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
Topics: Management
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
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were political enemies, but they became fast friends. And when they passed away on the same day, the last words of one of them was, The country is safe. Jefferson still lives. And the last words of the other was, John Adams will see that things go forward.
—Harry S. Truman
Topics: Friendship
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
Topics: Americans
The buck stops here.
—Harry S. Truman
Topics: Money
When a leader is in the Democratic Party he is a boss, and when he is in the Republican Party he is a leader.
—Harry S. Truman
Topics: Politics
Intense feeling too often obscures the truth.
—Harry S. Truman
Topics: Truth
If you can’t convince ’em, confuse ’em.
—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
Topics: Discipline, Live, Victory, Great
The only thing new in the world is the history you don’t know.
—Harry S. Truman
Topics: One liners, History
There has been a lot of talk lately about the burdens of the Presidency. Decisions that the President has to make often affect the lives of tens of millions of people around the world, but that does not mean that they should take longer to make. Some men can make decisions and some cannot. Some men fret and delay under criticism. I used to have a saying that applies here, and I note that some people have picked it up, If you cant stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
—Harry S. Truman
All my life, whenever it comes time to make a decision, I make it and forget about it.
—Harry S. Truman
Topics: Decision, Choice
On May 14 I was informed that the Provisional Government of Israel was planning to proclaim a Jewish state at midnight that day, Palestine time, which was when the British mandate came to an end. I decided to move at once and give American recognition to the new nation. I instructed a member of my staff to communicate my decision to the State Department and prepare it for transmission to Ambassador Austin at the United Nations in New York. About thirty minutes later, exactly eleven minutes after Israel had been proclaimed a state, Charlie Ross, my press secretary, handed the press the announcement of the de facto recognition by the United States of the provisional government of Israel.
—Harry S. Truman
I always remember an epitaph which is in the cemetery at Tombstone, Arizona. It says: “Here lies Jack Williams. He done his damnedest.” I think that is the greatest epitaph a man can have.
—Harry S. Truman
Topics: Excellence
The only thing new in this world is the history that you don’t know
—Harry S. Truman
Topics: History, One liners
Politics is a fascinating game, because politics is government. It is the art of government.
—Harry S. Truman
Whenever I make a bum decision, I just go out and make another.
—Harry S. Truman
Topics: Decide, Courage, Decisions
Actions are the seed of fate deeds grow into destiny.
—Harry S. Truman
Topics: Action, Fate
The “C” students run the world.
—Harry S. Truman
Topics: Perfection
As you get older, you get tired of doing the same things over and over again, so you think Christmas has changed. It hasn’t. It’s you who has changed.
—Harry S. Truman
Topics: Holidays
If that’s art, I’m a Hottentot!
—Harry S. Truman
Topics: Arts, Art, Artists
A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities; an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.
—Harry S. Truman
Topics: Pessimism, Optimism, Opportunities
It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose your own.
—Harry S. Truman
Topics: Economy, Unemployment, Depression, Jobs
I have had enough experience in all my years, and have read enough of the past, to know that advice to grandchildren is usually wasted. If the second and third generations could profit by the experience of the first generation, we would not be having some of the troubles we have today.
—Harry S. Truman
Topics: Generations
Experience has shown how deeply the seeds of war are planted by economic rivalry and social injustice.
—Harry S. Truman
Topics: Experience
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
Topics: Presidency
Whenever you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship.
—Harry S. Truman
Topics: Government
It isn’t important who is ahead at one time or another, in either an election or a horse race.
It’s the horse that comes in first at the finish that counts
—Harry S. Truman
Topics: Horses
Once a decision was made I did not worry about it afterward.
—Harry S. Truman
Topics: Decisions
I studied the lives of great men and famous women; and I found that the men and women who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work.
—Harry S. Truman
Topics: Secrets of Success, Enthusiasm, Role models, Action
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Herbert Hoover American Statesman
- Franklin D. Roosevelt American Head of State
- Charles G. Dawes American Diplomat, Politician
- Lyndon B. Johnson American Head of State
- Gerald Ford American Head of State
- Hubert Humphrey American Head of State
- Ronald Reagan American Head of State
- Richard Nixon American Head of State
- John F. Kennedy American Head of State
- Dwight D. Eisenhower American Head of State
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