Herbert Hoover quotes:

Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity.

Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement. Economic wounds must be healed by the action of the cells of the economic body - the producers and consumers themselves.

Fishing is much more than fish. It is the great occasion when we may return to the fine simplicity of our forefathers.

The association of Mount Ararat and Noah, the staunch Christians who were massacred periodically by the Mohammedan Turks, and the Sunday School collections over fifty years for alleviating their miseries-all cumulate to impress the name Armenia on the front of the American mind.

Peace is not made at the council table or by treaties, but in the hearts of men.

It is a paradox that every dictator has climbed to power on the ladder of free speech. Immediately on attaining power each dictator has suppressed all free speech except his own.

When we are sick, we want an uncommon doctor; when we have a construction job to do, we want an uncommon engineer, and when we are at war, we want an uncommon general. It is only when we get into politics that we are satisfied with the common man.

Once upon a time my political opponents honored me as possessing the fabulous intellectual and economic power by which I created a worldwide depression all by myself.

Children are our most valuable natural resource.

Competition is not only the basis of protection to the consumer, but is the incentive to progress.

The pause between the errors and trials of the day and the hopes of the night.

There are only two occasions when Americans respect privacy, especially in Presidents. Those are prayer and fishing.

New discoveries in science will continue to create a thousand new frontiers for those who still would adventure.

It is the youth who must inherit the tribulation, the sorrow... that are the aftermath of war.

Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die.

My country owes me nothing. It gave me, as it gives every boy and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of action, opportunity for service and honor.

I'm the only person of distinction who has ever had a depression named for him.

Words without actions are the assassins of idealism.

Honor is not the exclusive property of any political party.

Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die.

No greater nor more affectionate honor can be conferred on an American than to have a public school named after him.

Absolute freedom of the press to discuss public questions is a foundation stone of American liberty.

Many years ago, I concluded that a few hair shirts were part of the mental wardrobe of every man. The president differs from other men in that he has a more extensive wardrobe.

The use of the atomic bomb, with its indiscriminate killing of women and children, revolts my soul.

About the time we can make the ends meet, somebody moves the ends.

Wisdom oft times consists of knowing what to do next.

Wisdom consists not so much in knowing what to do in the ultimate as knowing what to do next.

The slogan of progress is changing from the full dinner pail to the full garage.

I was for a short time on the baseball team as shortstop, where I was no good.

It is just as important that business keep out of government as that government keep out of business.

To the engineer falls the job of clothing the bare bones of science with life, comfort, and hope.

No public man can be just a little crooked.

In its broad aspects, the proper feeding of children revolves around a public recognition of the interdependence of the human animal upon his cattle. The white race cannot survive without dairy products.

It was the transcendent fortitude and steadfastness of these men who in adversity and in suffering through the darkest hour of our history held faithful to an ideal. Here men endured that a nation might live.

Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt.

Every collectivist revolution rides in on a Trojan horse of "emergency". It was the tactic of Lenin, Hitler, and Mussolini. In the collectivist sweep over a dozen minor countries of Europe, it was the cry of men striving to get on horseback. And "emergency" became the justification of the subsequent steps. This technique of creating emergency is the greatest achievement that demagoguery attains.

Honest difference of views and honest debate are not disunity. They are the vital process of policy among free men.

The durability of free speech and free press rests on the simple concept that it search for the truth and tell the truth.

Free speech does not live many hours after free industry and free commerce die.

With impressive proof on all sides of magnificent progress, no one can rightly deny the fundamental correctness of our economic system.

So far as the personal side is concerned, the victory was to him who lost and the defeat to him who won. I can say that never in the last fifteen years have I had the peace of mind that I have since the election. I have almost a feeling of elation.

Menaced by collectivist trends, we must seek revival of our strength in the spiritual foundations which are the bedrock of our republic. Democracy is the outgrowth of the religious conviction of the sacredness of every human life. On the religious side, its highest embodiment is the Bible; on the political side, the Constitution.

Engineering is a great profession.

It is a great profession. There is the fascination of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper. Then it moves to realization in stone or metal or energy. Then it brings jobs and homes to men. Then it elevates the standards of living and adds to the comforts of life. That is the engineer's high privilege.

All men are equal before fish.

