Franklin Delano Roosevelt served as President of the United States for more than 12 years, helping the nation navigate through times of great difficulty and uncertainty. Roosevelt led Americans out of the Great Depression, enacted a sweeping series of reforms known as the New Deal, and ushered the nation through World War II. Through these trying times, FDR’s words often provided reassurance to the American people, who looked to their leader for regular guidance in an otherwise unpredictable world.
Several FDR quotes maintain a high degree of popularity today, such as his oft-repeated words, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Odds are we’ve also all heard him describe the attack on Pearl Harbor as “a date which will live in infamy.”
But Roosevelt’s legacy extends far beyond those two popular quotations. The former President was a prodigious speaker who delivered hundreds — if not thousands — of speeches during his extensive political career. Each time FDR took the dais, he spoke with a level of intelligence and eloquence that made every speech notable and quoteworthy.
Let’s dive in a little deeper and take a look at some of Roosevelt’s words that may be less familiar. Here are 13 quotes from FDR that you’ve possibly never heard before.
The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.
The Nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.
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.
Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.
The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have too much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man, or one party, or one nation … it must be a peace which rests on the cooperative effort of the whole world.
Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off.
The forests are the “lungs” of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.
Let us not be afraid to help each other — let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us.
Confidence … thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance. Without them it cannot live.
We do not retreat. We are not content to stand still. As Americans, we go forward, in the service of our country.
If you treat people right they will treat you right — 90% of the time.
Featured image credit: Bettmann via Getty Images
