Herbert Hoover

The engineer performs many public functions from which he gets only philosophical satisfactions. Most people do not know it, but he is an economic and social force.

— Herbert Hoover

The opportunities of America opened out to me the public schools. They carried me to the professional training of an American university. I began by working with my own hands for my daily bread.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

Peace can be contributed to by respect for our ability in defense.

— Herbert Hoover

Those who have a true understanding of America know that we have no desire for territorial expansion, for economic or other domination of other peoples. Such purposes are repugnant to our ideals of human freedom.

— Herbert Hoover

When all the routines and details and the human bores get on our nerves, we just yearn to go away from here to somewhere else. To go fishing is a sound, a valid, and an accepted reason for an escape. It requires no explanation.

— Herbert Hoover

Free government is the most difficult of all government. But it is everlastingly true that the plain people will make fewer mistakes than any other group of men, no matter how powerful.

— Herbert Hoover

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.

— Herbert Hoover

Freedom conceives that the mind and spirit of man can be free only if he be free to pattern his own life, to develop his own talents, free to earn, to spend, to save, to acquire property as the security of his old age and his family.

— Herbert Hoover

While the crash only took place six months ago, I am convinced we have now passed the worst, and with continued unity of effort, we shall rapidly recover. There is one certainty of the future of a people of the resources, intelligence and character of the people of the United States - that is, prosperity.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

Within the soul of America is freedom of mind and spirit in man. Here alone are the open windows through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit. Here alone is human dignity not a dream but an accomplishment. Perhaps it is not perfect, but it is more full in realization here than any other place in the world.

— Herbert Hoover

The great liability of the engineer compared to men of other professions is that his works are out in the open where all can see them. His acts, step by step, are in hard substance. He cannot bury his mistakes in the grave like the doctors. He cannot argue them into thin air or blame the judge like the lawyers.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

The great liability of the engineer compared to men of other professions is that his works are out in the open where all can see them. His acts, step by step, are in hard substance. He cannot bury his mistakes in the grave like the doctors. He cannot argue them into thin air or blame the judge like the lawyers.

— Herbert Hoover

While the crash only took place six months ago, I am convinced we have now passed the worst, and with continued unity of effort, we shall rapidly recover. There is one certainty of the future of a people of the resources, intelligence and character of the people of the United States - that is, prosperity.

— Herbert Hoover

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.

— Herbert Hoover

All men are equal before fish.

— Herbert Hoover

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.

— Herbert Hoover

Within the soul of America is freedom of mind and spirit in man. Here alone are the open windows through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit. Here alone is human dignity not a dream but an accomplishment. Perhaps it is not perfect, but it is more full in realization here than any other place in the world.

— Herbert Hoover

All men are equal before fish.

— Herbert Hoover

Freedom does not die from frontal attack. It dies because men in power no longer believe in a system based upon liberty.

— Herbert Hoover

The great liability of the engineer compared to men of other professions is that his works are out in the open where all can see them. His acts, step by step, are in hard substance. He cannot bury his mistakes in the grave like the doctors. He cannot argue them into thin air or blame the judge like the lawyers.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

Freedom conceives that the mind and spirit of man can be free only if he be free to pattern his own life, to develop his own talents, free to earn, to spend, to save, to acquire property as the security of his old age and his family.

— Herbert Hoover

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.

— Herbert Hoover

Food will win the war.

— Herbert Hoover

I see no reason why such a body should have any power that leads to supergovernment, or that in any way minimizes the very essential principle of nationalism upon which our patriotism and progress is founded.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

While the crash only took place six months ago, I am convinced we have now passed the worst and with continued unity of effort we shall rapidly recover. There is one certainty of the future of a people of the resources, intelligence and character of the people of the United States—that is, prosperity.

— Herbert Hoover

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.

— Herbert Hoover

Freedom conceives that the mind and spirit of man can be free only if he be free to pattern his own life, to develop his own talents, free to earn, to spend, to save, to acquire property as the security of his old age and his family.