Any practice of business which would dominate the country by its own selfish interest is a destruction of equality of opportunity. Government in business, except in emergency, is also a destruction of equal opportunity and the incarnation of tyranny through bureaucracy.

Engineering training deals with the exact sciences. That sort of exactness makes for truth and conscience. It might be good for the world if more men had that sort of mental start in life even if they did not pursue the profession.

Lots of people committed crimes during the year who would not have done so if they had been fishing. The increase of crime is among those deprived of the regenerations that impregnate the mind and character of the fisherman.

Fishing is a... discipline in the equality of men - for all men are equal before fish.

The gods do not deduct from man's allotted span the hours spent in fishing.

The American people are doing their job today. They should be given a chance to show whether they wish to preserve the principles of individual and local responsibility and mutual self-help before they embark on what I believe to be a disastrous system. I feel sure they will succeed if given the opportunity.

While the crash only took place six months ago, I am convinced we have passed the worst and with continued unity of effort we shall rapidly recover.

Gentleman, you have come sixty days too late. The depression is over.

I am convinced that through these measures we have reestablished confidence.

Above all, we know that although Americans can be led to make great sacrifices, they do not like to be driven.

I can at once refute the statement that the people of the West object to conservation of oil resources. They know that there is a limit to oil supplies and that the time will come when they and the Nation will need this oil much more than it is needed now. There are no half measures in conservation of oil.

If we could have but one generation of properly born, trained, educated, and healthy children, a thousand other problems of government would vanish.

Our social and economic system cannot march toward better days unless it is inspired by things of the Spirit. It is here that the higher purposes of individualism must find their sustenance.

Fishing is a constant reminder of the democracy of life, of humility, and of human frailty. The forces of nature discriminate for no man.

I believe not only that religious faith will be victorious, but that it is vital to humankind that it shall be. We may differ in form and particulars in our religious faith. Those are matters that are sacred to each of our inner sanctuaries. It is our privilege to decline to argue them. Their real demonstration is the lives that we live.

I returned to the white House after midnight more depressed than ever before. I had long since arranged to attend the World Series in Philadelphia the next day. Although I like baseball, I kept this engagement only because I felt that my presence at a sporting event might be a gesture of reassurance to a country suffering from a severe attack of 'jitters.'

I, with other Americans, have perhaps unduly resented the stream of criticism of American life... more particularly have I resented the sneers at Main Street. For I have known that in the cottages that lay behind the street rested the strength of our national character.

I suppose I could have called in the whole of the Army, but what was the use? All I had to do was call in Main Street itself.

We must not be misled by the claim that the source of all wisdom is in the government.

I have on numerous occasions, as you know, expressed my sympathy in the establishment of a National Home for the Jews in Palestine and, despite the set-backs caused by the disorders there during the last few years, I have been heartened by the progress which has been made and by the remarkable accomplishments of the Jewish settlers in that country.

Fishing is more than fish; it is the vitalizing lure to outdoor life.

One of the primary necessities of the world for the maintenance of peace is the elimination of the frictions which arise from competitive armament.

We cannot change ideas in the minds of men and races with machine guns or battle ships.

There is no more cruel illusion than that war makes a people richer.

Three qualities of greatness stood out in Woodrow Wilson. He was a man of staunch morals. He was more than just an idealist; he was the personification of the heritage of idealism of the American people. He brought spiritual concepts to the peace table. He was a born crusader.

Being a politician is a poor profession. Being a public servant is a noble one.

Public health service should be as fully organized and as universally incorporated into our governmental system as is public education. The returns are a thousand fold in economic benefits, and infinitely more in reduction of suffering and promotion of human happiness.

I come of Quaker stock. My ancestors were persecuted for their beliefs. Here they sought and found religious freedom. By blood and conviction I stand for religious tolerance both in act and in spirit.

In the larger view the major forces of the depression now lie outside of the United States, and our recuperation has been retarded by the unwarranted degree of fear and apprehension created by these outside forces.

The budget should be balanced not by more taxes, but by reduction of follies.

I protest that we fans are being emotionally starved and frustrated by long periods of perfect performance of these batteries. More over, when there are nothing but strikes and balls going on, you relapse into your worries over the Bank of England, or something else.

