Hubert H. Humphrey Quotes

Oh, my friend, it's not what they take away from you that counts. It's what you do with what you have left.

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“You cannot go around and keep score. If you keep score on the good things and the bad things, you'll find out that you're a very miserable person. God gave man the ability to forget, which is one of the greatest attributes you have. Because if you remember everything that's happened to you, you generally remember that which is the most unfortunate.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

We cannot use a double standard for measuring our own and other people's policies. Our demands for democratic practices in other lands will be no more effective than the guarantees of those practiced in our own country.

— Hubert H. Humphrey

Unfortunately, our affluent society has also been an effluent society.

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of the citizens to keep and bear arms. [ ... ] the right of the citizens to bear arms is just one guarantee against arbitrary government and one more safeguard against a tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“Johnson had a sense of humor, and he could kid with me," he would say. "Johnson didn't enjoy talking with most liberals. He didn't think they had a sense of humor.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“Each child is an adventure into a better life - an opportunity to change the old pattern and make it new.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“Anyone who thinks that the vice-president can take a position independent of the president of his administration simply has no knowledge of politics or government. You are his choice in a political marriage, and he expects your absolute loyalty.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“The impersonal hand of government can never replace the helping hand of a neighbor.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“There are not enough jails, not enough police, not enough courts to enforce a law not supported by the people.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“Behind every successful man is a proud wife and a surprised mother-in-law.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

For the first time in the history of mankind, one generation literally has the power to destroy the past, the present and the future, the power to bring time to an end.

— Hubert H. Humphrey

I learned more about the economy from one South Dakota dust storm that I did in all my years of college.

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“The difference between hearsay and prophecy is often one of sequence. Hearsay often turns out to have been prophecy.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

I learnt more about politics during one South Dakota dust storm than in seven years at the university.

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“It is not enough to merely defend democracy. To defend it may be to lose it; to extend it is to strengthen it. Democracy is not property; it is an idea.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

When we say, 'One nation under God, with liberty and justice for all', we are talking about all people. We either ought to believe it or quit saying it .

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“I believe that each of us can make a difference. That what is wrong can be made right. That people possess the basic wisdom and goodness to govern themselves without conflict.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“It is all too easy for a society to measure itself against some abstract philosophical principle or political slogan. But in the end, there must remain the question: What kind of life is one society providing to the people that live in it?”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“Slumism is the pent-up anger of people living on the outside of affluence. Slumism is decay of structure and deterioration of the human spirit. Slumism is a virus which spreads through the body politic. As other "isms," it breeds disorder and demagoguery and hate.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“Just be what you are and speak from your guts and heart - it's all a person has.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“We need an America with the wisdom of experience. But we must not let America grow old in spirit.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

The way we treat our children in the dawn of their lives and the way we treat our elderly in the twilight of their lives is a measure of the quality of a nation.

— Hubert H. Humphrey

What you do, what each of us does, has an effect on the country, the state, the nation, and the world.

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“The message of the United States is not nuclear power. The message of the United States is a spiritual message. It is the message of human ideals; it is the message of human dignity; it is the message of the freedom of ideas, speech, press, the right to assemble, to worship, and the message of freedom of movement of people.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“Though everyone has an equal right to speak,
not all have earned an equal right to be taken seriously.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“We will be remembered not for the power of our weapons but for the power of our compassion, our dedication to human welfare.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“In the minds and hearts of the American people, there is a great hunger for peace based on a universal recognition of the values of freedom and human dignity.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“You cannot tell a poor boy from a small country town on the plains of South Dakota who has had the opportunity to be a teacher, a mayor, a senator, and a vice president, that America is not a nation of promise.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

If today there is a proper American "sphere of influence" it is this fragile sphere called earth upon which all men live and share a common fate
a sphere where our influence must be for peace and justice.

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“Hubert Humphrey with kids"Be clear where America stands. Human brotherhood and equal opportunity for every man, woman, and child, we are committed to it, in America and around the world."”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

Here we are the way politics ought to be in America; the politics of happiness, the politics of purpose and the politics of joy.

— Hubert H. Humphrey

Profit and morality are a hard combination to beat.

— Hubert H. Humphrey

What do we want for people? Human dignity, personal expression and fulfillment, justice, freedom.

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“The pursuit of peace resembles the building of a great cathedral. It is the work of a generation. In concept it requires a mater-architect; in execution, the labors of many.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“It the Senator can find in Title VII any language which provides that an employer will have to hire on the basis of percentage or quota related to color, race, religion, or national origin, I will start eating the pages one after another, because it is not in there.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

The ugliness of bigotry stands in direct contradiction to the very meaning of America.

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“Surely anyone who has ever been elected to public office understands that one commodity above all others, namely the trust and confidence of the people, is fundamental in maintaining a free and open political system.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“History teaches us that the great revolutions aren't started by people who are utterly down and out, without hope and vision. They take place when people begin to live a little better - and when they see how much yet remains to be achieved.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“The great challenge which faces us is to assure that, in our society of big-ness, we do not strangle the voice of creativity, that the rules of the game do not come to overshadow its purpose, that the grand orchestration of society leaves ample room for the man who marches to the music of another drummer.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“And it is to these rights - the right of law and order, the right of life, the right of liberty, the right of a job, the right of a home in a decent neighborhood, and the right to an education - it is to these rights that I pledge my life and whatever capacity and ability I have.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“If I believe in something, I will fight for it, with all I have. But I do not demand all or nothing. I would rather get something than nothing.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“None of us would trade freedom of expression for the narrowness of the public censor. America is a free market for people who have something to say, and need not fear to say it.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“When the dignity of one person is denied, all of us are denied.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“Our greatest songs are still unsung.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“My favorite sandwich is peanut butter, baloney, cheddar cheese, lettuce, and mayonnaise on toasted bread with catsup on the side.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“It is better to gain a foot than to stand still, even when you seek to gain a mile.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“Before people will do anything, they have got to eat. And if you are really looking for a way for people to lean on you and to be dependent on you, in terms of their cooperation with you, it seems to me that food dependence would be terrific.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

“Much of our American progress has been the product of the individual who had an idea; pursued it; fashioned it; tenaciously clung to it against all odds; and then produced it, sold it, and profited from it.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey