Help! I need some great Democrat quotes. Like

[Amy6627]

"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country". --JFK Sort of stuff. No Repuke bashing, just things that make us proud that we are Democrats and the Dems we admire. They don't have to be from Presidents, just any famous Dems will do. I am using them on our Democratic Club's 4th of July parade float. It's going to have a replica of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, Liberty Bell, etc. and quotes and who made them all over.

I welcome any ideas, but nothing negative about Repukes. It should be positive about Dems. We don't need to tear them down to build ourselves up.

Thanks!

[trotsky]

1. FDR has a treasure trove of them.

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."

"A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned to walk forward." (Yeah, I know, you said no bashing but that's a great quote.)

[Amy6627]

3. Thanks. These are great. Quotes from FDR and JFK were about

all I could find on the internet. Some from Jimmy Carter, but that's about it. There has to be more.

Thanks for your help!

[Shredr]

30. That is a great quote.

I know they didn't want "bashing" quotes, but that "conservative is a man" quote is awesome! Any reference on where/when/ to whom/ why he said it? Thanks.

[trotsky]

33. Here's what I could find:

http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/33393.html

[Shredr]

34. Perfect. Thank you. n/t

[formerrepuke]

2. Wesley Clark....

"I'm pro-choice, pro-affirmative action, pro-environment and pro-labor. I was either going to be the loneliest Republican in America or I was going to be a happy Democrat."

[elshiva]

41. One great quote! Thanks!

[El Supremo]

4. Vice President "Cactus Jack" Garner

Garner once told Lyndon Johnson that the vice-presidency "wasn't worth a bucket of warm piss," because "the Vice President is just a waiting boy, waiting just in case something happens to the President."

[fudge stripe cookays]

5. From Howard Dean...

"Real Democrats don't make promises they can't keep."

"At every turn when there has been an imbalance of power, the truth questioned, or our beliefs and values distorted, the change required to restore our nation has always come from the bottom up from our people."

[fudge stripe cookays]

6. Gandhi...

"The true democrat is he who with purely nonviolent means defends his liberty and, therefore, his country's and ultimately that of the whole of mankind."

(On edit: Not really a famous Dem, but definitely a progressive peaceenik guy!)

[livetohike]

7. Here's a few

What the people want is very simple - they want an America as good as its promise.
Barbara Jordan

The highest patriotism is not a blind acceptance of official policy, but a love of one's country deep enough to call her to a higher standard.
George McGovern

The more we exploit nature, The more our options are reduced, until we have only one: to fight for survival.
Morris K. Udall

[fudge stripe cookays]

8. Eleanor Roosevelt...

"...real prosperity can only come when everybody prospers."

"...all wars eventually act as boomerangs and the victor suffers as much as the vanquished."

"Will people ever be wise enough to refuse to follow bad leaders or to take away the freedom of other people?"

"...conservation of land and conservation of people frequently go hand in hand."

"An economic policy which does not consider the well-being of all will not serve the purposes of peace and the growth of well-being among the people of all nations."

[happyslug]

9. Bryan's Cross of Gold Speech

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5354

It is called the most famous speech in American Policial History:

"If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost, having behind us the producing masses of the nation and the world. Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold."

He also wrote a book on Great Speeches, it is on the net at the following cite:
http://www.bartleby.com/268/

In it he gives you some of the great speeches of history up to his time (1906), my favorite is Grant's "Why I am a Republican". Read it as ask yourself is Grant discribing the Democratic or Republican Party when he says he is a Republican and he opposed "the Democratic party as now constituted"

(http://www.bartleby.com/268/10/13.html

Some more speeches by Bryan:
http://www.boondocksnet.com/ai/ail/bryan.html

"History will vindicate the position taken by the United States in the war with Spain. In saying this I assume that the principles which were invoked in the inauguration of the war will be observed in its prosecution and conclusion. If, however, a contest undertaken for the sake of humanity degenerates into a war of conquest, we shall find it difficult to meet the charge of having added hypocrisy to greed. Is our national character so weak that we cannot withstand the temptation to appropriate the first piece of land that comes within our reach?

To inflict upon the enemy all possible harm is legitimate warfare, but shall we contemplate a scheme for the colonization of the Orient merely because our ships won a remarkable victory in the harbor of Manila?

