Eleanor Roosevelt Quotes

Too often the great decisions are originated and given form in bodies made up wholly of men, or so completely dominated by them that whatever of special value women have to offer is shunted aside without expression.

When you look fear in the face, you are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’

As for accomplishments, I just did what I had to do as things came along.

Ambition is pitiless. Any merit that it cannot use it finds despicable.

When life is too easy for us, we must beware or we may not be ready to meet the blows which sooner or later come to everyone, rich or poor.

Campaign behavior for wives: Always be on time. Do as little talking as humanly possible. Lean back in the parade car so everybody can see the president.

I am who I am today because of the choices I made yesterday.

When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?

You must do the things you think you cannot do.

Anyone who knows history, particularly the history of Europe, will, I think, recognize that the domination of education or of government by any one particular religious faith is never a happy arrangement for the people.

The Bible illustrated by Dore occupied many of my hours – and I think probably gave me many nightmares.

I do not think that I am a natural born mother… If I ever wanted to mother anyone, it was my father.

Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn’t have the power to say yes.

Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.

Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.

For our own success to be real, it must contribute to the success of others.

Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.

A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader,
a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.

There are practical little things in housekeeping which no man really understands.

Have convictions. Be friendly. Stick to your beliefs as they stick to theirs. Work as hard as they do.

It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.

Actors are one family over the entire world.

Anyone who thinks must think of the next war as they would of suicide.

You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.

I’m so glad I never feel important, it does complicate life!

When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.

It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.

True patriotism springs from a belief in the dignity of the individual, freedom and equality not only for Americans but for all people on earth, universal brotherhood and good will, and a constant and earnest striving toward the principles and ideals on which this country was founded.

Old age has deformities enough of its own. It should never add to them the deformity of vice.

I think that somehow, we learn who we really are and then live with that decision.

Sometimes I wonder if we shall ever grow up in our politics and say definite things which mean something, or whether we shall always go on using generalities to which everyone can subscribe, and which mean very little.

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’

Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both.

The giving of love is an education in itself.

Only a man’s character is the real criterion of worth.

I think I lived those years very impersonally. It was almost as though I had erected someone outside myself who was the president’s wife. I was lost somewhere deep down inside myself. That is the way I felt and worked until I left the White House.

We are afraid to care too much, for fear that the other person does not care at all.

I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: no good in a bed, but fine up against a wall.

We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face… we must do that which we think we cannot.

What you don’t do can be a destructive force.

The very next thing you need to be doing is the thing that terrifies you the most.

Autobiographies are only useful as the lives you read about and analyze may suggest to you something that you may find useful in your own journey through life.

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.

Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.

If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.

The basis of world peace is the teaching which runs through almost all the great religions of the world. Love thy neighbor as thyself.

One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes… and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.

I can not believe that war is the best solution. No one won the last war, and no one will win the next war.

Friendship with ones self is all important, because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world.

Understanding is a two-way street.

Someone once asked me what I regarded as the three most important requirements for happiness. My answer was: A feeling that you have been honest with yourself and those around you; a feeling that you have done the best you could both in your personal life and in your work; and the ability to love others.

In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.

Do what you feel in your heart to be right- for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.

Probably the happiest period in life most frequently is in middle age, when the eager passions of youth are cooled, and the infirmities of age not yet begun; as we see that the shadows, which are at morning and evening so large, almost entirely disappear at midday.

I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do, provided he keeps doing them until he gets a record of successful experience behind him.

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.

It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.

A little simplification would be the first step toward rational living, I think.

I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by doing the thing which you think you cannot do.

I have spent many years of my life in opposition, and I rather like the role.

A woman is like a tea bag – you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.

Some people are going to leave a mark on this world, while others will leave a stain.