260 Inspiring Quotes by Dwight D. Eisenhower

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

There's no tragedy in life like the death of a child. Things never get back to the way they were.

My ambition in the Army was to make everybody I worked for regretful when I was ordered to other duty.

Some politician some years ago said that bad officials are elected by good voters who do not vote.

I believe that without free enterprise there can be no democracy.

In the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love.

In all those things which deal with people, be liberal, be human. In all those things which deal with the people's money or their economy or their form of government, be conservative.

These are not bad people. All they are concerned about is to see that their sweet little girls are not required to sit in school alongside some big overgrown Negroes.

Any time we deny any citizen the full exercise of his constitutional rights, we are weakening our own claim to them.

May the light of freedom, coming to all darkened lands, flame brightly until at last the darkness is no more.

We face a hostile ideology global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose and insidious in method.

Recognition of the Supreme Being was the first -- the most basic -- expression of Americanism.

Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.

Guns and tanks and planes are nothing unless there is a solid spirit, a solid heart, and great productiveness behind it.

Firmness in support of fundamentals, with flexibility in tactics and methods, is the key to any hope of progress in negotiation.

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

We are tired of aristocratic explanations in Harvard words.

People in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than governments.

You don't lead by hitting people over the head -- that's assault, not leadership.

You do not lead by hitting people over the head -- that's assault, not leadership.

As it is an ancient truth that freedom cannot be legislated into existence, so it is no less obvious that freedom cannot be censored into existence.

War is a grim, cruel business, a business justified only as a means of sustaining the forces of good against those of evil.

Why don't you lay the footpaths where the students want to walk?

I despise people who go to the gutter on either the right or the left and hurl rocks at those in the center.

We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.

Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin.

I despise all adjectives that try to describe people as liberal or conservative, rightist or leftist, as long as they stay in the useful part of the road.

The clearest way to show what the rule of law means to us in everyday life is to recall what has happened when there is no rule of law.

The final battle against intolerance is to be fought--not in the chambers of any legislature--but in the hearts of men.

There are three stages of life: youth, maturity, and 'My, you're looking good!'

Always try to associate yourself with and learn as much as you can from those who know more than you do, who do better than you, who see more clearly than you.

As our heart summons our strength, our wisdom must direct it.

Nothing is easy in war. Mistakes are always paid for in casualties and troops are quick to sense any blunder made by their commanders.

Patronage is almost a wicked word. By itself it could well-nigh defeat democracy.

No man is worth your tears, but once you find one that is, he won't make you cry.

Any nations right to a form of government and economic system of its own choosing is inalienable. Any nations attempt to dictate to other nations their form of government is indefensible.

To blend, without coercion, the individual good and the common good is the essence of citizenship in a free country.

Whatever America hopes to bring to pass in the world must first come to pass in the heart of America.

The history of free men is never really written by chance but by choice; their choice!

No one should be appointed to political office if he is a seeker after it.

Memory should be the starting point of the present.

There can be no peace without law.

Any man who wants to be president is either an egomaniac or crazy.

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.

Disorganization can scarcely fail to result in efficiency.

Beware the influence of the military-industrial complex.

You can't have this kind of war. There just aren't enough bulldozers to scrape the bodies off the streets.

We are not saints. We know we make mistakes, but at least our heart is with the right cause.

Public opinion wins wars.

Freedom bestows on us the priceless gift of opportunity -- if we neglect our opportunities we shall certainly lose our freedom.

We look upon this shaken earth, and we declare our firm and fixed purpose -- the building of a peace with justice in a world where moral law prevails.

Don't join the book burners!

Things are more like they are now than they ever were before.

Any survey of the free world's defense structure cannot fail to impart a feeling of regret that so much of our effort and resources must be devoted to armaments.

I do not believe that any political campaign justifies the declaration of a moratorium on ordinary common sense.

Pessimism never won any battle.

I was against it on two counts. First, the Japanese were ready to surrender, and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing. Second, I hated to see our country be the first to use such a weapon.

We have the disgrace of racial discrimination, or we have prejudice against people because of their religion. We have not had the courage to uproot these things, although we know they are wrong.

To be true to one's own freedom is, in essence, to honor and respect the freedom of all others.

No battle was ever won according to plan, but no battle was ever won without one.

In most communities it is illegal to cry 'fire' in a crowded assembly. Should it not be considered serious international misconduct to manufacture a general war scare in an effort to achieve local political aims?

How far have we come in man's long pilgrimage from darkness toward light? Are we nearing the light-a day of freedom and of peace for all mankind? Or are the shadows of another night closing in upon us?

Don't think you are going to conceal thoughts by concealing evidence that they ever existed.

The world no longer has a choice between force and law; if civilization is to survive, it must choose the rule of law.

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface. The extremes, right and left, are in the.

I have one yardstick by which I test every major problem -- and that yardstick is: Is it good for America?

The people of Israel, like those of the United States, are imbued with a religious faith and a sense of moral values.

