Harry Truman

"Show me a man that gets rich by being a politician, and I'll show you a crook."

"Fame is a vapor, popularity is an accident, riches take wings, those who cheer today may curse tomorrow and only one thing endures - character."

"Politics should make a thief, a roué, and a pessimist of anyone but I don't believe I am any of them..."

"Since childhood at my mother's knee, I have believed in honor, ethics and right living as its own reward. I find a very small minority who agree with me on that premise."

"Once a decision was made, I didn't worry about it afterward..."

"I doubt if there is any problem in the world today - social, political or economic - that would not find a happy solution if approached in the spirit of the sermon on the mount."

"Give me a one-handed Economist. All my economists say 'on hand...', then 'but on the other..."

"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."

"Dictatorship, by whatever name, is founded on the doctrine that the individual amounts to nothing; that the State is the only one that counts; and that men and women and children were put on earth solely for the purpose of serving the state."

"A person who is fundamentally honest doesn't need a code of ethics. The Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount are all the ethical code anybody needs."

"Brave men don't belong to any one country. I respect bravery wherever I see it."

"Poor Ike. He'll say do this and do that and nothing at all will happen."

"There is a lure in power. It can get into a man's blood just as gambling and lust for money have been known to do."

"Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers."

"Republicans don't like people to talk about depressions. You can hardly blame them for that. You remember the old saying: Don't talk about rope in the house where somebody has been hanged."

"Millions of our citizens do not now have a full measure of opportunity to achieve and to enjoy good health. Millions do not now have protection or security against the economic effects of sickness. And the time has now arrived for action to help them attain that opportunity and to help them get that protection."

"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a Republican. But I repeat myself."

"In most of my campaigns, I find it is best not to mention my opponent by name because, by doing so, it just gives him a chance to get into the headlines."

"The Republicans believe in the minimum wage -- the more the minimum, the better."

"Republicans approve of the American farmer, but they are willing to help him go broke. They stand four-square for the American home--but not for housing. They are strong for labor--but they are stronger for restricting labor's rights. They favor minimum wage--the smaller the minimum wage the better. They endorse educational opportunity for all--but they won't spend money for teachers or for schools. They think modern medical care and hospitals are fine--for people who can afford them. They consider electrical power a great blessing--but only when the private power companies get their rake-off. They think American standard of living is a fine thing--so long as it doesn't spread to all the people. And they admire of Government of the United States so much that they would like to buy it."