Adlai Stevenson II quotes - page 6

Adlai Stevenson II was an American politician and diplomat, renowned for his eloquence and thoughtful approach to public service. One of his most notable achievements was serving as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He twice ran for President as the Democratic nominee but was defeated both times. Here are 159 of his quotes:

To act coolly, intelligently and prudently in perilous circumstances is the test of a man - and also a nation.

Adlai Stevenson II

Flattery is all right so long as you don't inhale.

Adlai Stevenson II

Law is not a profession at all, but rather a business service station and repair shop.

Adlai Stevenson II

I do not believe it is man's destiny to compress this once boundless earth into a small neighborhood, the better to destroy it.

Adlai Stevenson II

I think that one of our most important tasks is to convince others that there's nothing to fear in difference; that difference, in fact, is one of the healthiest and most invigorating of human characteristics without which life would become meaningless.

Adlai Stevenson II

To me, there is something superbly symbolic in the fact that an astronaut, sent up as assistant to a series of computers, found that he worked more accurately and more intelligently than they. Inside the capsule, man is still in charge.

Adlai Stevenson II

Self-criticism is the secret weapon of democracy, and candor and confession are good for the public soul.

Adlai Stevenson II

What do I believe? As an American I believe in generosity, in liberty, in the rights of man.

Adlai Stevenson II

The whole notion of loyalty inquisitions is a national characteristic of the police state, not of democracy.

Adlai Stevenson II

The really basic thing in government is policy. Bad administration, to be sure, can destroy good policy, but good administration can never save bad policy.

Adlai Stevenson II

We must recover the element of quality in our traditional pursuit of equality.

Adlai Stevenson II

The strange alchemy of time has somehow converted the Democrats into the truly conservative party of this country - the party dedicated to conserving all that is best, and building solidly and safely on these foundations.

Adlai Stevenson II

The early years of the United Nations have been difficult ones, but what did we expect? That peace would drift down from the skies like soft snow? That there would be no ordeal, no anguish, no testing, in this greatest of all human undertakings? Any great institution or idea must suffer its pains of birth and growth.

Adlai Stevenson II

The dedication of a lifetime - these are words that are easy to utter, but this is a mighty assignment. For it is often easier to fight for principles than to live up to them.

Adlai Stevenson II

We must not burn down the house to kill the rats.

Adlai Stevenson II

The knowledge he has acquired with age is not the knowledge of formulas, or forms of words, but of people, places, actions - a knowledge not gained by words but by touch, sight, sound, victories, failures, sleeplessness, devotion, love - the human experiences and emotions of this earth and of oneself and other men; and perhaps, too, a little faith, and a little reverence for things you cannot see.

Adlai Stevenson II

It was always accounted a virtue in a man to love his country. With us it is now something more than a virtue. It is a necessity.

Adlai Stevenson II

He means that he loves an inner air, an inner light in which freedom lives and in which a man can draw the breath of self-respect.

Adlai Stevenson II

We talk a great deal about patriotism. What do we mean by patriotism in the context of our times?

Adlai Stevenson II

Every man has a right to be heard; but no man has the right to strangle democracy with a single set of vocal cords.

Adlai Stevenson II

What counts now is not just what we are against, but what we are for. Who leads us is less important than what leads us - what convictions, what courage, what faith - win or lose.

Adlai Stevenson II

You will find that the truth is often unpopular and the contest between agreeable fancy and disagreeable fact is unequal.

Adlai Stevenson II