to discuss public questions is a foundation stone of American liberty.

If we could have but one generation of properly born, trained, educated, and healthy children, a thousand other problems of government would vanish.

The more one observes, the more clearly does he see that it is in the soil of pure science that are found the origins of all our modern industry and commerce. In fact,our civilization is wholly built upon our scientific discoveries.

Love what is ahead by loving what has come before.

Unless the U.N. is completely reorganized without the Communist nations in it, we should get out of it.

We are now speeding down the road of wasteful spending and debt, and unless we can escape we will be smashed in inflation.

To go fishing is the chance to wash one's soul with pure air, with the rush of the brook, or with the shimmer of sun on blue water. It brings meekness and inspiration from the decency of nature, charity toward tackle-makers, patience toward fish, a mockery of profits and egos, a quieting of hate, a rejoicing that you do not have to decide a darned thing until next week. And it is discipline in the equality of men - for all men are equal before fish.

We have gold because we cannot trust governments