The spirit of man is more important than mere physical strength, and the spiritual fiber of a nation than its wealth.

Every leader should have enough humility to accept, publicly, the responsibility for the mistakes of the subordinates he has himself selected and, likewise, to give them credit, publicly, for their triumphs.

Oh, that lovely title, ex-president.

A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.

Few women, I fear, have had such reason as I have to think the long sad years of youth were worth living for the sake of middle age.

In the final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy as a prisoner's chains.

Only a fool would try to deprive working men and working women of their right to join the union of their choice.

If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.

Every step we take towards making the State our Caretaker of our lives, by that much we move toward making the State our Master.

An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows.

The eyes of the world are upon you.

Help the Cubans to the utmost counseling his successor while handing over the reins. We cannot let Castro's government go on.

Our American heritage is threatened as much by our own indifference as it is by the most unscrupulous office or by the most powerful foreign threat. The future of this republic is in the hands of the American voter.

For every obstacle there is a solution. Persistence is the key. The greatest mistake is giving up!

If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking is freedom.

We do not keep security establishments merely to defend property or territory or rights abroad or at sea. We keep the security forces to defend a way of life.

Leadership is the ability to get a person to do what you want him to do, when you want it done, in a way you want it done, because he wants to do it.

Accomplishment will prove to be a journey, not a destination.

Preventive war was an invention of Hitler. I would not even listen to anyone seriously that came and talked about such a thing.

But all history has taught us the grim lesson that no nation has ever been successful in avoiding the terrors of war by refusing to defend its rights -- by attempting to placate aggression.

We seek peace, knowing that peace is the climate of freedom.

Never waste a minute thinking about people you don't like.

If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone.

The building of such a peace is a bold and solemn purpose. To proclaim it is easy. To serve it will be hard. And to attain it, we must be aware of its full meaning -- and ready to pay its full price.

Peace is more the product of our day-to-day living than of a spectacular program, intermittently executed.

Mob rule can not be allowed to override the decisions of our courts.

No amphibious attack in history has approached this one in size. Along miles of coastline there were hundreds of vessels and small boats afloat and ant-like files of advancing troops ashore.

There is nothing wrong with America that faith, love of freedom, intelligence, and energy of her citizens cannot cure.

Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends.

Ankles are nearly always neat and good-looking, but knees are nearly always not.

Compromise is like the middle of the road; always safer to walk on than the edges.

Dollars and guns are no substitutes for brains and will power.

There is no glory in battle worth the blood it costs.

Organizations cannot make a genius out of an incompetent. On the other hand, disorganization can scarcely fail to result in efficiency.

The world is more like it is now then it ever has before.

The free world must not prove itself worthy of its own past.

When you are in any contest, you should work as if there were -- to the very last minute -- a chance to lose it. This is battle, this is politics, this is anything.

The hand of the aggressor is stayed by strength -- and strength alone.

First, separate ground, sea and air warfare is gone forever. This lesson we learned in World War II. I lived that lesson in Europe. Others lived it in the Pacific. Millions of American veterans learned it well.

No easy problems ever come to the President of the United States. If they are easy to solve, someone else has solved them.

We know something of the cost of that war. We were in it from December seventh, '41, till August of '45. Ever since that time, we have been waging peace. It has had its ups and downs just as the war did.

An atheist is a man who watches a Notre Dame -- Southern Methodist University game and doesn't care who wins.

The national government was itself the creature of the States...Yet today it is often made to appear that the creature, Frankenstein-like, is determined to destroy the creators.

Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all.

Plans are useless, but planning is essential.

The one weapon every man, soldier, sailor, or airman should be able to use effectively is the rifle.

America is best described by one word, freedom.

So long as we govern our nation by the letter and spirit of the Bill of Rights, we can be sure that our nation will grow in strength and wisdom and freedom.

Having established as our goals a lasting world peace with justice and the security of freedom on this earth, we must be prepared to make whatever sacrifices are demanded as we pursue this path to its end.

There are a number of things wrong with Washington. One of them is that everyone is too far from home.

The true purpose of education is to prepare young men and women for effective citizenship in a free form of government.

During the time I have had WACs under my command, they have met every test and task assigned to them...their contributions in efficiency, skill, spirit, and determination are immeasurable.

The problem is not merely man against man or nation against nation. It is man against war.

Our economy is the result of millions of decisions we all make every day about producing, earning, saving, investing, and spending.

What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.

This world of ours must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.

A voter without a ballot is like a soldier without a bullet.

The purpose is clear. It is safety with solvency. The country is entitled to both.

Among these treasures of our land is water-fast becoming our most valuable, most prized, most critical resource. A blessing where properly used-but it can bring devastation and ruin when left uncontrolled.

Innovations and discoveries have created new industries giving more and more Americans better jobs and adding greatly to the prosperity and well being of all.

Politics should be the part-time profession of every citizen.

I have found out in later years that we were very poor, but the glory of America is that we didn't know it then.

