Inspirational Quotes by Hubert Humphrey (American Head of State)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The President is the people’s lobbyist.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Presidency

If there is dissatisfaction with the status quo, good. If there is ferment, so much the better. If there is restlessness, I am pleased. Then let there be ideas, and hard thought, and hard work. If man feels small, let man make himself bigger.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Satisfaction

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: Leadership, Leaders

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

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.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Poverty

Freedom is the most contagious virus known to man.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Freedom

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

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: Respectability, Respect, Uncertainty

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: Past, Reflection

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

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, Service, Government, Ethics

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

The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.
—Hubert Humphrey
Topics: Listening, Liberty

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

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

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

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: Revolutions, Revolution, Revolutionaries

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

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