Dwight D. Eisenhower Quotes

How can we appraise a proposal if the terms hurled at our ears can mean anything or nothing, and change their significance with the inflection of the voice? Welfare state, national socialism, radical, liberal, conservative, reactionary and a regiment of others ... these terms in today's usage, are generally compounds of confusion and prejudice. If our attitudes are muddled, our language is often to blame. A good tonic for clearer thinking is a dose of precise, legal definition.

We will accept nothing less than full Victory!

Any nations right to a form of government and economic system of its own choosing is inalienable. Any nations attempt to dictate to other nations their form of government is indefensible.

I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory! Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

I don't like the idea of something where you have to depend upon the integrity of the man and not the integrity of the institution.

As men and women of character and of faith in the soundness of democratic methods, we must work like dogs to justify that faith.

The spirit of man is more important than mere physical strength, and the spiritual fiber of a nation than its wealth.

Some day there is going to be a man sitting in my present chair who has not been raised in the military services and who will have little understanding of where slashes in their estimates can be made with little or no damage. If that should happen while we still have the state of tension that now exists in the world, I shudder to think of what could happen in this country

With a full century of contrary proof in our possession and despite our demonstrated capacity for cooperative teamwork, some among us seem to accept the shibboleth of an unbridgeable gap between those who hire and those who are employed. We miserably fail to challenge the lie that what is good for management is necessarily bad for labor; that for one side to profit, the other must be depressed. Such distorted doctrine is false and foreign to the American scene where common ideals and purpose permit us a common approach toward the common good.

Don't be afraid to go to your library and read every book as long as any document does not offend your own ideas of decency.

What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.

Statesmanship is developed in the hard knocks of general experience, private and public.

But I think a life of raising prize cattle, going shooting two or three times a year, fishing in the summer, and interspersing the whole thing with some golf and bridge - and whenever I felt like talking or writing, doing it with abandon and with no sense of responsibility whatsoever - maybe such a life wouldn't be so bad.

Probably no one here knows I coached a football team - a service team - playing against Georgetown. I think it was in the fall of 1924 Lou Little was your coach, and he beat us. But it was a very happy circumstance, because it brought me the friendship of another man, Lou Little, who to this day remains my very warm associate and friend.

Our arms must be mighty ... ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction

One day the people of the world will want peace
so much that the governments will have to get out
of their way and give it to them.

[T]he rule of law does more than ensure freedom from high-handed action by rulers. It ensures justice between man and man however humble the one and however powerful the other. A man with five dollars in the bank can call to account the corporation with five billion dollars in assets-and the two will be heard as equals before the law.

The gravity of the time is such that every new avenue of peace, no matter how dimly discernible, should be explored.

The proudest thing I can claim is that I am from Abilene.

And they can appreciate, through personal experience, that the really decisive battleground of American freedom is in the hearts and minds of our own people ... The path we travel is narrow and long, beset with many dangers. Each day we must ask that Almighty God will set and keep His protecting hand over us so that we may pass on to those who come after us the heritage of a free people, secure in their God-given rights and in full control of a Government dedicated to the preservation of those rights ...

We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it.

The stop-watch of history is running. The race is on ...

Freedom from fear and injustice and oppression will be ours only in the measure that men who value such freedom are ready to sustain its possession - to defend it against every thrust from within or without.

And I should like to assure you, my Islamic friends, that under the American Constitution, under American tradition, and in American hearts, this Center, this place of worship, is just as welcome as could be a similar edifice of any other religion. Indeed, America would fight with her whole strength for your right to have here your own church and worship according to your own conscience. This concept is indeed a part of America, and without that concept we would be something else than what we are.

Love of liberty means the guarding of every resource that makes freedom possible-from the sanctity of our families and the wealth of our soil to the genius [of] our scientists ...

Mob rule can not be allowed to override the decisions of our courts.

To be true to one's own freedom is, in essence, to honor and respect the freedom of all others.