Our guns destroyed a Spanish fleet, but can they destroy that self-evident truth, that governments derive their just powers, not from superior force, but from the consent of the governed?

Shall we abandon a just resistance to European encroachment upon the Western hemisphere, in order to mingle in the controversies of Europe and Asia?"


Extract from speech delivered at Duckworth Club banquet, Cincinnati, Ohio, January 6, 1899:

"The Bible teaches us that it is more blessed to give than to receive, while the colonial policy is based upon the doctrine that it is more blessed to take than to leave. I am afraid that the imperialists have confused the beatitudes."

"If we adopt a colonial policy and pursue the course which incited the revolution of 1776 we must muffle the tones of the old Liberty Bell and commune in whispers when we praise the patriotism of our forefathers.

We cannot afford to destroy the Declaration of Independence; we cannot afford to erase from our constitutions, State and National, the bill of rights; we have not time to examine the libraries of the nation and purge them of the essays, the speeches, and the books that defend the doctrine that law is the crystallization of public opinion, rather than an emanation from physical power.

But even if we could destroy every vestige of the laws which are the outgrowth of the immortal document penned by Jefferson; if we could obliterate every written word that has been inspired by the idea that this is "a government of the people, by the people, and for the people," we could not tear from the heart of the human race the hope which the American republic has planted there. The impassioned appeal, "Give me liberty or give me death," still echoes around the world.

In the future, as in the past, the desire to be free will be stronger than the desire to enjoy a mere physical existence. The conflict between right and might will continue here and everywhere until a day is reached when the love of money will no longer sear the national conscience and hypocrisy no longer hide the hideous features of avarice behind the mask of philanthropy."

[Sapphire Blue]

10. BrainyQuote

You'll find plenty of appropriate quotes in this searchable database...

http://www.brainyquote.com/

[Jo March]

18. Sapphire Blue, where can I get that bumper sticker??

I love that - "We are not going away"!! Where can I get that?

[Sapphire Blue]

20. cafepress.com - link

http://www.cafepress.com/postelecsticker.14500722

[Jo March]

23. Thank you!!

I appreciate it

[Donailin]

11. "Suffering Breeds Character"

Rev. Jesse Jackson. I'll never forget that quote, heard it like twenty years ago.

[KBlagburn]

12. Just a few. need more, just ask

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin
Franklin

"There is no more fundamental axiom of American freedom than the familiar statement: In a free country we punish men for crimes they commit but never for the opinions they have." - Harry S Truman, 1950


Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws.
John Adams

The Framers of the Bill of Rights did not purport to "create" rights. Rather, they designed the Bill of Rights to prohibit our Government from infringing rights and liberties presumed to be preexisting:
Justice William J. Brennan, 1982

We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal."
Martin Luther King, Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Why We Can't Wait, 1963

Cowardice asks the question - is it safe? Expediency asks the question - is it politic? Vanity asks the question - is it popular? But conscience asks the question - is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right:
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty: Thomas Jefferson

"We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the world - no longer a Government of free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of small groups of dominant men." :
Woodrow Wilson


When even one American - who has done nothing wrong - is forced by fear to shut his mind and close his mouth-then all Americans are in peril: President Harry S. Truman


Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one's thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first of all strike down:
Frederick Douglass


"Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is the history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of governmental power, not the increase of it"
Woodrow Wilson

[Sapphire Blue]

13. The Quotations Page

is another searchable database for quotes...

http://www.quotationspage.com/

[madfloridian]

14. Some gems from Howard Dean.

"The State of the Union may look rosy from the White House balcony or the suites of George Bush's wealthiest donors. But hardworking Americans will see through this president's efforts to wrap his radical agenda with a compassionate ribbon. "
Howard Dean

"People have said I'm the candidate of anger. Well, we have a right to be angry. We lost 3 million jobs. We lost our place as the moral leader of the world. "
Howard Dean

"Look, I'm not a perfect person. I have my warts. I sometimes say things that get me in trouble. I wear suits that are cheap. But I say what I think and I believe what I say, and I'm willing to say things that are not popular but ordinary people know are right."
Howard Dean

And to add one more:
""Every American President must and will take up arms in the defense of our nation. It is a solemn oath that cannot -- and will not -- be compromised.
But there is a fundamental difference between the defense of our nation and the doctrine of preemptive war espoused by this administration. The President's group of narrow-minded ideological advisors are undermining our nation's greatness in the world. They have embraced a form of unilateralism that is even more dangerous than isolationism."
Howard Dean

[cestpaspossible]

15. JFK

What do our opponents mean when they apply to us the label "Liberal?" If by "Liberal" they mean, as they want people to believe, someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government, and who is unconcerned with the taxpayer's dollar, then the record of this party and its members demonstrate that we are not that kind of "Liberal." But if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal."

