Harry Truman

"Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in"

"The fundamental basis of this nation’s laws was given to Moses on the Mount…If we don’t have a proper fundamental moral background, we will finally end up with a totalitarian government which does not believe in rights for anybody except the State."

"You want a friend in this city? [Washington, DC.] Get a dog!"

"[The American President] has to take all sorts of abuse from liars and demagogues.… The people can never understand why the President does not use his supposedly great power to make ’em behave. Well, 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."

"Not all readers become leaders, but all leaders must be readers."

"The only thing new in the world is the history you do not know."

"We must remember that the test of our religious principles lies not just in what we say, not only in our prayers, not even in living blameless lives - but in what we do for others"

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

"Selfishness and greed, individual or national, cause most of our troubles."

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

"I never did give them 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."