The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt Quotes

“Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively; unless you can choose a challenge instead of competence.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt

“He who learns but does not think is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt

“Understanding is a two-way street.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt

“Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt

“No matter what you do , some people will criticize you , and if you are entirely sure that you would not be ashamed to explain your action to someone you loved and who loved you , and you are satisfied in your own mind that you are doing right , then you need not worry about criticism nor need you ever explain what you do .”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt

“About the only value the story of my life may have is to show that one can, even without any particular gifts, overcome obstacles that seem insurmountable if one is willing to face the fact that they must be overcome; that, in spite of timidity and fear, in spite of a lack of special talents, one can find a way to live widely and fully. Perhaps the most important thing that has come out of my life is the discovery that if you prepare yourself at every point as well as you can, with whatever means you may have, however meager they may seem, you will be able to grasp opportunity for broader experience when it appears. Without preparation you cannot do it. The fatal thing is the rejection. Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt: The First Lady's own candid account of Gilded Age privilege, the White House years, and her fight for civil and human rights

“It is, I am afraid, true that frequently various religious groups endeavor to exert pressures and control over different legislative and educational fields. It is the job of all of us to be alert for such infringement of our prerogatives and prevent any such attempts from being successful. Like all our freedoms, this freedom from religious-group pressure must be constantly defended. What seemed to me most deplorable”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt: The First Lady's own candid account of Gilded Age privilege, the White House years, and her fight for civil and human rights

“we have one weakness that, considering our political maturity as a nation, is rather immature. We continue to expect the world to be grateful to us and to love us. We are hurt and indignant when we do not receive gratitude and love. Gratitude and love are not to be had for the asking; they are not to be bought. We should not want to think that they are for sale. What we should seek, rather than gratitude or love, is the respect of the world. This we can earn by enlightened justice. But it is rather naïve of us to think that when we are helping people our action is entirely unselfish. It is not. It is not unselfish when we vaccinate the public against smallpox. It is a precautionary measure, but nonetheless good in itself. Other nations are quite aware that when we try to bolster up their economy and strengthen their governments and generally help them to succeed there is a certain amount of self-interest involved.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt: The First Lady's own candid account of Gilded Age privilege, the White House years, and her fight for civil and human rights

“I learned, too, while I was groping for more and more effective ways of trying to cope with community and national and world problems, that you can accomplish a great deal more if you care deeply about what is happening to other people than if you say in apathy or discouragement, “Oh, what can I do? What use is one person? I might as well not bother.” Actually I suppose the caring comes from being able to put yourself in the position of the other person. If you cannot imagine, “This might happen to me,” you are able to say to yourself with indifference, “Who cares?” I think that one of the reasons it is so difficult for us, as a people, to understand other areas of the world is that we cannot put ourselves imaginatively in their place. We have no famine. But if we were actually to see people dying of starvation we would care quite”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt: The First Lady's own candid account of Gilded Age privilege, the White House years, and her fight for civil and human rights

“Perhaps the older generation is often to blame with its cautious warning: “Take a job that will give you security, not adventure.” But I say to the young: “Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively; unless you can choose a challenge instead of a competence.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt: The First Lady's own candid account of Gilded Age privilege, the White House years, and her fight for civil and human rights

“The more the world speeds up the more it seems necessary that we should learn to pick out of the past the things that we feel were important and beautiful then. One of these things was a quality of tranquillity in people, which you rarely meet today.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt: The First Lady's own candid account of Gilded Age privilege, the White House years, and her fight for civil and human rights

“All human beings have failings, all human beings have needs and temptations and stresses. Men and women who live together through long years get to know one another's failings; but they also come to know what is worthy of respect and admiration in those they live with and in themselves. If at the end one can say, "This man used to the limit the powers that God granted him; he was worthy of love and respect and of the sacrifices of many people, made in order that he might achieve what he deemed to be his task," then that life has been lived well and there are no regrets.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt

