Franklin Delano Roosevelt Zitate

seite 4

„In der Politik passiert nichts zufällig. Wenn etwas passiert, können Sie wetten, dass es so geplant wurde.“

„Unternehmen, deren Existenz lediglich davon abhängt, ihren Beschäftigten weniger als einen zum Leben ausreichenden Lohn zu zahlen, sollen in diesem Land kein Recht mehr haben, weiter ihre Geschäfte zu betreiben. (…) Mit einem zum Leben ausreichenden Lohn meine ich mehr als das bloße Existenzminimum – ich meine Löhne, die ein anständiges Leben ermöglichen.“

„Wenn Sie Menschen richtig behandeln, werden sie Sie in neunzig Prozent der Fälle richtig behandeln.“

„Als Nation können wir stolz darauf sein, dass wir weichherzig sind; aber wir können es uns nicht leisten, weich im Kopf zu sein.“

„Das Einzige, was wir zu fürchten haben, ist die Furcht selbst.“

„Menschen sind keine Gefangenen des Schicksals, sondern nur Gefangene ihres eigenen Geistes.“

„Wir wissen es, weil die Demokratie allein von allen Regierungsformen, die volle Macht des aufgeklärten Willens der Menschen einsetzt.“

„Wiederholung verwandelt eine Lüge nicht in eine Wahrheit.“

„Wir werden nach Perfektion streben. Wir werden es nicht sofort erreichen - aber wir werden uns ständig bemühen.“

„Vom organisierten Geld regiert zu werden, ist genauso schlimm, wie vom organisierten Verbrechen regiert zu werden.“

„Philosophie? Ich bin Christ und Demokrat. Das ist alles.“

„Gestern, 7. Dezember 1941 - ein Datum, das in Schande leben wird.“

„Sie hassen mich einstimmig - und ich begrüße ihren Hass.“

„Der Liberalismus wird zum Schutz des weitsichtigen Konservativen.“

„Dies ist vor allem die Zeit, die Wahrheit zu sagen, die ganze Wahrheit, offen und kühn.“

„Unter uns wächst heute eine Konzentration privater Macht an, die historisch ihresgleichen sucht.“

„Wälder sind die Lungen unseres Landes, reinigen die Luft und geben unserem Volk neue Kraft.“

„Ich beschuldige die gegenwärtige Regierung, die größte Ausgabenverwaltung in Friedenszeiten in der gesamten amerikanischen Geschichte zu sein.“

„Eine amerikanische Regierung kann nicht zulassen, dass Amerikaner verhungern.“

„Ich möchte nicht einen einzigen Kriegsmillionär in den USA als Ergebnis dieser Weltkatastrophe sehen.“

„Wir müssen das große Arsenal der Demokratie sein.“

„Eine Nation, die ihre Böden zerstört, zerstört sich selbst.“

„Kein Mann kann das Amt des Präsidenten besetzen, ohne zu merken, dass er Präsident des ganzen Volkes ist.“

„Sind Sie tätig unter dem Eindruck, dass ich diese Memoranden von Ihnen gelesen habe? Ich kann sie nicht einmal anheben.“

„Überall auf der Welt ist Veränderung an der Tagesordnung.“

„Das Leben einer Nation misst sich an der Fülle ihres Lebenswillens.“

„Wir verteidigen und entwickeln eine Lebensweise nicht nur für Amerika, sondern für die ganze Menschheit.“

„Seien Sie aufrichtig, seien Sie kurz, seien Sie bodenständig.“

„Alle freien Völker sind tief beeindruckt vom Mut und der Standhaftigkeit der griechischen Nation.“

„Die Hoffnungsträger der Republik können weder unverdiente Armut noch selbstsüchtigen Wohlstand jemals tolerieren.“

„Die Verfassung der Vereinigten Staaten hat sich als die wunderbarste elastische Zusammenstellung von Regierungsregeln erwiesen, die jemals geschrieben wurde.“

„Diese Überlegenheit ist verschwunden - für immer.“

„Das demokratische Streben ist keine weitere Phase in der Geschichte der Menschheit. Es ist menschliche Geschichte.“

„Propheten des Niedergangs der amerikanischen Demokratie haben gesehen, dass ihre schrecklichen Vorhersagen gescheitert sind.“

„Ich werde Deutschland zermalmen“

„Ein Radikaler ist ein Mann, der mit beiden Beinen fest in der Luft steht.
(A radical is a man with both feet firmly planted – in the air.)“

“I am not willing that the vitality of our people be further sapped by the giving of cash, of market baskets, of a few hours of weekly work cutting grass, raking leaves or picking up papers in the public parks. We must preserve not only the bodies of the unemployed from destitution but also their self-respect, their self-reliance and courage and determination. This decision brings me to the problem of what the Government should do with approximately five million unemployed now on the relief rolls.”

