Herbert Hoover Quotations

Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die.

Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity.

Competition is not only the basis of protection to the consumer, but is the incentive to progress.

I'm the only person of distinction who has ever had a depression named for him.

About the time we can make the ends meet, somebody moves the ends.

When we are sick, we want an uncommon doctor; when we have a construction job to do, we want an uncommon engineer, and when we are at war, we want an uncommon general. It is only when we get into politics that we are satisfied with the common man.

A good many things go around in the dark besides Santa Claus.

Fishing is much more than fish. It is the great occasion when we may return to the fine simplicity of our forefathers.

We have not yet reached the goal but... we shall soon, with the help of God, be in sight of the day when poverty shall be banished from this nation.

Once upon a time my political opponents honored me as possessing the fabulous intellectual and economic power by which I created a worldwide depression all by myself.

Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement. Economic wounds must be healed by the action of the cells of the economic body - the producers and consumers themselves.

It is the youth who must inherit the tribulation, the sorrow... that are the aftermath of war.

Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt.

The pause between the errors and trials of the day and the hopes of the night.

It is just as important that business keep out of government as that government keep out of business.

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

There are only two occasions when Americans respect privacy, especially in Presidents. Those are prayer and fishing.

It is a paradox that every dictator has climbed to power on the ladder of free speech. Immediately on attaining power each dictator has suppressed all free speech except his own.

New discoveries in science will continue to create a thousand new frontiers for those who still would adventure.

When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.

Prosperity cannot be restored by raids upon the public Treasury.

In America today, we are nearer a final triumph over poverty than is any other land.

Honor is not the exclusive property of any political party.

Words without actions are the assassins of idealism.

Peace is not made at the council table or by treaties, but in the hearts of men.

The use of the atomic bomb, with its indiscriminate killing of women and children, revolts my soul.

No public man can be just a little crooked.

Many years ago, I concluded that a few hair shirts were part of the mental wardrobe of every man. The president differs from other men in that he has a more extensive wardrobe.

Let me remind you that credit is the lifeblood of business, the lifeblood of prices and jobs.

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

The thing I enjoyed most were visits from children. They did not want public office.

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

Wisdom oft times consists of knowing what to do next.

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

Wisdom consists not so much in knowing what to do in the ultimate as knowing what to do next.

America - a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose.

The slogan of progress is changing from the full dinner pail to the full garage.

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

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

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

I returned to the white House after midnight more depressed than ever before. I had long since arranged to attend the World Series in Philadelphia the next day. Although I like baseball, I kept this engagement only because I felt that my presence at a sporting event might be a gesture of reassurance to a country suffering from a severe attack of 'jitters.'

Man is still by instinct a predatory animal given to devilish aggression. The discoveries of science have immensely increased productivity of material things. They have increased the standards of living and comfort. They have eliminated infinite drudgery. They have increased leisure. But that gives more time for devilment. The work of science has eliminated much disease and suffering. It has increased the length of life. That, together with increase in productivity, has resulted in vastly increased populations. Also it increased the number of people engaged in devilment.

You convey too great a compliment when you say that I have earned the right to the presidential nomination. No man can establish such an obligation upon any part of the American people. My country owes me no debt. It gave me, as it gives every boy and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of action, opportunity for service and honor. In no other land could a boy from a country village, without inheritance or influential friends, look forward with unbounded hope. My whole life has taught me what America means. I am indebted to my country beyond any human power to repay.

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

Our fathers and grandfathers who poured over the Midwest were self-reliant, rugged, God-fearing people of indomitable courage....They asked only for freedom of opportunity and equal chance. In these conceptions lies the real basis of American democracy. They and their fathers give a genius to American institutions that distinguished our people from any other in the world.

I believe not only that religious faith will be victorious, but that it is vital to humankind that it shall be. We may differ in form and particulars in our religious faith. Those are matters that are sacred to each of our inner sanctuaries. It is our privilege to decline to argue them. Their real demonstration is the lives that we live.

The structure of human betterment cannot be built upon foundations of materialism or business, but upon the bedrock of individual character in free men and women.

My boyhood ambition was to be able to earn my own living, without the help of anybody, anywhere,

The recognition of Russia on November 16, 1933, started forces which were to have considerable influence in the attempt to collectivize the United States.

The American people are doing their job today. They should be given a chance to show whether they wish to preserve the principles of individual and local responsibility and mutual self-help before they embark on what I believe to be a disastrous system. I feel sure they will succeed if given the opportunity.

Bureaucracy is ever desirous of spreading its influence and its power. You cannot extend the mastery of the government over the daily working life of a people without at the same time making it the master of the people's souls and thoughts.

Through baseball we channel boys desire for exercise and let off their explosive violence without letting them get into the police court.

You will expect me to discuss the late election. Well, as nearly as I can learn, we did not have enough votes on our side.

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 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.

