32 Quotes & Sayings By Adlai Stevenson

Adlai Ewing Stevenson was born in Adair County, Missouri on January 21, 1900. He attended the University of Illinois (1920) and the University of Southern California (1921). He served as a staff member of his father's unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign in 1930 Read more

He was elected governor of Illinois in 1952, but he declined to run for a full term due to his nomination to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (1953–1961). Stevenson served as U.S.

Ambassador to the UN from 1961 until his death on February 19, 1965 in Washington D.C..

1
But the Wisconsin tradition meant more than a simple belief in the people. It also meant a faith in the application of intelligence and reason to the problems of society. It meant a deep conviction that the role of government was not to stumble along like a drunkard in the dark, but to light its way by the best torches of knowledge and understanding it could find. Adlai Stevenson
2
We travel together, passengers on a little space ship, dependent on its vulnerable reserves of air and soil; all committed for our safety to its security and peace; preserved from annihilation only by the care, the work, and, I will say, the love we give our fragile craft. We cannot maintain it half fortunate, half miserable, half confident, half despairing, half slave–to the ancient enemies of man–half free in a liberation of resources undreamed of until this day. No craft, no crew can travel safely with such vast contradictions. On their resolution depends the survival of us all. . Adlai Stevenson
3
I remember my father telling me the story of the preacher delivering an exhortation to his flock and as he reached the climax of his exhortation a man in the front row got up and said 'O Lord use me. Use me O Lord - in an advisory capacity! ' Adlai Stevenson
4
No gains without pains. Adlai Stevenson
5
Let's talk sense to the American people. Let's tell them the truth that there are no gains without pains. Adlai Stevenson
6
Saskatchewan is much like Texas - except it's more friendly to the United States. Adlai Stevenson
7
Some people approach every problem with an open mouth. Adlai Stevenson
8
The human race has improved everything except the human race. Adlai Stevenson
9
A hungry man is not a free man. Adlai Stevenson
10
It is said that a wise man who stands firm is a statesman and a foolish man who stands firm is a catastrophe. Adlai Stevenson
11
It seems to me that government is like a pump and what it pumps up is just what we are a fair sample of the intellect the ethics and the morals of the people no better no worse. Adlai Stevenson
12
Every age needs men who will redeem the time by living with a vision of things that are to be. Adlai Stevenson
13
Laws are never as effective as habits. Adlai Stevenson
14
It is not the years in your life but the life in your years that counts. Adlai Stevenson
15
It is often easier to fight for principles than to live up to them. Adlai Stevenson
16
The sound of tireless voices is the price we pay for the right to hear the music of our own opinions. Adlai Stevenson
17
Patriotism is not short frenzied outbursts of emotion but the tranquil and steady dedicaton of a lifetime. Adlai Stevenson
18
If the pursuit of peace is both old and new it is also both complicated and simple. It is complicated for it has to do with people and nothing in this universe baffles man as much as man himself. Adlai Stevenson
19
I have said what I meant and meant what I said. I have not done as well as I should like to have done but I have done my best frankly and forth-rightly no man can do more and you are entitled to no less. Adlai Stevenson
20
I'm not an old experienced hand at politics. But I am now seasoned enough to have learned that the hardest thing about any political campaign is how to win without proving that you are unworthy of winning. Adlai Stevenson
21
An independent is a guy who wants to take the politics out of politics. Adlai Stevenson
22
Someone asked me... how I felt and I was reminded of a story that a fellow townsman of ours used to tell - Abraham Lincoln. They asked him how he felt once after an unsuccessful election. He said he felt like a little boy who has stubbed his toe in the dark. He said that he was too old to cry but it hurt too much to laugh. Adlai Stevenson
23
They pick a president and then for four years they pick on him. Adlai Stevenson
24
Flattery is all right - if you don't inhale. Adlai Stevenson
25
They pick a President and then for four years they pick on him. Adlai Stevenson
26
The relationship of the toastmaster to the speaker should be the same as that of the fan to the fan dancer. It should call attention to the subject without making any particular effort to cover it. Adlai Stevenson
27
In America any boy may become president and I suppose it's just one of the risks he takes. Adlai Stevenson
28
What a man knows at fifty that he did not know at twenty is for the most part incommunicable. Adlai Stevenson
29
Man does not live by words alone despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them. Adlai Stevenson
30
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
31
Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime. Adlai Stevenson