In real life, unlike in Shakespeare, the sweetness of the rose depends upon the name it bears. Things are not only what they are. They are, in very important respects, what they seem to be.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Names, Identity
It was once said that the moral test of Government is how that Government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Service, Ethics, Right, Government
A politician never forgets the precarious nature of elective life. We have never established a practice of tenure in public office.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Politics, Politicians
History teaches us that the great revolutions aren’t started by people who are utterly down and out, without hope and vision. They take place when people begin to live a little better—and when they see how much yet remains to be achieved.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Revolution, Revolutions, Revolutionaries
American public opinion is like an ocean — it cannot be stirred by a teaspoon.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Opinion, Public opinion
Propaganda, to be effective, must be believed. To be believed, it must be credible. To be credible, it must be true.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Propaganda
Behind every successful man is a proud wife and a surprised mother-in-law.
—Hubert Humphrey
I learned more about economics from one South Dakota dust storm than I did in all my years in college.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Experience, Economy, Economics
We are in danger of making our cities places where business goes on but where life, in its real sense, is lost.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: City Life, Cities
The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Romance, Health
The difference between heresy and prophecy is often one of sequence. Heresy often turns out to have been prophecy—when properly aged.
—Hubert Humphrey
Oh, my friend, it’s not what they take away from you that counts—it’s what you do with what you have left.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Revolutionaries, Revolutions, Blessings, Gratitude, Doing Your Best, Revolution, Appreciation, Attitude
Just be what you are and speak from your guts and heart—it’s all a man has.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Instincts
When people generally are aware of a problem, it can be said to have entered the public consciousness. When people get on their hind legs and holler, the problem has not only entered the public consciousness—it has also become a part of the public conscience. At that point, things in our democracy begin to hum.
—Hubert Humphrey
To be realistic today is to be visionary. To be realistic is to be starry-eyed.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Reality
It is not enough to merely defend democracy. To defend it may be to lose it; to extend it is to strengthen it. Democracy is not property; it is an idea.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Democracy
The heroes of the world community are not those who withdraw when difficulties ensue, not those who can envision neither the prospect of success nor the consequence of failure—but those who stand the heat of battle, the fight for world peace through the United Nations.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Nation, Nationalism, Nationality
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.
—Hubert Humphrey
There are those who say to you—we are rushing this issue of civil rights. I say we are 172 years late.
—Hubert Humphrey
Profit and morality are a hard combination to beat.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Profit
We should have learnt by now that laws and court decisions can only point the way. They can establish criteria of right and wrong. And they can provide a basis for rooting out the evils of bigotry and racism. But they cannot wipe away centuries of oppression and injustice—however much we might desire it.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Law
Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of the citizens to keep and bear arms. This is not to say that firearms should not be carefully used and that definite safety rules of precaution should not be taught and enforced. But the right of the citizens to bear arms is just one guarantee against arbitrary government and one more safeguard against a tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Government
I think the worst thing this nation could do for humanity would be to leave any uncertainty as to our will, our purpose and our capacity to carry out our purpose.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Respect, Respectability, Uncertainty
The President is the people’s lobbyist.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Presidency
We believe that to err is human. To blame it on someone else is politics.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Blame
Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate.
—Hubert Humphrey
There are not enough jails, not enough policemen, not enough law courts, to enforce a law not supported by the people.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Laws
For the first time in the history of mankind, one generation literally has the power to destroy the past, the present and the future, the power to bring time to an end.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: War
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.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Example
There are incalculable resources in the human spirit, once it has been set free.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Humanity
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Lyndon B. Johnson American Head of State
- Richard Nixon American Head of State
- Charles G. Dawes American Diplomat, Politician
- John F. Kennedy American Head of State
- Ronald Reagan American Head of State
- Calvin Coolidge American Head of State
- John C. Calhoun American Politician
- Jimmy Carter American Head of State
- Dan Quayle American Head of State
- Adlai Stevenson American Diplomat
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