— Herbert Hoover

What the country needs is a good big laugh. ... If someone could get off a good joke every ten days, I think our troubles would be over.

— Herbert Hoover

American life is builded, and can alone survive, upon . . . [the] fundamental philosophy announced by the Savior nineteen centuries ago.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

You cannot extend the mastery of government over the daily life of a people without somewhere making it master of people's souls and thoughts.… Every step in that direction poisons the very roots of liberalism. It poisons political equality, free speech, free press, and equality of opportunity. It is the road not to more liberty but to less liberty.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

You may want to do a little autograph trading and I understand it takes five Hoovers to get one Babe Ruth.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die. And it is youth who must inherit the tribulation, the sorrow and the triumphs that are the aftermath of war.

— Herbert Hoover

What this country needs is a great poem. John Brown’s Body was a step in the right direction. I’ve read it once, and I’m reading it again. But it’s too long to do what I mean. You can’t thrill people in 300 pages... The limit is about 300 words. Kipling’s “Recessional” really did something to England when it was published. It helped them through a bad time. Let me know if you find any great poems lying around.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

Honor is not the exclusive property of any political party.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

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.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

I outlived the bastards.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

Our country has deliberately undertaken a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

The swimming hole is still in use. It has the same mudbank. It is still impossible to dress without carrying mud home in one’s inner garments. As an engineer I could devise improvements for that swimming hole. But I doubt if the decrease in mother’s grief at the homecoming of muddy boys would compensate the inherent joys of getting muddy.

— Herbert Hoover

More than ten million women march to work every morning side by side with the men. Steadily the importance of women is gaining not only 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.

— Herbert Hoover

The ancient bitter opposition to improved methods on the ancient theory that it more than temporarily deprives men of employment... has no place in the gospel of American progress.

— Herbert Hoover

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.

— Herbert Hoover

Self-government does not and should not imply the use of political agencies alone. Progress is born of cooperation in the community - not from governmental restraints.

— Herbert Hoover

In my public statements I have earnestly urged that there rested upon government many responsibilities which affect the moral and spiritual welfare of our people. The participation of women in elections has produced a keener realization of the importance of these questions and has contributed to higher national ideals. Moreover, it is through them that our national ideals are ingrained in our children.

— Herbert Hoover

Liberalism should be found not striving to spread bureaucracy but striving to set bounds to it. True liberalism seeks all legitimate freedom first in the confident belief that without such freedom the pursuit of all other blessings and benefits is vain. That belief is the foundation of all American progress, political as well as economic.

— Herbert Hoover

The American people from bitter experience have a rightful fear that great business units might be used to dominate our industrial life and by illegal and unethical practices destroy equality of opportunity...

— Herbert Hoover

Our people are steadily increasing their spending for higher standards of living. Today there are almost nine automobiles for each ten families, where seven and one-half years ago only enough automobiles were running to average less than four for each ten families. The slogan of progress is changing from the full dinner pail to the full garage. Our people have more to eat, better things to wear, and better homes.

— Herbert Hoover

Wages have increased, the cost of living has decreased. The job of every man and woman has been made more secure. We have in this short period decreased the fear of poverty, the fear of unemployment, the fear of old age; and these fears that are the greatest calamities of human kind.

— Herbert Hoover

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.

— Herbert Hoover

The President is not only the leader of a party, he is the President of the whole people. He must interpret the conscience of America. He must guide his conduct by the idealism of our people.

— Herbert Hoover

This is not a showman’s job. I will not step out of character.

— Herbert Hoover

Prosperity cannot be restored by raids upon the public Treasury.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

It does not follow, because our difficulties are stupendous, because there are some souls timorous enough to doubt the validity and effectiveness of our ideals and our system, that we must turn to a state controlled or state directed social or economic system in order to cure our troubles.

— Herbert Hoover

No country can squander itself to prosperity on the ruin of its taxpayers.

— Herbert Hoover

As a nation we must prevent hunger and cold to those of our people who are in honest difficulties.

— Herbert Hoover

The basis of successful relief in national distress is to mobilize and organize the infinite number of agencies of self help in the community. That has been the American way.

— Herbert Hoover

I am willing to pledge myself that if the time should ever come that the voluntary agencies of the country together with the local and state governments are unable to find resources with which to prevent hunger and suffering … I will ask the aid of every resource of the Federal Government.... I have the faith in the American people that such a day will not come.

— Herbert Hoover

In the large sense the primary cause of the Great Depression was the war of 1914-1918. Without the war there would have been no depression of such dimensions. There might have been a normal cyclical recession; but, with the usual timing, even that readjustment probably would not have taken place at that particular period, nor would it have been a "Great Depression."

— Herbert Hoover

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.

— Herbert Hoover

The recognition of Russia on November 16, 1933, started forces which were to have considerable influence in the attempt to collectivize the United States.

— Herbert Hoover

All men are equal before fish.

— Herbert Hoover

Economic depression can not be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

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.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

I am firmly opposed to the government entering into any business the major purpose of which is competition with our citizens... for the Federal Government deliberately to go out to build up and expand... a power and manufacturing business is to break down the initiative and enterprise of the American people; it is the destruction of equality of opportunity amongst our people, it is the negation of the ideals upon which our civilization has been based.

— Herbert Hoover

Honor is not the exclusive property of any political party.

— Herbert Hoover

In no nation are the institutions of progress more advanced. In no nation are the fruits of accomplishment more secure. In no nation is the government more worthy of respect. No country is more loved by its people. I have an abiding faith in their capacity, integrity and high purpose. I have no fears for the future of our country. It is bright with hope.

— Herbert Hoover

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.

— Herbert Hoover

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.

— Herbert Hoover

The great liability of the engineer compared to men of other professions is that his works are out in the open where all can see them. His acts, step by step, are in hard substance. He cannot bury his mistakes in the grave like the doctors. He cannot argue them into thin air or blame the judge like the lawyers.

— Herbert Hoover

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.

— Herbert Hoover

The spirit of liberalism is to create free men; it is not the regimentation of men.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

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.

— Herbert Hoover

There are only three ways to meet the unpaid bills of a nation. The first is taxation. The second is repudiation. The third is inflation.

— Herbert Hoover

While the crash only took place six months ago, I am convinced we have now passed the worst, and with continued unity of effort, we shall rapidly recover. There is one certainty of the future of a people of the resources, intelligence and character of the people of the United States - that is, prosperity.

— Herbert Hoover

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.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

I am proud to have been born in Iowa. Through the eyes of a ten-year-old boy, it was a place of adventure and daily discoveries - the wonder of the growing crops, the excitements of the harvest, the journeys to the woods for nuts and hunting, the joys of snowy winters, the comfort of the family fireside, of good food and tender care.

— Herbert Hoover

America means far more than a continent bounded by two oceans. It is more than pride of military power, glory in war, or in victory. It means more than vast expanse of farms, of great factories or mines, magnificent cities, or millions of automobiles and radios.

— Herbert Hoover

Free government is the most difficult of all government. But it is everlastingly true that the plain people will make fewer mistakes than any other group of men, no matter how powerful.

— Herbert Hoover

Economic freedom cannot be sacrificed if political freedom is to be preserved.

— Herbert Hoover

My earliest realization of the stir of national life was the torch parade in the Garfield campaign. On that occasion, I was not only allowed out that night, but I saw the lamps being filled and lighted.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

Wisdom oft times consists of knowing what to do next.

— Herbert Hoover

Freedom does not die from frontal attack. It dies because men in power no longer believe in a system based upon liberty.

— Herbert Hoover

Children are our most valuable natural resource.

— Herbert Hoover

All men are equal before fish.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

Words without actions are the assassins of idealism.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

Democracy is not static. It is a living force. Every new idea, every new invention offers opportunity for both good and evil.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

Freedom does not die from frontal attack. It dies because men in power no longer believe in a system based upon liberty.