Any man who wants to be president is either an egomaniac or crazy.

We reject any idea that one race of people is in any way better than another.

I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity. a

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

No man can always be right. So the struggle is to do one's best, to keep the brain and conscience clear, never be swayed by unworthy motives or inconsequential reasons, but to strive to unearth the basic factors involved, then do one's duty.

The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

The one weapon every man, soldier, sailor, or airman should be able to use effectively is the rifle. It is always his weapon of personal safety in an emergency, and for many it is the primary weapon of offence and defense. Expertness in its use cannot be over emphasized.

No amphibious attack in history has approached this one in size. Along miles of coastline there were hundreds of vessels and small boats afloat and ant-like files of advancing troops ashore.

The next time you see one of those squirrels go near my putting green, take a gun and shoot it

A good teacher is one who can understand those who are not very good at explaining, and explain to those who are not very good at understanding ...

Nothing is easy in war. Mistakes are always paid for in casualties and troops are quick to sense any blunder made by their commanders.

Speeches are for the younger men who are going places. And I'm not going anyplace except six feet under the floor of that little chapel adjoining the museum and library at Abilene.

Freedom bestows on us the priceless gift of opportunity - if we neglect our opportunities we shall certainly lose our freedom.

Well, it's hard for a mere man to believe that woman doesn't have equal rights.

There are a number of things wrong with Washington. One of them is that everyone is too far from home.

Unless each day can be looked back upon by an individual as one in which he has had some fun, some joy, some real satisfaction, that day is a loss.

Why are we proud? We are proud, first of all, because from the beginning of this Nation, a man can walk upright, no matter who he is, or who she is. He can walk upright and meet his friend
or his enemy; and he does not fear that because that enemy may be in a position of great power that he can be suddenly thrown in jail to rot there without charges and with no recourse to justice. We have the habeas corpus act, and we respect it.

In all those things which deal with people, be liberal, be human. In all those things which deal with the people's money or their economy or their form of government, be conservative.

Public opinion wins wars.

Unlike presidential administrations, problems rarely have terminal dates.

If you are waging peace, you can't be too particular sometimes about the special attitudes that different countries take. We were a young country once, and our whole policy for the first 150 years was, we were neutral. We must not be parsimonious, as long as we are not shooting, we are not spending one tenth as much.

Military power serves the cause of security by making prohibitive the cost of any aggressive attack. It serves the cause of peace by holding up a shield behind which the patient constructive work of peace can go on.

I know only one method of operation: to be as honest with others as I am with myself.

Science seems ready to confer upon us, as its final gift, the power to erase human life from this planet.

The peace we seek, founded upon decent trust and cooperation among nations, can be fortified not by weapons of war but by wheat and cotton, by milk and wool, by meat and timber, and by rice. These are words that translate into every language.

The most terrible job in warfare is to be a second lieutenant leading a platoon when you are on the battlefield.

Among these treasures of our land is water-fast becoming our most valuable, most prized, most critical resource. A blessing where properly used-but it can bring devastation and ruin when left uncontrolled.

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.

There has been a vigorous acceleration of health, resource and education programs designed to advance the role of the American Indian in our society. Last Fall, for example, 91 percent of the Indian children between the ages of 6 and 18 on reservations were enrolled in school. This is a rise of 12 percent since 1953.

Like all successful politicians I married above myself.

Don't join the book burners. Don't think you're going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book ...

Always try to associate yourself closely with and learn as much as you can from those who know more than you, who do better than you, who see more clearly than you. Apart from the rewards of friendship, the association might pay off at some unforeseen time - that is only an accidental byproduct. The important thing is that the learning will make you a better person.

The only answer to a regime that wages total cold war is to wage total peace.

A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.

If our founding fathers were alive today, they'd roll over in their graves.

In opposing Communism, we are defeating ourselves if we use methods that do not conform to the American sense of justice.

We are not saints. We know we make mistakes, but at least our heart is with the right cause.

