WIST Quotations

Roosevelt, Eleanor -- Essay (1951-12), “This I Believe: Growth that Starts from Thinking,” on Edward R. Murrow, This I Believe, CBS Radio

Dave — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 17:18:33 +0000

And the important thing was that you never let down doing the best that you were able to do — it might be poor because you might not have very much within you to give, or to help other people with, or to live your life with. But as long as you did the very best that you were able to do, then that was what you were put here to do and that was what you were accomplishing by being here.

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1747 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 14:27:47 +0000

Strive to be the greatest Man in your Country, and you may be disappointed; Strive to be the best, and you may succeed: He may well win the race that runs by himself.

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1747 ed.)
(Source)

Thackeray, William Makepeace -- (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 11:57:02 +0000

Whatever you are, be a good one.

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863) English novelist
(Attributed)

Attributed in Laurence Hutton, "A Boy I Knew," St Nicholas Magazine (Mar 1897), where it was originally given as "Whatever you are, try to be a good one." Often attributed to Abraham Lincoln (first recorded in 1946). For more information, see here.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Essay (1841), “Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series, No. 2

Dave — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 11:44:40 +0000

Insist on yourself; never imitate.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1841), “Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series, No. 2
(Source)

This essay was inspired by his reading of Walter Savage Landor in 1833, with passages pulled from his lecture "Individualism," last in his course on "The Philosophy of History" (1836–1837), with other passages from the lectures "School," "Genius," and "Duty" in his course on "Human Life" (1838–1839).

Roosevelt, Eleanor -- Essay (1951-12), “This I Believe: Growth that Starts from Thinking,” on Edward R. Murrow, This I Believe, CBS Radio

Dave — Wed, 12 May 2004 19:03:47 +0000

I think I am pretty much of a fatalist. 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.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
Essay (1951-12), “This I Believe: Growth that Starts from Thinking,” on Edward R. Murrow, This I Believe, CBS Radio
(Source)

(Source (Audio); start 3:51). The essay was read without a script.

Apparently this statement (or at least the "fatalist" part of it), coupled with her earlier in the broadcast saying she was unsure "whether I believe in a future life," caused something of a stir. The Archibishop of Los Angeles took it to mean that Roosevelt was an agnostic and publicly declared that she should not sit on the Commission of Civil Rights. Roosevelt clarified the statement in a "My Day" column (1951-12-18):

Of one thing I am quite sure, and that is that I never said I did not believe in immortality. That would not be true. What I was trying to say was that I, like a great many other people, could not definitely state what form immortality would take and that I did not see why people worried about this particular question. There I am a fatalist, for I do not believe in worrying about something I can do nothing about. The important thing is to live your life to the best of your ability here and to have faith that whatever happens hereafter is the will of God.

Collected in Edward P. Morgan (ed.), This I Believe (1952).