“The royal couple stood on the rear platform of the train as it pulled out and the people who were gathered on the banks of the Hudson suddenly began to sing, "Auld Lang Syne." There was something incredibly moving about the scene—the river in the evenign light, the voices of many people singing this old song, and the train slowly pulling out with the young couple waving good-by. One thought of the clouds that hung over them and the worries they were going to face, and turned away and left the scene with a heavy heart.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt

“Nothing we learn in this world is ever wasted and I have come to the conclusion that practically nothing we do ever stands by itself. If it is good, it will serve some good purpose in the futue. If it is evil, it may haunt us and handicap our efforts in unimagined ways.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt

“There are two kinds of snobbishness: One is that of the man who has had a good many opportunities and looks down on those who lack them. The other is rarely understood, that of the self-made man who glories in his success in overcoming difficulties and admires greatly people who have achieved the things he considers of importance.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt

“he had had an offer for me to do television commercials for an organization that sold margarine. “I know this isn’t the kind of thing you had in mind,” he pointed out, “but if a conservative firm feels that you can sell their”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt: The First Lady's own candid account of Gilded Age privilege, the White House years, and her fight for civil and human rights

“We no longer have merely domestic issues. Perhaps the best illustration of this is the question I am asked everywhere in the world: “We hear you Americans pay to keep land out of production because there is too much to eat. Is there no better way to use your ability to produce food than to get rid of it?” This is a home question; it is literally of vital moment to the millions of starving in the world who look to us. I do not see how we can retain world leadership and yet continue to handle our problems as though they concerned us alone; they concern the world. We feel that a surplus of food is only an embarrassment. We solve it as though only we were concerned. But think of the hungry people and their bitterness as the food that could save their lives is plowed under. To say they think it highly unfair is to put it mildly. We have never put our best brains to work on the ways we can produce to the maximum, give our farmers a better income, and still employ our surpluses in a way to solve the pressing needs of the world, without upsetting our economy or that of friendly nations who might fear we were giving food to markets they are accustomed to selling to.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt: The First Lady's own candid account of Gilded Age privilege, the White House years, and her fight for civil and human rights

“One curious feature about political reform is that so many people feel it is “disloyal” to attempt to rectify the abuses in one’s own party. And yet it is obvious that political morality is dependent upon the awakened conscience and private morality of the voters. Such “disloyalty” is simply an evidence of loyalty to principle.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt: The First Lady's own candid account of Gilded Age privilege, the White House years, and her fight for civil and human rights

“Occasionally he took us on a picnic or a camping trip and taught us many valuable lessons. The chief one was to remember that camping was a good way to find out people’s characters. Those who were selfish showed it very soon, in that they wanted the best bed or the best food and did not want to do their share of the work.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt: The First Lady's own candid account of Gilded Age privilege, the White House years, and her fight for civil and human rights

“Many of the boys I saw in hospitals are now leading happy and useful lives, but they carry with them, day after day, the results of the war. If we do not achieve the ends for which they sacrificed—a peaceful world in which there exists freedom from fear of both aggression and want—we have failed.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt: The First Lady's own candid account of Gilded Age privilege, the White House years, and her fight for civil and human rights

“I learned something which has stood me in good stead many times—the most important thing in any relationship is not what you get but what you give.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt: The First Lady's own candid account of Gilded Age privilege, the White House years, and her fight for civil and human rights

“In addition, the fact that he can never have a personal loyalty greater than that to the nation sometimes makes it seem as though he were disloyal to his friends; but a man holding the office of President of the United States must think first of what he considers the greatest good of the people and the country.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt: The First Lady's own candid account of Gilded Age privilege, the White House years, and her fight for civil and human rights

