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Three things ruin a man: power, money, and women. I never wanted power. I never had any money, and the only woman in my life is up at the house right now.
Harry S Truman
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Divine Providence has played a great part in our history. I have the feeling that God has created us and brought us to our present position of power and strength for some great purpose. It is not given to us to know fully what that purpose is, but I think we may be sure of one thing, and that is that our country is intended to do all it can, in cooperating with other nations to help created peace and preserve peace in the world. It is given to defend the spiritual values-the moral code-against the vast forces of evil that seek to destroy them.
Harry S Truman
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Give me a one-handed economist! All my economists say, On the one hand on the other.
Harry S Truman
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Everybody has the right to express what he thinks. That, of course, lets the crackpots in. But if you cannot tell a crackpot when you see one, then you ought to be taken in.
Harry S Truman
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Religious and racial persecution is moronic at all times, perhaps the most idiotic of human stupidities.
Harry S Truman
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When the decision is up before you-and on my desk I have a motto which says "The buck stops here"-the decision has to be made.
Harry S Truman
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The President hears a hundred voices telling him that he is the greatest man in the world. He must listen carefully indeed to hear the one voice that tells him his is not.
Harry S Truman
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The absence of war is not peace.
Harry S Truman
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Canada is a broad land - broad in mind, broad in spirit, and broad in physical expanse.
Harry S Truman
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I don't feel qualified to be president either, but I've got the job.
Harry S Truman
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I don't believe in anti-anything. A man has to have a program; you have to be for something. Otherwise, you will never get anywhere.
Harry S Truman
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If you don't have your own goals, you'll be doomed to work toward someone else's.
Harry S Truman
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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.
Harry S Truman
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There's nothing better than cake but more cake.
Harry S Truman
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Our goal must be not peace in our time, but peace for all time.
Harry S Truman
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A man who is not interested in politics is not doing his patriotic duty toward maintaining the constitution of the United States.
Harry S Truman
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A president either is constantly on top of events or, if he hesitates, events will soon be on top of him. I never felt that I could let up for a moment.
Harry S Truman
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A man cannot have character unless he lives within a fundamental system of morals that creates character.
Harry S Truman
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He was a great president in his first term; in his second term, he wasn't the same Grover Cleveland he was to begin with. ...Cleveland reestablished the presidency by being not only a chief executive but a leader.
Harry S Truman
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I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth and they thought it was hell.
Harry S Truman
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Given the choice between a Republican and someone who acts like a Republican, people will vote for the real Republican all the time...
Harry S Truman
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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.
Harry S Truman
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We fully realize today that victory in war requires a mighty united effort. Certainly, victory in peace calls for, and must receive, an equal effort. Man has learned long ago, that it is impossible to live unto himself. This same basic principle applies today to nations. We were not isolated during the war. We dare not now become isolated in peace.
Harry S Truman
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Of course, there are dangers in religious freedom and freedom of opinion. But to deny these rights is worse than dangerous, it is absolutely fatal to liberty. The external threat to liberty should not drive us into suppressing liberty at home. Those who want the government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination.
Harry S Truman
