Harry Truman

I don't think I ever really wanted to be President. I think it chose me.

The greatest danger to our democracy is not from without, but from within.

I'm not a man of many words, but I'm a man of my word.

The only thing that I have found that is more difficult than being President is being a candidate for President.

I have come to the conclusion that the only way to get along in this world is to be a good sport.

I don't care what you think about me, just so you think about me.

If you can't convince them, confuse them.

My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference.

I don't give 'em hell. I just tell the truth and they think it's hell.

If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.

It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours.

The atom bomb is a paper tiger which the United States reactionaries use to scare people.

I never had any trouble with a candidate who was really worth electing.

The White House is the finest prison in the world.

Whenever you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship.

I didn't fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that's not against the law for generals. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail.

A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.

I don't care what the papers say about me as long as they spell my name right.

The C students run the world.

I think one man is just as good as another so long as he's an honest man and decent and not a nigger or a Chinaman. Uncle Will says that the Lord made a white man from dust, a nigger from mud, then threw up what was left and it came down a Chinaman. He does hate Chinese and Japs. So do I. It is an awful thing for me to have to say that about the only race I have any respect for is the Jews.