Dwight D. Eisenhower: Trending quotes (page 5)

“The history of free men is never really written by chance - but by choice. Their choice.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Address in Pittsburgh http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/education/bsa/citizenship_merit_badge/eisenhower_citizenship_quotations.pdf (9 October 1956)
1950s

Men , Chance , History

“An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

“The world could be fixed of its problems if every child understood the necessity of their existence.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

World , Problem

“Only Americans can hurt America.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Hurt

“Neither a wise man or a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

As quoted in TIME magazine (6 October 1952)
1950s

History , Waiting , Future , Training

“Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Life , Men , Flowers , Freedom

“I'm going to command the whole shebang.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Comment to his wife Mamie, after being informed by George Marshall that he would be in command of Operation Overlord, as quoted in Eisenhower : A Soldier's Life (2003) by Carlo D'Este, p. 307
1940s

“We –finally—look upon change, the every-unfolding future, with confidence rather than doubt, hope rather than fear. We, as a people, were born of revolution. And we have lived by change—always a frontier people, exploring—if not new wilderness—then new science and new knowledge.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

1950s, Address at the Philadelphia Convention Hall (1956)

People , Fear , Hope , Confidence

“As we peer into society's future, we -- you and I, and our government -- must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

1960s, Farewell address (1961)

Democracy , Loss , Future

“It was generally conceded that had an election been held, Ho Chi Minh would have been elected Premier.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower book Mandate for Change

As quoted in The White House Years: Mandate for Change: 1953–1956: A Personal Account (1963), pp. 337-38
1960s

“A nation's hope of lasting peace cannot be firmly based upon any race in armaments but rather upon just relations and honest understanding with all other nations.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

1950s, The Chance for Peace (1953)

Peace , Hope , Understanding

“Men like these—men by the millions—have deepened and defined our very understanding of what is true and just in the wide world from which they came. We know—as our forefathers knew—the firm ground on which our beliefs must stand. Freedom is rooted in the certainty that the brotherhood of all men springs from the Fatherhood of God. And thus, even as each man is his brother’s keeper, no man is another’s master.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

1950s, Address at the Philadelphia Convention Hall (1956)

Men , God , World , Spring

“Oh, goddammit, we forgot the silent prayer.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Remark at a cabinet meeting, as quoted in Since 1945 : Politics and Diplomacy in Recent American History (1979) by Robert A. Divine, p. 55
1950s

“This is something, eh, that is the kind of thing that must be gone through with what I believe is best not talked about too much until we know whatever answers there will be.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Response to questions about the investigation of Robert Oppenheimer's supposed Communist sympathies
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1954), p. 435
Cited in [Brendon, Piers, Ike: His Life & Times, 1st edition, 1986, Harper & Row, New York, ISBN 0-06-015508-6, p. 270 of 478, The Dawn of Tranquility]
1950s

“The true purpose of education is to prepare young men and women for effective citizenship in a free form of government.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Speech at Williamsburg College http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/education/bsa/citizenship_merit_badge/eisenhower_citizenship_quotations.pdf (15 May 1953)
1950s

Women , Men , Education

“This we do know: a world that begins to witness the rebirth of trust among nations can find its way to a peace that is neither partial nor punitive. With all who will work in good faith toward such a peace, we are ready, with renewed resolve, to strive to redeem the near-lost hopes of our day.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

1950s, The Chance for Peace (1953)

World , Peace , Faith , Hope

“The John Birch Society is a good, patriotic society. I don't agree with what its founder said about me, but that does not detract from the fact that its membership is comprised of many fine Americans dedicated to the preservation of our libertarian Republic.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Reported in an editorial in the Alton Evening Telegraph (July 14,1964), A-4; appeared in a display ad in the Los Angeles Times (September 27, 1964), D14. Reported as misattributed in Paul F. Boller, Jr., and John George, They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, & Misleading Attributions (1989), p. 24, stating that an aide of Eisenhower's had denied that Eisenhower had made the remark.
Misattributed

“The general limits of your freedom are merely these: that you do not trespass upon the equal rights of others.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Remarks to the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/education/bsa/citizenship_merit_badge/eisenhower_citizenship_quotations.pdf (22 April 1954)
1950s

Freedom

“The chief of staff says I'm the guy.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Journal entry after being informed by George Marshall that he would be in command of Operation Overlord, as quoted in Eisenhower : A Soldier's Life (2003) by Carlo D'Este, p. 307
1940s

Guy

“We have erased segregation in those areas of national life to which Federal authority clearly extends. So doing in this, my friends, we have neither sought nor claimed partisan credit, and all such actions are nothing more -- nothing less than the rendering of justice. And we have always been aware of this great truth: the final battle against intolerance is to be fought -- not in the chambers of any legislature -- but in the hearts of men.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Address at the Hollywood Bowl http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/all_about_ike/quotes.html (19 October 1956)
1950s

Life , Men , Truth , Justice