WIST Quotations

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Speech (1940-10-13), “The Mobilization for Human Needs” (radio broadcast)

Dave — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 21:52:01 +0000

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.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman; US President (1933–45)
Speech (1940-10-13), “The Mobilization for Human Needs” (radio broadcast)

Regarding the Community Chest's Mobilization for Human Needs charity campaign.

Montesquieu -- Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 19, ch. 27 (1748) [tr. Nugent (1750)]

Dave — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 00:54:09 +0000

A free nation may have a deliverer; a nation enslaved can have only another oppressor. For whoever is able to dethrone an absolute prince has a power sufficient to become absolute himself.

[Une nation libre peut avoir un libérateur; une nation subjuguée ne peut avoir qu’un autre oppresseur. Car tout homme qui a assez de force pour chasser celui qui est déja le maître absolu dans un état, en a assez pour le devenir lui-même.]

Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689–1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 19, ch. 27 (1748) [tr. Nugent (1750)]

(Source (French)). Other translations:

A free nation can have a liberator; a subjugated nation can only have another oppressor. For any man who has enough strength to drive out the one who is already the absolute master in a state has enough to become one himself.
[tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]

A free nation can have a liberator; a subjugated nation can only have another oppressor. For any man who has enough force to drive out him who is already the absolute master in a state has enough to become the master himself.
[tr. Stewart (2018)]

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Essay (1918-04-06), “Citizens or Subjects?” Kansas City Star

Dave — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 17:21:59 +0000

In a self-governing country the people are called citizens. Under a despotism or autocracy the people are called subjects. This is because in a free country the people are themselves sovereign, while in a despotic country the people are under a sovereign. In the United States the people are all citizens, including its President. The rest of them are fellow citizens of the President. In Germany the people are all subjects of the Kaiser. They are not his fellow citizens, they are his subjects.
This is the essential difference between the United States and Germany, but the difference would vanish if we now submitted to the foolish or traitorous persons who endeavor to make it a crime to tell the truth about the Administration when the Administration is guilty of incompetence or other shortcomings. Such an endeavor is itself a crime against the nation. Those who take such an attitude are guilty of moral treason of a kind both abject and dangerous.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer; US President (1901–09)
Essay (1918-04-06), “Citizens or Subjects?” Kansas City Star

Regarding a bill which had just passed the Senate Judiciary Committee which would fine and imprison any one who used "contemptuous or slurring language about the President."

This passage was added to later editions of his essay, "Lincoln and Free Speech,", as printed in The Works of Theodore Roosevelt, vol. 21, The Great Adventure, ch. 7 (1925). It does not appear in the original version of the essay or book.

Frankfurter, Felix -- Pennekamp v. Florida, 328 U.S. 331, 354–356 (1946) [concurring]

Dave — Tue, 29 Jun 2004 17:11:02 +0000

Without a free press there can be no free society. That is axiomatic. However, freedom of the press is not an end in itself but a means to the end of a free society. The scope and nature of the constitutional guarantee of the freedom of the press are to be viewed and applied in that light.

Felix Frankfurter (1882–1965) American jurist, teacher; US Supreme Court Justice (1939–62)
Pennekamp v. Florida, 328 U.S. 331, 354–356 (1946) [concurring]

An extract of this quote ("Freedom of the press is not an end in itself but a means to the end of [achieving] a free society") was apparently written in a New York Times article of 1953-11-28 (but not Frankfurter's essay of that date) and is often cited to that article.

Stevenson, Adlai -- Speech (1952-10-07), “Safeguards Against Communism,” Masonic Temple, Detroit, Michigan

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.

Adlai Stevenson II (1900–1965) American politician, diplomat, statesman
Speech (1952-10-07), “Safeguards Against Communism,” Masonic Temple, Detroit, Michigan