Inspirational Quotes by Hubert Humphrey (American Head of State)

Compassion is not weakness, and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Weakness, Compassion

To be realistic today is to be visionary. To be realistic is to be starry-eyed.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Reality

I have seen in the Halls of Congress more idealism, more humanness, more compassion, more profiles of courage than in any other institution that I have ever known.
—Hubert Humphrey

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: Nationality, Nationalism, Nation

Liberalism, above all, means emancipation – emancipation from one’s fears, his inadequacies, from prejudice, from discrimination, from poverty.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Liberalism

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

Never answer a question from a farmer.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Politics, Politicians

The pursuit of peace resembles the building of a great cathedral. It is the work of a generation. In concept it requires a master-architect; in execution, the labors of many.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Peace

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: Uncertainty, Respectability, Respect

National isolation breeds national neurosis.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Solitude, Isolation

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: Right, Ethics, Service, Government

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

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

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 greatest healing therapy is friendship and love.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Health, Romance

Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate.
—Hubert Humphrey

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 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.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Wilderness

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, Revolutionaries, Revolutions

A politician never forgets the precarious nature of elective life. We have never established a practice of tenure in public office.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Politicians, Politics

Profit and morality are a hard combination to beat.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Profit

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: Identity, Names

I learned more about economics from one South Dakota dust storm than I did in all my years in college.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Economics, Experience, Economy

The impersonal hand of government can never replace the helping hand of a neighbor.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Helping, Neighbors

There are those who say to you—we are rushing this issue of civil rights. I say we are 172 years late.
—Hubert Humphrey

Each child is an adventure into a better life—an opportunity to change the old pattern and make it new.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Children

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: Doing Your Best, Attitude, Revolutions, Revolution, Appreciation, Revolutionaries, Blessings, Gratitude

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.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Reflection, Past

Behind every successful man is a proud wife and a surprised mother-in-law.
—Hubert Humphrey

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

The essence of statesmanship is not a rigid adherence to the past, but a prudent and probing concern for the future.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Politics

American public opinion is like an ocean — it cannot be stirred by a teaspoon.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Opinion, Public opinion

There are incalculable resources in the human spirit, once it has been set free.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Humanity

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

Unfortunately, our affluent society has also been an effluent society.
—Hubert Humphrey

Just be what you are and speak from your guts and heart—it’s all a man has.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Instincts

Leadership in today’s world requires far more than a large stock of gunboats and a hard fist at the conference table.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Leaders, Leadership

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

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.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Individuality

Fortunately, the time has long passed when people liked to regard the United States as some kind of melting pot, taking men and women from every part of the world and converting them into standardized, homogenized Americans. We are, I think, much more mature and wise today. Just as we welcome a world of diversity, so we glory in an America of diversity—an America all the richer for the many different and distinctive strands of which it is woven.
—Hubert Humphrey

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 Head of State
• Jimmy Carter American Head of State
• Dan Quayle American Head of State
• Adlai Stevenson American Diplomat