Quotes By Harry S. Truman

The buck stops here!

I remember when I first came to Washington. For the first six months you wonder how the hell you ever got here. For the next six months you wonder how the hell the rest of them ever got here.

All the president is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing, and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.

You know that being an American is more than a matter of where your parents came from. It is a belief that all men are created free and equal and that everyone deserves an even break.

A President cannot always be popular.

There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know.

The atom bomb was no "great decision." It was merely another powerful weapon in the arsenal of righteousness.

I've said many a time that I think the Un-American Activities Committee in the House of Representatives was the most un-American thing in America!

My father was not a failure. After all, he was the father of a president of the United States.

When even one American - who has done nothing wrong - is forced by fear to shut his mind and close his mouth - then all Americans are in peril.

It is understanding that gives us an ability to have peace. When we understand the other fellow's viewpoint, and he understands ours, then we can sit down and work out our differences.

It sure is hell to be president.

Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.

Actions are the seed of fate deeds grow into destiny.

The human animal cannot be trusted for anything good except en masse. The combined thought and action of the whole people of any race, creed or nationality, will always point in the right direction.

Well, I wouldn't say that I was in the great class, but I had a great time while I was trying to be great.

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.

A politician is a man who understands government. A statesman is a politician who's been dead for 15 years.

You can never get all the facts from just one newspaper, and unless you have all the facts, you cannot make proper judgements about what is going on.

I never gave anybody hell! I just told the truth and they thought it was hell.

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.

I do not believe there is a problem in this country or the world today which could not be settled if approached through the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount.

We shall never be able to remove suspicion and fear as potential causes of war until communication is permitted to flow, free and open, across international boundaries.

I would rather have peace in the world than be President.

The President is always abused. If he isn't, he isn't doing anything.

Nixon is one of the few in the history of this country to run for high office talking out of both sides of his mouth at the same time and lying out of both sides.

Whenever you put a man on the Supreme Court he ceases to be your friend.

Being too good is apt to be uninteresting.

Upon books the collective education of the race depends; they are the sole instruments of registering, perpetuating and transmitting thought.

This administration is going to be cussed and discussed for years to come.