Glory Quotes

Harry S. Truman Quotes

President · American · 1884 – 1972 · 72 quotes

Harry S. Truman Quotes About Time

All my life, whenever it comes time to make a decision, I make it and forget about it.

Harry S. Truman

It's plain hokum. If you can't convince 'em, confuse 'em. It's an old political trick. But this time it won't work.

Harry S. Truman

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!

Harry S. Truman

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.

Harry S. Truman

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.

Harry S. Truman

Richard Nixon is a no good, lying bastard. He can lie out of both sides of his mouth at the same time, and if he ever caught himself telling the truth, he'd lie just to keep his hand in.

Harry S. Truman

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.

Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman Quotes About Honesty

My choice early in life was either to be a piano-player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference.

Harry S. Truman

I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth and they thought it was hell.

Harry S. Truman

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

Harry S. Truman

Intense feeling too often obscures the truth.

Harry S. Truman

More Quotes by Harry S. Truman

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

Harry S. Truman

Any man who has had the job I've had and didn't have a sense of humor wouldn't still be here.

Harry S. Truman

If I hadn't been President of the United States, I probably would have ended up a piano player in a bawdy house.

Harry S. Truman

A President needs political understanding to run the government, but he may be elected without it.

Harry S. Truman

The United Nations is designed to make possible lasting freedom and independence for all its members.

Harry S. Truman

It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours.

Harry S. Truman

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

Harry S. Truman

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

Harry S. Truman

Most of the problems a President has to face have their roots in the past.

Harry S. Truman

In my opinion eight years as president is enough and sometimes too much for any man to serve in that capacity.

Harry S. Truman

To hell with them. When history is written they will be the sons of bitches - not I.

Harry S. Truman

A leader in the Democratic Party is a boss, in the Republican Party he is a leader.

Harry S. Truman

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

Harry S. Truman

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.

Harry S. Truman

The only things worth learning are the things you learn after you know it all.

Harry S. Truman

Experience has shown how deeply the seeds of war are planted by economic rivalry and social injustice.

Harry S. Truman

The best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.

Harry S. Truman

Washington is a very easy city for you to forget where you came from and why you got there in the first place.

Harry S. Truman

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

Harry S. Truman

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

Harry S. Truman

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

Harry S. Truman

I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.

Harry S. Truman

In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves... self-discipline with all of them came first.

Harry S. Truman

Carry the battle to them. Don't let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive and don't ever apologize for anything.

Harry S. Truman

Art is parasitic on life, just as criticism is parasitic on art.

Harry S. Truman

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

Harry S. Truman

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

Harry S. Truman

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

Harry S. Truman

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

When you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship.

Harry S. Truman

A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.

Harry S. Truman

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

Harry S. Truman

A bureaucrat is a Democrat who holds some office that a Republican wants.

Harry S. Truman

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.

Harry S. Truman

The White House is the finest prison in the world.

Harry S. Truman

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.

Harry S. Truman

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.

Harry S. Truman

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

You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog.

Harry S. Truman

Actions are the seed of fate deeds grow into destiny.

Harry S. Truman

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.

Harry S. Truman

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Harry S. Truman

The Marine Corps is the Navy's police force and as long as I am President that is what it will remain. They have a propaganda machine that is almost equal to Stalin's.

Harry S. Truman

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

Always be sincere, even if you don't mean it.

Harry S. Truman

When you get to be President, there are all those things, the honors, the twenty-one gun salutes, all those things. You have to remember it isn't for you. It's for the Presidency.

Harry S. Truman

Being too good is apt to be uninteresting.

Harry S. Truman

If you can't convince them, confuse them.

Harry S. Truman

Browse 73 quotes attributed to Harry S. Truman, listed in the source data as a American President, organized around themes such as Time, Honesty, Work. Use the topic links to explore similar quotes, or browse the full author collection in one place.