“One of the most interesting and peculiar visitors was Alexander Woollcott, who came to the White House in January and spent four days with us. I doubt if it would have been possible to have had Mr. Woollcott as one’s guest very long in any ordinary household, because he required a good many things that the ordinary household could not easily provide. For instance, he wanted coffee at all hours, and he invited guests for meals in his bedroom or in a sitting room where he could be alone with them. My work and my engagements kept me away from the house a good part of the time, but late one afternoon I returned just as he was leaving for an engagement. As I came in the door he said: “Welcome, Mrs. Roosevelt, come right in. I am delighted to see you. Make yourself at home.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt: The First Lady's own candid account of Gilded Age privilege, the White House years, and her fight for civil and human rights

“Finally the King and Queen arrived and I met them at the door and took them to their rooms. In a short time they were dressed and down in the library. As the King approached my husband and the cocktail table, my husband said, “My mother does not approve of cocktails and thinks you should have a cup of tea.” The King answered, “Neither does my mother,” and took a cocktail.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt: The First Lady's own candid account of Gilded Age privilege, the White House years, and her fight for civil and human rights

“In 1937, about the time he brought Jimmy to Washington, Franklin became much troubled over the decisions that the Supreme Court was rendering. His advisers were divided, some of them feeling that it was unwise to have any change made in the Court. Franklin felt that if it was going to be possible to pass progressive legislation only to have it declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, no progress could be made. He also felt that people became too conservative as they grew older and that they should not be allowed to continue indefinitely to wield great power.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt: The First Lady's own candid account of Gilded Age privilege, the White House years, and her fight for civil and human rights

“Also, the importance that most Americans attach to the posts they hold, whether elective or appointive, is probably justified; for in prestige most public servants find their only return. Certainly the financial returns are slight in comparison to what the majority of them could earn in business or in a profession.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt: The First Lady's own candid account of Gilded Age privilege, the White House years, and her fight for civil and human rights

“How odd it must seem to Mr. Balfour to be paying honor to the memory of the man who had severed from the mother country some rather profitable colonies, but he was graceful and adequate in this rather peculiar situation. Only when someone on the lawn at Mount Vernon told him the story of George Washington’s throwing a silver dollar across the Potomac to the other shore, did his eyes twinkle as he responded, “My dear sir, he accomplished an even greater feat than that. He threw a sovereign across the ocean!”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt: The First Lady's own candid account of Gilded Age privilege, the White House years, and her fight for civil and human rights

“As a collector he was careful, too, and much of his collection was acquired at reasonable prices, because not many people were interested, at that time, in his field. He really knew about everything he bid for at auctions or acquired after spending hours in old bookstores or print shops. His interest was in the American Navy and he collected books and letters and prints and models of ships. The collection was fairly sizable and interesting when he went to Washington as assistant secretary of the navy, but those years in the Navy Department gave him great opportunity to add to it. He was offered and acquired an entire trunkful of letters which included the love letters of one of our early naval officers. He also acquired a letter written by a captain to his wife describing receipt of the news of George Washington’s death and his subsequent action on passing Mount Vernon. He is said to have instituted a custom which every navy ship has followed from that day to this, and which varies only according to the personnel carried by the ship. All the ships lower the flag to half mast, man the rail, toll the bell and, if a bugler is on board, blow taps.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt: The First Lady's own candid account of Gilded Age privilege, the White House years, and her fight for civil and human rights

“Let me hasten to say that I do not suggest that my solutions should or could prove a guide to anyone. About the only value the story of my life may have is to show that one can, even without any particular gifts, overcome obstacles that seem insurmountable if one is willing to face the fact that they must be overcome;”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt: The First Lady's own candid account of Gilded Age privilege, the White House years, and her fight for civil and human rights

“The American dream of the Horatio Alger success story is completely meaningless to the Indian. To him it is simply an indication of a struggle for material values. what we have failed to take to him is our spiritual values. We must show by our behavior that we believe in equality and in justice and that our religion teaches faith and love and charity to our fellow men. Here is where each of us has a job to do that must be done at home, because we can lose the battle on the soil of the United States just as surely as we can lose it in any one of the other countries in the world.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt