Harry S. Truman quotes

Born
May 8, 1884 Lamar, Missouri, U.S.

Died
December 26, 1972.

Occupation
President.

Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States (1945–1953). He is known for implementing the Marshall Plan to rebuild the economy of Western Europe.

The reward of suffering is experience.
– Harry S. Truman

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

A leader in the Democratic Party is a boss, in the Republican Party he is a leader.
– Harry S. Truman

It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose yours.
– Harry S. Truman

The President is always abused. If he isn’t, he isn’t doing anything.
– Harry S. Truman

Art is parasitic on life, just as criticism is parasitic on art.
– Harry S. Truman

I never gave anybody hell! I just told the truth and they thought it was hell.
– Harry S. Truman

Well, I wouldn’t say that I was in the great class, but I had a great time while I was trying to be great.
– Harry S. Truman

Most of the problems a President has to face have their roots in the past.
– Harry S. Truman

Intense feeling too often obscures the truth.
– Harry S. Truman

If you can’t convince them, confuse them.
– Harry S. Truman

I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.
– Harry S. Truman

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.
– Harry S. Truman

If I hadn’t been President of the United States, I probably would have ended up a piano player in a bawdy house.
– Harry S. Truman

The United Nations is designed to make possible lasting freedom and independence for all its members.
– Harry S. Truman

All my life, whenever it comes time to make a decision, I make it and forget about it.
– Harry S. Truman

You can never get all the facts from just one newspaper, and unless you have all the facts, you cannot make proper judgements about what is going on.
– Harry S. Truman

Study men, not historians.
– Harry S. Truman

I’ve said many a time that I think the Un-American Activities Committee in the House of Representatives was the most un-American thing in America!
– Harry S. Truman

Whenever a fellow tells me he’s bipartisan, I know he’s going to vote against me.
– Harry S. Truman

Upon books the collective education of the race depends; they are the sole instruments of registering, perpetuating and transmitting thought.
– Harry S. Truman

There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know.
– Harry S. Truman

The White House is the finest prison in the world.
– Harry S. Truman

A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.
– Harry S. Truman

I do not believe there is a problem in this country or the world today which could not be settled if approached through the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount.
– Harry S. Truman

The best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.
– Harry S. Truman

Nixon is one of the few in the history of this country to run for high office talking out of both sides of his mouth at the same time and lying out of both sides.
– Harry S. Truman

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

This administration is going to be cussed and discussed for years to come.
– Harry S. Truman

It’s plain hokum. If you can’t convince ’em, confuse ’em. It’s an old political trick. But this time it won’t work.
– Harry S. Truman

I would rather have peace in the world than be President.
– Harry S. Truman

Experience has shown how deeply the seeds of war are planted by economic rivalry and social injustice.
– Harry S. Truman

The atom bomb was no ‘great decision.’ It was merely another powerful weapon in the arsenal of righteousness.
– Harry S. Truman

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.
– Harry S. Truman

Actions are the seed of fate deeds grow into destiny.
– 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

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

When even one American – who has done nothing wrong – is forced by fear to shut his mind and close his mouth – then all Americans are in peril.
– Harry S. Truman

I remember when I first came to Washington. For the first six months you wonder how the hell you ever got here. For the next six months you wonder how the hell the rest of them ever got here.
– Harry S. Truman

I had faith in Israel before it was established, I have in it now. I believe it has a glorious future before it – not just another sovereign nation, but as an embodiment of the great ideals of our civilization.
– Harry S. Truman

If I’d known how much packing I’d have to do, I’d have run again.
– Harry S. Truman

In my opinion eight years as president is enough and sometimes too much for any man to serve in that capacity.
– Harry S. Truman