The system is not intended as a substitute for private savings, pension plans, and insurance protection. It is, rather, intended as the foundation upon which these other forms of protection can be soundly built. Thus, the individual's own work, his planning and his thrift will bring him a higher standard of living upon his retirement, or his family a higher standard of living in the event of his death, than would otherwise be the case. Hence the system both encourages thrift and self-reliance, and helps to prevent destitution in our national life.

Only Americans can hurt America.

Peace is more the product of our day-to-day living than of a spectacular program, intermittently executed.

The problem is not merely man against man or nation against nation. It is man against war.

Arms alone can give the world no permanent peace, no confident security. Arms are solely for defense - to protect from violent assault what we already have. They are only a costly insurance. They cannot add to human progress.

Oh, that lovely title, ex-president.

The final battle against intolerance is to be fought
not in the chambers of any legislature
but in the hearts of men.

In most communities it is illegal to cry "fire" in a crowded assembly. Should it not be considered serious international misconduct to manufacture a general war scare in an effort to achieve local political aims?

I say when you get into a war, you should win as quick as you can, because your losses become a function of the duration of the war. I believe when you get in a war, get everything you need and win it.

You know, this is what I've always thought a college should look like.

I come from the very heart of America.

Teachers need our active support and encouragement. They are doing one of the most necessary and exacting jobs in the land. They are developing our most precious national resource: our children, our future citizens.

A constitutional amendment for congressional term limits could never achieve the blessing of Congress; it could be initiated only by the states.

The search for a scapegoat is the easiest of all hunting expeditions.

I do not believe that any political campaign justifies the declaration of a moratorium on ordinary common sense.

The supreme quality of leadership is integrity.

There is a kind of dictatorship that can come about through a creeping paralysis of thought, readiness to accept paternalistic measures by government, and along with those measures comes a surrender of our own responsibilities and therefore a surrender of our own thought over our own lives and our own right to exercise the vote. The free system gives the right to every citizen to do something for himself. Because he has the right, the opportunity is always there.

In order to insure proper and widespread observance of this anniversary, all veterans, all veterans' organizations, and the entire citizenry will wish to join hands in the common purpose.

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.

I despise people who go to the gutter on either the right or the left and hurl rocks at those in the center.

And the other was this: the doctor did want to take off my leg because he thought it was necessary. But you must remember boys in those days were raised for two things: work, and then they made their play; and if you couldn't play baseball and box and play football, why, your life was ended. That was in our boyish minds.

We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.

The time has passed for dilly-dallying. We must demand satisfactory performance.

When we get to the point, as we one day will, that both sides know that in any outbreak of general hostilities, regardless of the element of surprise, destruction will be both reciprocal and complete, possibly we will have sense enough to meet at the conference table with the understanding that the era of armaments has ended and the human race must conform its actions to this truth or die.

As we peer into society's future, we
you and I, and our government
must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.

With 450,000 U. S. troops now in Vietnam, it is time that Congress decided whether or not to declare a state of war exists with North Vietnam. Previous congressional resolutions of support provide only limited authority. Although Congress may decide that the previously approved resolution on Vietnam given President Johnson is sufficient, the issue of a declaration of war should at least be put before the Congress for decision.

It is better to have one person working with you than three people working for you.

I assure you that it is our desire and intention to keep the doors of consultation always and fully open. There must never be a final word between friends.

I'm for each and against none.

Our government makes no sense unless it is founded on a deeply held religious belief - and I don't care what it is.

Some people wanted champagne and caviar when they should have had beer and hot dogs.

The essence of war is fire, famine, and pestilence. They contribute to its outbreak; they are among its weapons; they become its consequences.

No people on earth can be held, as a people, to be an enemy, for all humanity shares the common hunger for peace and fellowship and justice.

When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war.

Plans are useless, but planning is essential.

The best morale exist when you never hear the word mentioned. When you hear a lot of talk about it, it's usually lousy.