[ailsagirl]

16. "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism" (Thomas Jefferson)

"Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government." (Jefferson again)

"Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government..."
(Jefferson again)

"Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other." (JFK)

"All this will not be finished in the first hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first thousand days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin." (JFK's inaugural speech) (now he was an ORATOR)

"The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were." (JFK)

[ZombieNixon]

17. Some humor, courtesy of Mo Udall...

"Let's turn inflation over to the post office. That'll slow it down."

"I have learned the difference between a cactus and a caucus. On a cactus, the pricks are on the outside."

[kweerwolf]

19. Here are some Harry Truman quotes

Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern
himself with reason and justice.
-- Harry S. Truman

Democracy is a matter of faith - a faith in the soul of man - a faith in human rights.
-- Harry S. Truman

No government is perfect. One of the chief virtues of a democracy,
however, is that its defects are always visible and under democratic
processes can be pointed out and corrected.
-- Harry S. Truman

[phish420]

21. My Favorites

Not sure what you mean by 'democratic'...most of these guys pre-date democrats and republicans, but I think reflect democratic ideals.

As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all
those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally
entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America
among the foremost nations of justice and liberality.
George Washington

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led,
like sheep to the slaughter.
George Washington

The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to
burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.
George Washington

For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead...
Thomas Jefferson

I have sworn upon the alter of God, eternal hostility against every form of
tyranny over the mind of man.
Thomas Jefferson

I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and
reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which
stood in their way.
Thomas Jefferson

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it
expects what never was and never will be.
Thomas Jefferson

It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by
itself.
Thomas Jefferson

Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will
pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then
corruption, its necessary consequence.
Thomas Jefferson

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions
that I wish it to be always kept alive.
Thomas Jefferson

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear
arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in
government.
Thomas Jefferson

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of
patriots and tyrants.
Thomas Jefferson

The world is indebted for all triumphs which have been gained by reason and
humanity over error and oppression.
Thomas Jefferson

To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves
and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
Thomas Jefferson

Truth is certainly a branch of morality and a very important one to society.
Thomas Jefferson

When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall
become as corrupt as Europe.
Thomas Jefferson

Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own
government.
Thomas Jefferson

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of
the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be
reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law
must protect, and to violate would be oppression.
Thomas Jefferson

Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure
reliance for the preservation of our liberty.
Thomas Jefferson

Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind
will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.
Thomas Jefferson

Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and
Romans, and must be that of every free state.
Thomas Jefferson

Every generation needs a new revolution.
Thomas Jefferson

Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those
entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it
into tyranny.
Thomas Jefferson

Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every
opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if
there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of
blindfolded fear.
Thomas Jefferson

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to
remain silent.
Thomas Jefferson

We are more thoroughly an enlightened people, with respect to our political
interests, than perhaps any other under heaven. Every man among us reads,
and is so easy in his circumstances as to have leisure for conversations of
improvement and for acquiring information.
Benjamin Franklin

Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God.
Benjamin Franklin

The way to see by Faith is to shut the Eye of Reason.
Benjamin Franklin

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,
or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to
petition the Government for a redress of grievances
U.S. Constitution

[missouri dem 2]

22. A timely Truman quote:

Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.
Harry S Truman, August 8, 1950

[chromotone]

29. "To live like a Republican, vote for the Democrat. "

--Another HST quote.

[adwon]

24. Long one

"For a long time we have gone along with some well-tested principles of conduct: That it was better to tell the truth than falsehoods; that a half-truth was no truth at all; that duties were older than and as fundamental as rights; that, as Justice Holmes put it, the mode by which the inevitable came to pass was effort; that to perpetuate a harm was always wrong, no matter how many joined in it, but to perpetuate it on a weaker person was particularly detestable... Our institutions are found on the assumption that most people will follow these principles most of the time because they want to, and the institutions work pretty well when this assumption is true.