While I can make no claim for having introduced the term "rugged individualism," I should be proud to have invented it. It has been used by American leaders for over a half-century in eulogy of those God-fearing men and women of honesty whose stamina and character and fearless assertion of rights led them to make their own way in life.

Fishing is much more than fish. It is the great occasion when we may return to the fine simplicity of our forefathers

You will expect me to discuss the late election. Well, as nearly as I can learn, we did not have enough votes on our side

No greater nor more affectionate honor can be conferred on an American than to have a public school named after him

It is a paradox that every dictator has climbed to power on the ladder of free speech. Immediately on attaining power each dictator has suppressed all free speech except his own

Competition is not only the basis of protection to the consumer, but is the incentive to progress

America - a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose.

The only trouble with capitalism is capitalists; they're too damned greedy.

A good many things go around in the dark besides Santa Claus.

Once the day's work starts there is little chance to walk, to ride or to take part in a game. Taking walks or rides early in the morning is a lonesome business, and the inevitable Secret Service guard when the president leaves the White House grounds is not enlivening company.

We have learned that social injustice is the destruction of justice itself.

Sportsmanship, next to the Church, is the greatest teacher of morals.

The thing I enjoyed most were visits from children. They did not want public office.

Prosperity cannot be restored by raids upon the public Treasury.

Every collectivist revolution rides in on a Trojan horse of EMERGENCY.

Every collectivist revolution rides in on a Trojan horse of "Emergency". It was a tactic of Lenin, Hitler and Mussolini.... The invasion of New Deal Collectivism was introduced by this same Trojan horse.

When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.

The course of unbalanced budgets is the road to ruin

More than ten million women march to work every morning side by side with the men. Steadily the importance of women is gaining notonly in the routine tasks of industry but in executive responsibility. I include also the woman who stays at home as the guardian of the welfare of the family. She is a partner in the job and wages. Women constitute a part of our industrial achievement.

We are now speeding down the road of wasteful spending and debt, and unless we can escape we will be smashed in inflation.

We have not yet reached the goal but... we shall soon, with the help of God, be in sight of the day when poverty shall be banished from this nation.

Let me remind you that credit is the lifeblood of business, the lifeblood of prices and jobs.

If the law is upheld only by government officials, then all law is at an end.

[N]o country can squander itself to prosperity on the ruin of its taxpayers.

[Professional engineers] must for years abandon their white collars except for Sunday.

A boy has two jobs. One is just being a boy. The other is growing up to be a man.

A good fisherman can secure many regenerative hours in winter, polishing up the rods and reels.

A splendid storehouse of integrity and freedom has been bequeathed to us by our forefathers. In this day of confusion, of peril to liberty, our high duty is to see that this storehouse is not robbed of its contents.

All progress and growth is a matter of change, but change must be growth within our social and government concepts if it should not destroy them.

Along this road of spending, the government either takes over, which is Socialism, or dictates institutional and economic life, which is Fascism.

Along with currency manipulation, the New Deal introduced to Americans the spectacle of Fascist dictation to business, labor, and agriculture.

American business needs a lifting purpose greater than the struggle of materialism.

American life is builded ... upon that fundamental philosophy announced by the Savior nineteen centuries ago ... [It] can not survive with the defense of Cain, "Am I my brother's keeper?

An ideal is an unselfish aspiration. Its purpose is the general welfare not only of this but of future generations. It is a thing of the spirit. It is a generous and humane desire that all men may share equally in a common good. Our ideals are the cement, which binds human society.

Any lack of confidence in the economic future or the basic strength of business in the United States is foolish.

Baseball is the greatest of all team sports.

Be patient and calm; no one can catch fish in anger.

Bless the children, for the national debt is theirs.

Bureaucracy is ever desirous of spreading its influence and its power. You cannot extend the mastery of the government over the daily working life of a people without at the same time making it the master of the people's souls and thoughts.

But I would emphasize again that social and economic solutions, as such, will not avail to satisfy the aspirations of the people unless they conform with the traditions of our race, deeply grooved in their sentiments through a century and a half of struggle for ideals of life that are rooted in religion and fed from purely spiritual springs.

Children add to the wonder of being alive.

Children are the most wholesome part of the race, the sweetest, for they are the freshest from the hand of god.

Doctors think a lot of patients are cured who have simply quit in disgust.

Eat plenty, wisely, without waste.