“Governments can err, presidents do make mistakes, but the immortal Dante tells us that Divine justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted on different scales. Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.”

“This nation has placed its destiny in the hands and heads and hearts of its millions of free men and women; and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights or keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose.
To that high concept there can be no end save victory.”

“We are committed to the proposition that principles of morality and considerations for our own security will never permit us to acquiesce in a peace dictated by aggressors and sponsored by appeasers. We know that enduring peace cannot be bought at the cost of other people's freedom.”

“With the enactment of the Income Tax Law of 1913, the Federal Government began to apply effectively the widely accepted principle that taxes should be levied in proportion to ability to pay and in proportion to the benefits received. Income was wisely chosen as the measure of benefits and of ability to pay. This was, and still is, a wholesome guide for national policy. It should be retained as the governing principle of Federal taxation. The use of other forms of taxes is often justifiable, particularly for temporary periods; but taxation according to income is the most effective instrument yet devised to obtain just contribution from those best able to bear it and to avoid placing onerous burdens upon the mass of our people.”

“It is true that other Nations may, as they do, enforce contrary rules of conscience and conduct. It is true that policies may be pursued under flags other than our own, but those policies are beyond our jurisdiction. Yet in our inner individual lives we can never be indifferent, and we assert for ourselves complete freedom to embrace, to profess and to observe the principles for which our flag has so long been the lofty symbol. As it was so well said by James Madison, over a century ago: "We hold it for a fundamental and inalienable truth that religion and the manner of discharging it can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence."”

“I'm just afraid that I may not have the strength to do this job. After you leave me tonight, Jimmy, I am going to pray. I am going to pray that God will help me, that he will give me the strength and the guidance to do this job and to do it right. I hope that you will pray for me, too, Jimmy.”

“This new generation, for example, is not content with preachings against that vile form of collective murder — lynch law-which has broken out in our midst anew. We know that it is murder, and a deliberate and definite disobedience of the Commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." We do not excuse those in high places or in low who condone lynch law.”

“It seems to be unfortunately true that the epidemic of world lawlessness is spreading. When an epidemic of physical disease starts to spread, the community approves and joins in a quarantine of the patients in order to protect the health of the community against the spread of the disease.”

“The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.”

“Many causes produce war. There are ancient hatreds, turbulent frontiers, the "legacy of old forgotten, far-off things, and battles long ago." There are new-born fanaticisms. Convictions on the part of certain peoples that they have become the unique depositories of ultimate truth and right.”

“It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.”

“As a nation, we may take pride in the fact that we are soft-hearted; but we cannot afford to be soft-headed.”

“The hopes of the Republic cannot forever tolerate either undeserved poverty or self-serving wealth.”

“Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.”

“Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity. Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith. They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.”

“Yesterday, December 7, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”

“But Lincoln also understood that after such a decision, a democracy should seek peace through a new unity. For a democracy can keep alive only if the settlement of old difficulties clears the ground and transfers energies to face new responsibilities. Never can it have as much ability and purpose as it needs in that striving; the end of battle does not end the infinity of those needs. That is why Lincoln — commander of a people as well as of an army — asked that his battle end "with malice toward none, with charity for all."”

“We can gain no lasting peace if we approach it with suspicion and mistrust or with fear. We can gain it only if we proceed with the understanding, the confidence, and the courage which flow from conviction.”

“A self-supporting and self-respecting democracy can plead no justification for the existence of child labor, no economic reason for chiseling workers' wages or stretching workers' hours.”

“I hope your committee will not permit doubts as to constitutionality, however reasonable, to block the suggested legislation.”

“The destiny of America was proclaimed in words of prophecy spoken by our first President in his first inaugural in 1789 — words almost directed, it would seem, to this year of 1941: "The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered … deeply,… finally, staked on the experiment intrusted to the hands of the American people."”

“Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.”

“All free peoples are deeply impressed by the courage and steadfastness of the Greek nation.”

“To us there has come a time, in the midst of swift happenings, to pause for a moment and take stock — to recall what our place in history has been, and to rediscover what we are and what we may be. If we do not, we risk the real peril of inaction.”

“Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God.”

“In Washington's day the task of the people was to create and weld together a nation. In Lincoln's day the task of the people was to preserve that Nation from disruption from within. In this day the task of the people is to save that Nation and its institutions from disruption from without.”

“Are you laboring under the impression that I read these memoranda of yours? I can't even lift them.”

“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.”