1911-1978, American Democratic Politician, Vice President
A politician never forgets the precarious nature of elective life. We have never established a practice of tenure in public office.
Hubert H. Humphrey – [Politicians and Politics]
American public opinion is like an ocean — it cannot be stirred by a teaspoon.
Hubert H. Humphrey – [Public Opinion]
Behind every successful man is a proud wife and a surprised mother-in-law.
Hubert H. Humphrey – [Mother-in-Laws]
Each child is an adventure into a better life –an opportunity to change the old pattern and make it new.
Hubert H. Humphrey – [Children]
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 – [Nuclear Age]
Fortunately, the time has long passed when people liked to regard the United States as some kind of melting pot, taking men and women from every part of the world and converting them into standardized, homogenized Americans. We are, I think, much more mature and wise today. Just as we welcome a world of diversity, so we glory in an America of diversity — an America all the richer for the many different and distinctive strands of which it is woven.
Hubert H. Humphrey – [Multiculturalism]
Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate.
Hubert H. Humphrey – [Debate]
Freedom is the most contagious virus known to man.
Hubert H. Humphrey – [Freedom]
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 – [Revolutions and Revolutionaries]
I have seen in the Halls of Congress more idealism, more humanness, more compassion, more profiles of courage than in any other institution that I have ever known.
Hubert H. Humphrey – [Congress]
I learned more about the economy from one South Dakota dust storm that I did in all my years of college.
Hubert H. Humphrey – [Economy and Economics]
I think the worst thing this nation could do for humanity would be to leave any uncertainty as to our will, our purpose and our capacity to carry out our purpose.
Hubert H. Humphrey – [Respectability]
If there is dissatisfaction with the status quo, good. If there is ferment, so much the better. If there is restlessness, I am pleased. Then let there be ideas, and hard thought, and hard work. If man feels small, let man make himself bigger.
Hubert H. Humphrey – [Dissatisfaction]
In real life, unlike in Shakespeare, the sweetness of the rose depends upon the name it bears. Things are not only what they are. They are, in very important respects, what they seem to be.
Hubert H. Humphrey – [Names]
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 – [Democracy]
Leadership in today's world requires far more than a large stock of gunboats and a hard fist at the conference table.
Hubert H. Humphrey – [Leaders and Leadership]
Liberalism, above all, means emancipation — emancipation from one's fears, his inadequacies, from prejudice, from discrimination… from poverty.
Hubert H. Humphrey – [Liberals]
National isolation breeds national neurosis.
Hubert H. Humphrey – [Isolation]
Never answer a question from a farmer.
Hubert H. Humphrey – [Politicians and Politics]
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 – [Revolutions and Revolutionaries]