— Herbert Hoover

The President is not only the leader of a party, he is the President of the whole people. He must interpret the conscience of America. He must guide his conduct by the idealism of our people.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

Free government is the most difficult of all government. But it is everlastingly true that the plain people will make fewer mistakes than any other group of men, no matter how powerful.

— Herbert Hoover

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.

— Herbert Hoover

We must have government that builds stamina into communities and men. That makes men instead of mendicants.

— Herbert Hoover

At 15 years of age, I left school to practice the profession of Office Boy in a business firm in Salem, Oregon.

— Herbert Hoover

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.

— Herbert Hoover

In America today, we are nearer a final triumph over poverty than is any other land.

— Herbert Hoover

Freedom conceives that the mind and spirit of man can be free only if he be free to pattern his own life, to develop his own talents, free to earn, to spend, to save, to acquire property as the security of his old age and his family.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

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.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

True liberal government is founded on the emancipation of men.

— Herbert Hoover

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.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

There is no employing class, no working class, no farming class. You may pigeonhole a man or woman as a farmer or a worker or a professional man or an employer or even a banker. But the son of the farmer will be a doctor or a worker or even a banker, and his daughter a teacher. The son of a worker will be an employer - or maybe president.

— Herbert Hoover

The worst evil of disregard for some law is that it destroys respect for all law.

— Herbert Hoover

Within the soul of America is freedom of mind and spirit in man. Here alone are the open windows through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit. Here alone is human dignity not a dream but an accomplishment. Perhaps it is not perfect, but it is more full in realization here than any other place in the world.

— Herbert Hoover

Next to religion, baseball has had a greater impact on our American way of life than any other American institution.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

The New Deal repudiation of democracy has left the Republican Party alone the guardian of the Ark of the Covenant with its charter of freedom.

— Herbert Hoover

Self-government does not and should not imply the use of political agencies alone. Progress is born of cooperation in the community - not from governmental restraints.

— Herbert Hoover

Prosperity cannot be restored by raids upon the public Treasury.

— Herbert Hoover

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.

— Herbert Hoover

The human animal originally came from out-of-doors. When spring begins to move in his bones, he just must get out again. Moreover, as civilization, cement pavements, office buildings, radios have overwhelmed us, the need for regeneration has increased, and the impulses are even stronger.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

No public man can be just a little crooked.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

The glory of the nation rests in the character of her men. And character comes from boyhood. Thus, every boy is a challenge to his elders.

— Herbert Hoover

Self-government can succeed only through an instructed electorate.

— Herbert Hoover

This is not a showman's job. I will not step out of character.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

One civilization after another has been wrecked upon the attempt to secure sufficient leadership from a single group or class.

— Herbert Hoover

The Ritz Hotel has never yet provided game of such wondrous flavor as the bird plucked and half-cooked over the small boys' camp fire.

— Herbert Hoover

Upon the farm of the uncle with whom I lived, we did know of the mortgage as some dreadful damper on youthful hopes of things that could not be bought. I do have a vivid recollection that the major purpose of a farm was to produce a living right on the spot for the family.

— Herbert Hoover

At 17, I went to Stanford University to study engineering. My time was occupied with the required reading and the extracurricular duties of managing the baseball and football teams and earning my way.

— Herbert Hoover

Peace can be promoted by the limitation of arms and by the creation of the instrumentality for peaceful settlement of controversies. But it will become a reality only through self-restraint and active effort in friendliness and helpfulness.

— Herbert Hoover

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

— Herbert Hoover

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.

— Herbert Hoover

The United States fully accepts the profound truth that our own progress, prosperity, and peace are interlocked with the progress, prosperity, and peace of all humanity.

— Herbert Hoover

I am no supporter of factory labor for children, but I have never joined with those who clamored against proper work of children on farms outside their school hours.

— Herbert Hoover

A whole people with the ballot in their hands possess the most conclusive and unlimited power ever entrusted to humanity.

— Herbert Hoover