Best 116 quotes of Hubert H. Humphrey on MyQuotes

My friends, to those who say that we are rushing this issue of civil rights, I say to them we are 172 years late. To those who say that this civil-rights program is an infringement on states’ rights, I say this: The time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadow of states' rights and to walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights.

National isolation breeds national neurosis.

Never answer a question from a farmer.

Never give up on anybody.

None of us would trade freedom of expression for the narrowness of the public censor. America is a free market for people who have something to say, and need not fear to say it.

Our greatest songs are still unsung.

Our opposition will never understand the Democratic Party. Our Party is--to the unpracticed eyes of the old Republican Tories--a mysterious contraption that usually seems to be moving in a thousand directions. What they don't know is what hurts them. For all that movement in the Democratic Party is caused by the internal combustion of creative ferment, of ideas, of people vigorously committed to the proposition that change and social progress are not only to be desired; they are necessities of twentieth-century America.

Peace of mind is another way of saying that you've learned how to love, that you have come to appreciate the importance of giving love in order to be worthy of receiving it.

People in places many of us never heard of, whose names we can't pronounce or even spell, are speaking up for themselves. They speak in languages we once classified as exotic but whose mastery is now essential for our diplomats and businessmen. But what they say is very much the same the world over. They want a decent standard of living. They want human dignity and a voice in their own futures. They want their children to grow up strong and healthy and free.

Profit and morality are a hard combination to beat.

Propaganda, to be effective, must be believed. To be believed, it must be credible. To be credible, it must be true.

Slumism is the pent-up anger of people living on the outside of affluence. Slumism is decay of structure and deterioration of the human spirit. Slumism is a virus which spreads through the body politic. As other "isms," it breeds disorder and demagoguery and hate.

Surely anyone who has ever been elected to public office understands that one commodity above all others, namely the trust and confidence of the people, is fundamental in maintaining a free and open political system.

The difference between hearsay and prophecy is often one of sequence. Hearsay often turns out to have been prophecy.

The essence of statesmanship is not a rigid adherence to the past, but a prudent and probing concern for the future.

The gap between the rich and the poor is the most dangerous threat to world peace we have.

The good old days were never that good, believe me. The good new days are today, and better days are coming tomorrow. Our greatest songs are still unsung.

The great challenge which faces us is to assure that, in our society of big-ness, we do not strangle the voice of creativity, that the rules of the game do not come to overshadow its purpose, that the grand orchestration of society leaves ample room for the man who marches to the music of another drummer.

The greatest gift of life is friendship, and I have received it.

The history of the labor movement needs to be taught in every school in this land. America is a living testimonial to what free men and women, organized in free democratic trade unions can do to make a better life. We ought to be proud of it!

The impersonal hand of government can never replace the helping hand of a neighbor.

The leadership for civil rights has to take place in the White House or it is going to take place in the streets.

The measure of a civilization is how it treats those at the dawn of life, the margins of life and the twilight of life.

The message of the United States is not nuclear power. The message of the United States is a spiritual message. It is the message of human ideals; it is the message of human dignity; it is the message of the freedom of ideas, speech, press, the right to assemble, to worship, and the message of freedom of movement of people.

The moral test of a society is how that society treats those who are in the dawn of life: the children; ... the elderly.

The pursuit of peace resembles the building of a great cathedral. It is the work of a generation. In concept it requires a mater-architect; in execution, the labors of many.

The President has only 190 million bosses. The Vice President has 190 million and one.

The President is the peoples lobbyist.

There are incalculable resources in the human spirit, once it has been set free.

There are not enough jails, not enough police, not enough courts to enforce a law not supported by the people.

There can be no compromise on the right of personal security; there can be no compromise on securing of human rights.

There is a great deal of difference between living and surviving. You can survive in debauchery, even in sickness and despair. But you live with a spirit of vitality and a spirit of participation, of being wanted, and having something to contribute.

There is a lot of difference between failure and defeat. Failure is when you are defeated and neither learn nor contribute anything.

There is in every American, I think, something of the old Daniel Boone - who, when he could see the smoke from another chimney, felt himself too crowded and moved further out into the wilderness.

There is no such thing as an acceptable level of unemployment, because hunger is not acceptable, poverty is not acceptable, poor health is not acceptable, and a ruined life is not acceptable.

The right of citizens to bear arms is just one guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against the tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible.

The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.

The road to freedom, here and everywhere, begins in the classroom.

The Senate is a place filled with goodwill and good intentions, and if the road to hell is paved with them, then it's a pretty good detour.

The time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadows of states rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights

The ugliness of bigotry stands in direct contradiction to the very meaning of America.

The way we treat our children in the dawn of their lives and the way we treat our elderly in the twilight of their lives is a measure of the quality of a nation.

This, then, is the test we must set for ourselves; not to march alone but to march in such a way that others will wish to join us.

To be realistic today is to be visionary. To be realistic is to be starry-eyed.

Today we know that World War II began not in 1939 or 1941 but in the 1920's and 1930's when those who should have known better persuaded themselves that they were not their brother's keeper.

To err is human. To blame someone else is politics.

Unfortunately, our affluent society has also been an effluent society.

Until racial justice and freedom is a reality in this land, our union will remain profoundly imperfect.

We are in danger of making our cities places where business goes on but where life, in its real sense, is lost.

We can not expect to breed respect for law and order among people who do not share the fruits of our freedom.