We do not need to burn down the house to kill the rats

I SEND YOU MY HEARTY CONGRATULATIONS UPON BEGINNING THE THIRTIETH YEAR OF YOUR GREAT CAREER AS MANAGER OF THE NEW YORK GIANTS, IN WHICH YOU HAVE DONE SO MUCH TO UPHOLD THE TRADITIONS OF CLEAN SPORTSMANSHIP IN THE MOST BELOVED NATIONAL GAME.

We supported the cooperative movement among farmers. The movement was still young and stubbornly opposed to the commercial distributors. I believed it to be one of the most helpful undertakings, for according to my social theories any organization run by citizens for their own welfare is preferable to the same action by the government.

Fishing is a constant reminder of the democracy of life, of humility, and of human frailty. The forces of nature discriminate for no man.

A good fisherman can secure many regenerative hours in winter, polishing up the rods and reels.

In the large sense the primary cause of the Great Depression was the war of 1914-1918. Without the war there would have been no depression of such dimensions. There might have been a normal cyclical recession; but, with the usual timing, even that readjustment probably would not have taken place at that particular period, nor would it have been a "Great Depression.

In its broad aspects, the proper feeding of children revolves around a public recognition of the interdependence of the human animal upon his cattle. The white race cannot survive without dairy products.

I am firmly opposed to the government entering into any business the major purpose of which is competition with our citizens... for the Federal Government deliberately to go out to build up and expand... a power and manufacturing business is to break down the initiative and enterprise of the American people; it is the destruction of equality of opportunity amongst our people, it is the negation of the ideals upon which our civilization has been based.

I outlived the bastards.

Lewis Strauss is one of my best friends.

The course of unbalanced budgets is the road to ruin

We have learned that social injustice is the destruction of justice itself.

The only problem with capitalism is the capitalists.

Doctors think a lot of patients are cured who have simply quit in disgust.

Prosperity is no idle expression. It is a job for every worker; it is the safety and safeguard of very business and every home. A continuation of the policies of the Republican party is fundamentally necessary to the future advancement of this progress and to the further building up of this prosperity.

Unemployment in the sense of distress is widely disappearing. . . . We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poor-house is vanishing from among us. We have not yet reached the goal, but given a change to go forward with the policies of the last eight years, and we shall soon with he help of God be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished from this nation. There is no guarantee against poverty equal to a job for every man. That is the primary purpose of the economic policies we advocate

It is always possible that occasional individuals may have overstepped the law and humanity in treatment of criminals and those charged with crime, and if so, they should be severely punished.

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

I shall tell my doctors baseball has more curative powers than all their medicine.

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.

I dare predict that the influence of the Treaty of Renunciation of War will be felt in a large proportion of all future international acts.

Three qualities of greatness stood out in Woodrow Wilson. He was a man of staunch morals. He was more than just an idealist; he was the personification of the heritage of idealism of the American people. He brought spiritual concepts to the peace table. He was a born crusader.

Along with currency manipulation, the New Deal introduced to Americans the spectacle of Fascist dictation to business, labor, and agriculture.

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

Free speech does not live many hours after free industry and free commerce die.

The gods do not deduct from man's allotted span the hours spent in fishing.

Fishing is the chance to wash one's soul with pure air. It brings meekness and inspiration, reduces our egoism, soothes our troubles and shames our wickedness. It is discipline in the equality of men--for all men are equal before fish.

Any lack of confidence in the economic future or the basic strength of business in the United States is foolish.

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.

The outlook of the world today is for the greatest era of commercial expansion in history. The rest of the world will become better customers.

Somebody has inquired as to whether I will be going to the opening baseball game. I hope to have that pleasure.

I was not able to work up much enthusiasm over the ball game, and in the midst of it I was handed a note informing me of the sudden death of Senator Dwight morrow. He had proved a great pillar of strength in the senate and his death was a great loss to the country and to me. I left the ballpark with the chant of the crowd ringing in my ears, 'We Want Beer!'

I was for a short time on the baseball team as shortstop, where I was no good.

All progress and growth is a matter of change, but change must be growth within our social and government concepts if it should not destroy them.

The rigid volunteer rules of right and wrong in sports are second only to religious faith in moral training.

It is those moral and spiritual qualities which rise alone in free men, which will fulfill the meaning of the word American. And with them will come centuries of further greatness to our country.

Gentleman, you have come sixty days too late. The depression is over.

Wisdom often consists of knowing what to do next.

Sportsmanship, next to the Church, is the greatest teacher of morals.

It is well to remember that the office of Chief Executive is in part a symbol of the nation and that leaders in a nation may differ in their own house but they have instant solidarity in the presence of foreign attack

Children add to the wonder of being alive.

We have not yet reached the goal but.. we shall soon, with the help of God, be in sight of the day when poverty shall be banished from this nation.

It was the transcendent fortitude and steadfastness of these men who in adversity and in suffering through the darkest hour of our history held faithful to an ideal. Here men endured that a nation might live.

The study of the Bible is a post-graduate course in the richest library of human experience.

Public health service should be as fully organized and as universally incorporated into our governmental system as is public education. The returns are a thousand fold in economic benefits, and infinitely more in reduction of suffering and promotion of human happiness.