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Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover Quotes

31st U.S. President

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Famous Herbert Hoover Quotes

“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.”

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Book:March 4, 1929, to October 1, 1931
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“The Union has become not merely a physical union of states, but rather a spiritual union in common ideals of our people. Within it is room for every variety of opinion, every possible experiment in social progress. Out of such variety comes growth, but only if we preserve and maintain our spiritual solidarity.”

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Book:Herbert Hoover: Containing the Public Messages, Speeches, and Statements of the President
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“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.”

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Author:Herbert Hoover
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“Our fathers and grandfathers who poured over the Midwest were self-reliant, rugged, God-fearing people of indomitable courage...They asked only for freedom of opportunity and equal chance. In these conceptions lies the real basis of American democracy. They and their fathers give a genius to American institutions that distinguished our people from any other in the world.”

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Author:Herbert Hoover
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“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.”

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Book:Herbert Hoover: Containing the Public Messages, Speeches, and Statements of the President
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“I am willing to pledge myself that if the time should ever come that the voluntary agencies of the country together with the localand state governments are unable to find resources with which to prevent hunger and sufferingI 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.”

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Book:Herbert Hoover: Containing the Public Messages, Speeches, and Statements of the President
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“Reports to the Surgeon General represent the final word upon the efficient and devoted sense of responsibility of our people in this obligation to our fellow citizens. Overwhelmingly they confirm the fact that the general mortality rate, infant mortality rate, epidemics, the disease rate - are less than in normal times. There is but one explanation. That is, that through an aroused sense of public responsibility, those in destitution and their children are receiving actually more adequate care than even in normal times.”

PeopleChildrenFactsCareResponsibilityCitizensDiseaseNormalFellowsFinalsRateObligationExplanationReportsMortalityEfficientReceivingDevotedInfantAdequateSurgeonsEpidemicsSense Of ResponsibilityFinal WordsInfant Mortality
Author:Herbert Hoover
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“If America is to be run by the people, it is the people who must think. And we do not need to put on sackcloth and ashes to think. Nor should our minds work like a sundial which records only sunshine. Our thinking must square against some lessons of history, some principles of government and morals, if we would preserve the rights and dignity of men to which this nation is dedicated.”

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Book:Addresses Upon the American Road, 1948-1950
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“I am interested to learn that a group of distinguished men and women is to be formed to spread knowledge and appreciation of the rehabilitation which is going forward in Palestine under Jewish auspices, and to add my expression to the sentiment among our people in favor of the realization of the age-old aspirations of the Jewish people for the restoration of their national homeland.”

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Book:Herbert Hoover: Containing the Public Messages, Speeches, and Statements of the President
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“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. He cannot, like the architects, cover his failures with trees and vines. He cannot, like the politicians, screen his shortcomings by blaming his opponents and hope the people will forget. The engineer simply cannot deny he did it. If his works do not work, he is damned.”

PeopleIfsMenHardForgetMistakeStepsAirTreeJudgingPoliticianDoctorsBlameDenyProfessionLawyerScreensArguingGravesSubstancePresidentialOpponentsArchitectEngineeringEngineersShortcomingsVinesLiabilityThin AirCivil EngineerCivil Engineering
Book:Memoirs: Years of adventure, 1874-1920
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“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.”

PeopleSoulGovernmentPoliticalOpportunityPresidentLibertyStepsMastersSpeechRootsPressesPoisonLiberalismDaily LifeMasteryFree SpeechEvery StepFree PressEquality Of OpportunityPolitical Equality
Book:Herbert Hoover: Containing the Public Messages, Speeches, and Statements of the President
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“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.”

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Book:Herbert Hoover: Containing the Public Messages, Speeches, and Statements of the President
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“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.”

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Book:Herbert Hoover: Containing the Public Messages, Speeches, and Statements of the President
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“You convey too great a compliment when you say that I have earned the right to the presidential nomination. No man can establish such an obligation upon any part of the American people. My country owes me no debt. It gave me, as it gives every boy and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of action, opportunity for service and honor. In no other land could a boy from a country village, without inheritance or influential friends, look forward with unbounded hope. My whole life has taught me what America means. I am indebted to my country beyond any human power to repay.”

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Book:The New Day: Campaign Speeches of Herbert Hoover, 1928
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“Man is still by instinct a predatory animal given to devilish aggression. The discoveries of science have immensely increased productivity of material things. They have increased the standards of living and comfort. They have eliminated infinite drudgery. They have increased leisure. But that gives more time for devilment. The work of science has eliminated much disease and suffering. It has increased the length of life. That, together with increase in productivity, has resulted in vastly increased populations. Also it increased the number of people engaged in devilment.”

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Author:Herbert Hoover
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