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Harry S. Truman Quotes

33rd President of the United States
Born On
1884-05-08
Died On
1972-12-26
Birth Place
Lamar, Missouri, United States
Death Place
Kansas City
Birth Sign
taurus
Father
John Anderson Truman
Mother
Martha Ellen Young Truman
Spouse
Bess Truman
Nationality
American
Education
William Chrisman High School, University of Missouri–Kansas City, University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law
Political Leaders, Leaders, Presidents

"Three things can ruin a man - money, power, and women." Former US President Harry Truman liked to live by this principle and one would often hear him saying, "I never had any money; I never wanted power; and the only woman in my life is up at the house right now."

Once someone made him an offer to get anything he wanted, including a woman, Truman stopped him mid-way and gave him an earful.

"Listen son, I married my sweetheart. She doesn't run around on me and I don't run around on her. I want that understood. Don't ever mention that kind of stuff to me again.'' He wasn't kidding either. He dearly loved his wife and daughter."

In another instance, the President who was known for being the eye of the storm rather than being in the eye of the storm barred the wife of influential media-mogul Henry Luce from the executive mansion. When a seemingly agitated Henry confronted him about the matter he replied, "Mr. Luce, you've asked a fair question, and I'll give you a fair answer. I've been in politics 35 years, and everything that could be said about a human being has been said about me. But my wife has never been in politics. She has always conducted herself in a circumspect manner, and no one has a right to make derogatory remarks about her. Now your wife has said many unkind and untrue things about Mrs. Truman. And as long as I'm in residence here, she'll not be a guest at the White House.”

The reward of suffering is experience.

Suffering Experience
Harry S. Truman

If you can't convince them, confuse them.

Communication
Harry S. Truman

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

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.

Patriotism Courage Determination Fear
Harry S. Truman

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

Harry S. Truman

You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog.

Friendship Politics Dogs
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.

History
Harry S. Truman

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

World History
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.

Change Courage History
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.

Good Time Truth
Harry S. Truman

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

Boss Politics
Harry S. Truman

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

Harry S. Truman

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

Greatness Decision
Harry S. Truman

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

Depression Jobs
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.

Greatness Men Reading Victory
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.

Peace Differences Understanding Work
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.

Nothing Fear Mind
Harry S. Truman

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

Truth
Harry S. Truman

A President cannot always be popular.

Positivity
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.

Facts
Harry S. Truman

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

Life Decision Time
Harry S. Truman

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

Truth
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.

People Politics Time
Harry S. Truman

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

Things Learning
Harry S. Truman

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

Friendship
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.

Men
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!

Time
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.

Battles
Harry S. Truman

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

Life Art Criticism
Harry S. Truman

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

Government
Harry S. Truman

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

Government
Harry S. Truman

You can always amend a big plan, but you can never expand a little one. I don't believe in little plans. I believe in plans big enough to meet a situation which we can't possibly foresee now.

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.

World Teachers
Harry S. Truman

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

Fathers
Harry S. Truman

The White House is the finest prison in the world.

World
Harry S. Truman

Actions are the seed of fate deeds grow into destiny.

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.

Best Advice
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.

Things
Harry S. Truman

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

Harry S. Truman

If I'd known how much packing I'd have to do, I'd have run again.

Harry S. Truman

You and I are stuck with the necessity of taking the worst of two evils or none at all. So-I'm taking the immature Democrat as the best of the two. Nixon is impossible.

Best
Harry S. Truman

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

Freedom Self-Reliance
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.

Best Advice
Harry S. Truman

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.

Men Government Mind
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.

Jobs
Harry S. Truman

Whenever a fellow tells me he's bipartisan, I know he's going to vote against me.

Harry S. Truman

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

Experience Wars
Harry S. Truman

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

Books Race Education Thought
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.

Country Time History
Harry S. Truman

I have no desire to crow over anybody or to see anybody eating crow, figuratively or otherwise. We should all get together and make a country in which everybody can eat turkey whenever he pleases.

Country Desire Eating
Harry S. Truman

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

Opinion
Harry S. Truman

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

Understanding Government
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.

Communication Wars Fear
Harry S. Truman

Being too good is apt to be uninteresting.

Good
Harry S. Truman

The buck stops here!

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

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

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.

Greatness Time
Harry S. Truman

Intense feeling too often obscures the truth.

Truth Feelings
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.

Time Work
Harry S. Truman

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

Harry S. Truman

Study men, not historians.

Men
Harry S. Truman

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

Peace World
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

I had faith in Israel before it was established, I have in it now. I believe it has a glorious future before it - not just another sovereign nation, but as an embodiment of the great ideals of our civilization.

Greatness Faith Future
Harry S. Truman

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

Past Problems Face
Harry S. Truman

The human animal cannot be trusted for anything good except en masse. The combined thought and action of the whole people of any race, creed or nationality, will always point in the right direction.

Good People
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

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

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