It seems to me the path of hope is toward the concrete, the manageable... But it is a long and tough job, and one for which we as a people are not particularly suited. We believe that any problem can be solved with a little ingenuity and without inconvenience to the folks at large...

And our name for problems is significant. We call them headaches. You take a powder and they are gone. These pains about which we have been talking are not like that. They are like the pain of earning a living. They will stay with us until death. We have go to understand that all our lives the danger, the uncertainty, the need for alertness, for effort, for discipline will be upon us.

This is new to us. It will be hard for us. But we are in for it, and the only question is whether we shall know it soon enough."

--Dean Acheson, speaking at the Associated Harvard Clubs of Boston in 1946, while serving as Undersecretary of State (as quoted by Merle Miller in Plain Speaking)

[Willy Lee]

25. Great democracy quotes... from a Russian web site.

http://democracy.ru/english/quotes.php

[manly]

26. this is from circa 1940

" I think everybody should leave everybody else the hell alone."
--Jimmy Durante

[Texas_Kat]

27. Wes Clark

"Freedom and dignity spring from within the human heart. They are not imposed. And inside the human heart is where the impetus for political change must be generated." --General Wes Clark

"You can always find a fight if you are looking for it. The challenge is to win the peace." - Gen. Wesley K. Clark, December 19, 2003

"Nothing is more American; nothing is more patriotic than speaking out, questioning authority and holding your leaders accountable." --Wes Clark

"I don't believe that America is run by politicians in Washington. I believe it's run by people like us, in places like this." -Wes Clark, Tulsa OK, January 29, 2004

Need more?

[MISSDem]

28. It may be irreverant but I like Will Rogers'

"I don't belong to an organized political party. I'm a Democrat".

[merbex]

31. Get "The Best Liberal Quotes Ever" by William Martin

ISBN 1-4022-0309-8

Very useful with quotes by a wide range of people

[Up2Late]

32. Here's a great site with lots of good stuff

<http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/>
<http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/America/>

Here's a few:

"If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich."
John F. Kennedy, inaugural address, January 20, 1961
US Democratic politician (1917 - 1963)

"The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the Nation’s greatness, but the men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable, especially when that questioning is disinterested, for they determine whether we use power or power uses us."
John F. Kennedy, Amherst College, Oct 26, 1963 - Source JFK Library, Boston, Mass.
US Democratic politician (1917 - 1963)

"The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced."
Frank Zappa
US musician, singer, & songwriter (1940 - 1993)

"America is a country that doesn't know where it is going but is determined to set a speed record getting there."
Laurence J. Peter
US educator & writer (1919 - 1988)

"Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn't block traffic."
Dan Rather
US television newscaster (1931 - )

"Liberty without learning is always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain."
John F. Kennedy
US Democratic politician (1917 - 1963)

"The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining."
John F. Kennedy
US Democratic politician (1917 - 1963)

[Sick_of_Rethuggery]

35. Go for Gore...

In his concession speech in 2000 ("loss may serve just as well as victory to shake out the soul" or something to that effect, quoting/drawing-from his dad), then in a couple of speeches in the last couple of years, where he talks about "all politicians exaggerate...". He was near-poetic in many of his last few speeches -- not very brief, but beautiful, subtle, yet-devastating in implication -- and, amazing grace...

These are off the top of my head, I will see if I can unearth them...

[Sick_of_Rethuggery]

36. Here is the first...

"As for the battle that ends tonight, I do believe as my father once said, that no matter how hard the loss, defeat might serve as well as victory to shake the soul and let the glory out."

(Thanks to http://www.al-gore-2004.org/gorespeeches/ -- unfortunately, they have on that page, only speeches up to 2002.)

[LiberalFighter]

37. Here is my website with quotations

Political Quotations

[Jack Rabbit]

38. Will Rogers

"I'm not a member of any organized politcal party; I'm a Democrat."

[laugle]

39. Shakespeare said

"IT'S AN UNEASY HEAD THAT WEARS THE CROWN" King Bush maybe? I just heard that one and liked it.

[ailsagirl]

40. A priceless one by George Bernard Shaw

Some men see things as they are and ask, "Why?" I dream of things that never were and ask, "Why not?"
Man and Superman

[ZootSuitGringo]

42. Here's a good one, especially these days!

The media needs to use the F-word a lot more...FACTS!"
-- General Wesley K. Clark 1/12/2005