'There is an old saw in the services: that which is not inspected deteriorates.' Remarks Upon Receiving America's Democratic Legacy Award at a B'nai B'rith Dinner in Honor of the 40th Anniversary of the Anti-Defamation League, 11/23/53 If you met him face to face and took the same risks he did, you could get away with almost anything, as long as the bullet was in the front.' You could not sneak up on him from behind, or do any damage to him, without suffering the penalty of an outraged citizenry. It was: meet anyone face to face with whom you disagree. Now that town had a code, and I was raised as a boy to prize that code.

If you don't know anything about him, read your Westerns more.

We had as our marshal for a long time a man named Wild Bill Hickok. 'I was raised in a little town of which most of you have never heard. It was: always take your job seriously, never yourself.'Īddress at the New England 'Forward to '54' Dinner, Boston, Massachusetts, 9/21/53 'Thank goodness, many years ago, I had a preceptor, for whom my admiration has never died, and he had a favorite saying, one that I trust I try to live by. 'There is - in world affairs - a steady course to be followed between an assertion of strength that is truculent and a confession of helplessness that is cowardly.' 'A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.' 'For history does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.' Inaugural Address, Washington, DC, 1/20/53 'Whatever America hopes to bring to pass in the world must first come to pass in the heart of America.' Homecoming Speech, Abilene, Kansas, 6/22/45 'The proudest thing I can claim is that I am from Abilene.'

Funny quotes about decisions