Extremes to the right and to the left of any political dispute are always wrong.

United in this determination and with unshakable faith in the cause for which we fight, we will, with God's help, go forward to our greatest victory.

Things have never been more like the way they are today in history.

It is better to have one person working with you than three people working for you.

The necessary and wise subordination of the military to civil power must be sustained.

What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight -- it's the size of the fight in the dog.

Against the dark background of the atomic bomb, the United States does not wish merely to present strength, but also the desire and the hope for peace.

No one should ever sit in this office over 70 years old, and that I know.

The supreme quality of leadership is integrity.

Our arms must be mighty ... ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.

We have won an armistice on a single battlefield, not peace in our world. We may not now relax our guard nor cease our quest.

There is no victory at bargain basement prices.

The essence of war is fire, famine, and pestilence. They contribute to its outbreak; they are among its weapons; they become its consequences.

In the highest sense the Bible is to us the unique repository of eternal spiritual truths.

Some people wanted champagne and caviar when they should have had beer and hot dogs.

Unless we progress, we regress.

One day the people of the world will want peace
so much that the governments will have to get out
of their way and give it to them.

My constant prayer, these days, as I start my backswing is, 'Oh, please let me swing slowly.' The trouble is that sometimes I wonder whether I swing at all; whether I am not strictly a chopper.

We cannot risk living all our lives under emergency measures.

I also ache at that thought your majesty... But if they do not offer the sacrifice in blood now, we will all pay dearly with added gallons later. So if some most die it is in a worthy cause.

Never let yourself be persuaded that any one Great Man, any one leader, is necessary to the salvation of America. When America consists of one leader and 158 million followers, it will no longer be America.

The right of the individual to elect freely the manner of his care in illness must be preserved.

When you put on a uniform, there are certain inhibitions that you accept.

Plans are nothing; planning is everything.

The peace we seek and need means much more than mere absence of war. It means the acceptance of law, and the fostering of justice, in all the world.

Every gathering of Americans-whether a few on the porch of a crossroads store or massed thousands in a great stadium-is the possessor of a potentially immeasurable influence on the future.

You will not find it difficult to prove that battles, campaigns, and even wars have been won or lost primarily because of logistics.

The speed, accuracy and devastating power of American Artillery won confidence and admiration from the troops it supported and inspired fear and respect in their enemy.

Civilization owes to the Islamic world some of its most important tools and achievements...the Muslim genius has added much to the culture of all peoples.

Legislation to apply the principle of equal pay for equal work without discrimination because of sex is a matter of simple justice.

I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it.

I deplore the need or the use of troops anywhere to get American citizens to obey the orders of constituted courts.

Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.

I feel like the fellow in jail who is watching his scaffold being built." (On construction of reviewing stands for inauguration of his successor John F Kennedy).

It is not enough to take this weapon out of the hands of soldiers. It must be put into the hands of those who will know how to strip its military casing and adapt it to the arts of peace.

May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.

Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage.

This desk of mine is one at which a man may die, but from which he cannot resign.

Our government makes no sense unless it is founded on a deeply held religious belief -- and I don't care what it is.

Military power serves the cause of security by making prohibitive the cost of any aggressive attack. It serves the cause of peace by holding up a shield behind which the patient constructive work of peace can go on.

How has retirement affected my golf game? A lot more people beat me now.

Each and all of us must summon to mind the words of Him whom we honor this Easter time: 'When a strong man, armed, keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace'.

We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.

The exchange of students...should be vastly expanded...Information and education are powerful forces in support of peace. Just as war begins in the minds of men, so does peace.

The qualities of a great man are vision, integrity, courage, understanding, the power of articulation, and profundity of character.

There is no person in this room whose basic rights are not involved in any successful defiance to the carrying out of court orders.

Only Americans can hurt America.

There must be justice, sensed and shared by all peoples, for, without justice the world can know only a tense and unstable truce.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well-trained, well-equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.

Speeches are for the younger men who are going places. And I'm not going anyplace except six feet under the floor of that little chapel adjoining the museum and library at Abilene.

Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed -- else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.

If progress is to be steady we must have long term guides extending far ahead.

I say when you get into a war, you should win as quick as you can, because your losses become a function of the duration of the war. I believe when you get in a war, get everything you need and win it.

War is mankind's most tragic and stupid folly; to seek or advise its deliberate provocation is a black crime against all men.

I call upon those who love freedom to stand with us now. Together we shall achieve victory.

The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without.

The best morale exist when you never hear the word mentioned. When you hear a lot of talk about it, it's usually lousy.

From behind the Iron Curtain, there are signs that tyranny is in trouble and reminders that its structure is as brittle as its surface is hard.

We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security.

The world moves, and ideas that were once good are not always good.

If people get together, so eventually will nations.

I thought it completely absurd to mention my name in the same breath as the presidency.

We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it.

Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose.

I am inclined by nature to be optimistic about the capacity of a person to rise higher than he or she has thought possible once interest and ambition are aroused.