Adlai Stevenson: Trending quotes (page 3)

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Adlai Stevenson: 262   quotes 4   likes

“You are in the courtroom of world opinion…. All right, sir, let me ask you one simple question: Do you, Ambassador Zorin, deny that the U. S. S. R. has placed and is placing medium- and intermediate-range missiles and sites in Cuba? Yes or no — don't wait for the translation — yes or no?" [The Soviet representative refuses to answer. ] "You can answer yes or no. You have denied they exist. I want to know if I understood you correctly. I am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over, if that's your decision. And I am also prepared to present the evidence in this room.”

Adlai Stevenson

To Soviet U.N. Ambassador Valerian A. Zorin in the United Nations Security Council during the Cuban missile crisis (25 October 1962)

World , Hell , Question , Decision

“Words calculated to catch everyone may catch no one.”

Adlai Stevenson

Address to the Democratic National Convention, Chicago, Illinois. (21 July 1952); published in Speeches of Adlai Stevenson (1952)

“Laws are never as effective as habits.”

Adlai Stevenson

Speech in New York City (28 August 1952)

Law

“It's hard to lead a cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse.”

Adlai Stevenson

As quoted in Born to Run : Origins of the Political Career (2003) by Ronald Keith Gaddie, p. 119

Leadership , Thinking , Horse

“Nixon is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump for a speech on conservation.”

Adlai Stevenson

Quoted in The Fine Art of Political Wit by Leon Harris (1964)

Tree

“The Republicans stroke platitudes until they purr like epigrams.”

Adlai Stevenson

Quoted in The Fine Art of Political Wit by Leon Harris (1964); this statement is derived from one by humorist Don Marquis

“Many of the world’s troubles are not due just to Russia or communism. They would be with us in any event because we live in an era of revolution—the revolution of rising expectations. In Asia, the masses now count for something. Tomorrow, they will count for more. And, for better or for worse, the future belongs to those who understand the hopes and fears of masses in ferment. The new nations want independence, including the inalienable able right to make their own mistakes. The people want respect—and something to eat every day. And they want something better for their children.”

Adlai Stevenson

Look, p. 46 (22 September 1953)

Children , People , World , Fear

“Nothing so dates a man as to decry the younger generation.”

Adlai Stevenson

Speech at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (8 October 1952)

“You can tell the size of a man by the size of the thing that makes him mad.”

Adlai Stevenson

Address to the State Committee of the Liberal Party in New York City, Faith in Liberalism ( pdf http://www.adlaitoday.org/ideas/archive/care1_liberalism_08-28-52.pdf) (28 August 1952)

Madness

“In America any boy may become President, and I suppose it's just one of the risks he takes.”

Adlai Stevenson

Speech in Indianapolis, Indiana (26 September 1952)
Often misquoted as "In America, anybody can be president. That's one of the risks you take."

Boy

“The whole basis of the United Nations is the right of all nations great or small — to have weight, to have a vote, to be attended to, to be a part of the twentieth century.”

Adlai Stevenson

As quoted in "The Bolton Embarrassment" in The Nation (1 August 2005) http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?pid=9416

Parting

“The journey of a thousand leagues begins with a single step. So we must never neglect any work of peace within our reach, however small.”

Adlai Stevenson

As quoted in Peter's Quotations : Ideas for Our Time (1977) by Laurence J. Peter, p. 508; this begins with a phrase derived from one in the Tao Te Ching, by Laozi

Peace

“Nature is indifferent to the survival of the human species, including Americans.”

Adlai Stevenson

Radio address (29 September 1952)

Nature , Indifference

“The best reason I can think of for not running for President of the United States is that you have to shave twice a day.”

Adlai Stevenson

As quoted in Bartlett's Unfamiliar Quotations (1971) by Leonard Louis Levinson, p. 237

Thinking

“A funny thing happened to me on the way to the White House…”

Adlai Stevenson

Speech in Washington D.C. (13 December 1952)

Way , Housing

“I have said what I meant and meant what I said. I have not done as well as I should like to have done, but I have done my best, frankly and forthrightly; no man can do more, and you are entitled to no less.”

Adlai Stevenson

Speech, (3 November 1952) as quoted in "The Graceful Loser" in TIME (23 July 1965) http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,841890,00.html

“Respect for intellectual excellence, the restoration of vigor and discipline to our ideas of study, curricula which aim at strengthening intellectual fiber and stretching the power of young minds, personal commitment and responsibility — these are the preconditions of educational recovery in America today; and, I believe, they have always been the preconditions of happiness and sanity for the human race.”

Adlai Stevenson

Speech to the United Parents Association, as quoted in The New York Times (6 April 1958)

Education , Idea , Study , Personality

“There are worse things than losing an election; the worst thing is to lose one's convictions and not tell the people the truth.”

Adlai Stevenson

Responding to an assertion that his support for a ban on nuclear testing would probably cost him votes, as quoted in As We Knew Adlai : The Stevenson Story by Twenty-two Friends (1966) by Edward P. Doyle, p. 185

People , Truth

“My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.”

Adlai Stevenson

Speech in Detroit, Michigan (7 October 1952)

“The elephant has a thick skin, a head full of ivory, and as everyone who has seen a circus parade knows, proceeds best by grasping the tail of its predecessor.”

Adlai Stevenson

Comment on the 1960 Richard Nixon presidential campaign and the Republican symbol, in news summaries (30 August 1960), as quoted in The New Language of Politics: An Anecdotal Dictionary of Catchwords, Slogans and Political Usage (1968) by William Safire