"But it is the subjects, the conversations, the facts we shy away from, which claim us in the form of writer's block, as mere rhetoric, as hysteria, insomnia, and constriction of the throat."

"I don't think we can separate art from overall human dignity and hope"

"...because life is short and you too are thirsty."

"Can you remember? When we thought the poets taught how to live?"

"And yet, protest it if we will, Some corner of the mind retains The medieval man, who still Keeps watch upon those starry skeins And drives us out of doors at night To gaze at anagrams of light."

"An education is not something that you get, but something that you claim."

"The friend I can trust is the one who will let me have my death. The rest are actors who want me to stay and further the plot."

"Silence can be a plan rigorously executed the blueprint to a life It is a presence it has a history a form Do not confuse it with any kind of absence"

"Who neither touched nor spoke? whose nape, whose finger-ends nervelessly lied the hours away?"

"There is a cop who is both prowler and father: he comes from your block, grew up with your brothers, had certain ideals."

"There is a cop who is both prowler and father: he comes from your block, grew up with your brothers, had certain ideals."

"Those years you never looked at any of us. Staring into your own eyelids. Like you saw a light there. Can you see me now?"

"Theory-the seeing of patterns, showing the forest as well as the trees"

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today."

"An election cannot give a country a firm sense of direction if it has two or more national parties which merely have different names but are as alike in their principles and aims as two peas in the same pod"

"I have no expectation of making a hit every time I come to bat."

"If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something."

"The point in history at which we stand is full of promise and danger. The world will either move forward toward unity and widely shared prosperity - or it will move apart."

"Put two or three men in positions of conflicting authority. This will force them to work at loggerheads, allowing you to be the ultimate arbiter."

"There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still."

"It is an unfortunate human failing that a full pocketbook often groans more loudly than an empty stomach."

"Self-interest is the enemy of all true affection."

"When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike you, do not wait until he has struck before you crush him."

"Happiness... it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort."

"I'm not the smartest fellow in the world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues."

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who have little."

"The truth is found when men are free to pursue it."

"This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny."

"The frontier of America is on the Rhine"

"I sometimes think that the saving grace of America lies in the fact that the overwhelming majority of Americans are possessed of two great qualities- a sense of humor and a sense of proportion."

"Knowledge—that is, education in its true sense—is our best protection against unreasoning prejudice and panic-making fear, whether engendered by special interest, illiberal minorities, or panic-stricken leaders."

"The ablest man I ever met is the man you think you are."

"The forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid."

"Whoever seeks to set one race against another seeks to enslave all races."

"Our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men."

"It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead -- and find no one there."

"Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough."

"Peace, like charity, begins at home."

"When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."

"Do Something. If it works, do more of it. If it doesn't, do something else."

"We continue to recognize the greater ability of some to earn more than others. But we do assert that the ambition of the individual to obtain for him a proper security is an ambition to be preferred to the appetite for great wealth and great power."

"Today we are faced with the preeminent fact that, if civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships - the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world, at peace"

"We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization"

"Peace, like charity, begins at home"

"Too often in recent history liberal governments have been wrecked on rocks of loose fiscal policy"

"We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way. The third is freedom from want…. The fourth is freedom from fear."

"We, and all others who believe in freedom as deeply as we do, would rather die on our feet than live on our knees."

"Freedom to learn is the first necessity of guaranteeing that man himself shall be self-reliant enough to be free"

"He stands in the unbroken line of patriots who have dared to die that freedom might live, and grow, and increase its blessings. Freedom lives, and through it, he lives - in a way that humbles the undertakings of most men."

"Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds."