Eighty years ago this past April President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died of a stroke at the age of 63 after serving 12 years as President of The United States. His two most famous quotes are these: About the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, he said that December 7th, 1941 would be, "A date that will live in infamy." He also said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." He was certainly right about those comments.
Below are some other quotes from him and my comments. By reading them you can feel his optimism, his strength and his intelligence.
1. "If you treat people right-people will treat you right 90% of the time."
You can treat everyone well and how you would want to be treated, but it's unlikely that you'll be treated the same way by everyone. Sometimes we are treated unfairly, because we're not dealing with the same information that someone else is, or it could be that we're very different people and how we measure treating someone well just isn't the same thing.
2. "We do not retreat. We are not content to stand still. As Americans, we go forward, in the service of our country."
These are positive, optimistic, words of a leader, for sure. It is important to look at the past so we don't make the same mistakes, but the future should always be a focus of where we want to go individually and as a country.
3. "Confidence thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligation, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance. Without them, it cannot live."
It's important to be honest and be honorable whether you're leading a country or being a spouse or a parent or a good employee. It's easy to think all the time about what you want, but when your focus is always on others, I think it's a much better way to live.
4. "Let us not be afraid to help each other-let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us."
People don't like to be told what to do and over the years there's been a lot of opinions on how much should government be involved in our lives. Without getting political, there are people who want more government and others who want a lot less. What is a good balance? Does it depend on who you are or where you live or how old you are? I don't have an answer to those questions, but eighty years later it is still a big issue.
5. "Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off."
People have learned a lot from being on teams and playing sports. Part of being on a team is learning to work together towards a mutual goal. Cooperation in a marriage or family is obviously more important that competition between each other. How do we work together in the future better than we have in the past?
6. "The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man, or one party, or one nation, it must be a peace which rests on the cooperative efforts of the whole world."
Over the years it's been easy to see how difficult the concept of world peace is. Diplomacy is important, but has been challenging in the past and in the present day. Like people, countries can be very different and have different ideas that don't fit comfortably with other nations.
7. "Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds."
I've read many books that talk about how true this is. Sometimes people will play over and over in their minds how they were wronged in the past or the things that they messed up. We have the power to expose ourselves to more positive things and forgive others and say, "This too shall pass." Sometimes watching the news or too much social media can do a lot of harm to a person.
8. "Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth."
This is true, but you can gain confidence by telling yourself positive things. It's very easy to put yourself down and think about times you messed up. When you go for a job interview you need to be expecting that you will do well and not that you won't get the job. The same thing does apply to living day to day. To do our best and be our best we need to expect the best, although things don't always work out for the best. When that happens, it is very helpful to ask, what is good about this?
9. "Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough."
On a personal level, we need more kindness in the world. I recently copied this quote from Scott Adams, "Remember there is no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end." This does work on a personal level and I think it does also on a national level.
10. "The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today."
Focusing on what we want in our future definitely will get better results. He didn't say "a positive attitude," but that's how it sounds to me. He overcame polio and was elected President of the United States four times and helped lead the world to defeat Hitler. He added action to his attitude and is recognized as one of the top leaders in all of world history.
No comments:
Post a Comment