Adlai Stevenson Quotes and Quotation

II (1900-1965)

governor of Illinois and unsuccessful candidate for President of the United States

Attributed

• "What do we mean by patriotism in the context of our times? I venture to suggest that what we mean is a sense of national responsibility ... a patriotism which is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime."
• During his 1956 presidential campaign, a woman called out to him, "You have the vote of every thinking person!" Stevenson called back, "That's not enough, madam, we need a majority!"
• "You are in the courtroom of world opinion…. You have denied they exist, and I want to know if I understood you correctly…. I am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over. And I am also prepared to present the evidence in this room!" (to Soviet U.N. Ambassador V. Zorin during the Cuban Missile Crisis)
• "You will find that the truth is often unpopular and the contest between agreeable fancy and disagreeable fact is unequal. For, in this vernacular, we Americans are suckers for good news."
• "In America, anyone can become president and I suppose that's just one of the risks you take."
• "A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular."
• "It is often easier to fight for principles than to live up to them."
• "There was a time when a fool and his money were soon parted, but now it happens to everybody."
• "She would rather light candles than curse the darkness, and her glow has warmed the world." (speaking about Eleanor Roosevelt)
• "A hungry man is not a free man."
• "I refuse to personally criticize President Eisenhower, I will not submit to the Republican concept of gravity."
• Stevenson arrived late to a speaking engagement because a military parade blocked traffic, upon arriving, he proclaimed: "This not the first time a war hero has gotten in my way..."
• "The sound of tireless voices is the price we pay for the right to hear the music of our own opinions."
• "The first principle of a free society is an untrammeled flow of words in an open forum."
• [Beginning one of his concession speeches] "A funny thing happened to me on the way to the White House."
• "Freedom is not an ideal, it is not even a protection, if it means nothing more than freedom to stagnate, to live without dreams, to have no greater aim than a second car and another television set."
• "All right, sir, let me ask you one simple question: Do you, Ambassador Zorin, deny that the U.S.S.R. has placed and is placing medium- and intermediate-range missiles and sites in Cuba? Yes or no—don’t wait for the translation—yes or no?"

(The Soviet representative refuses to answer.) You can answer yes or no. You have denied they exist. I want to know if I understood you correctly. I am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over, if that’s your decision. And I am also prepared to present the evidence in this room." (United Nations Security Council)

• A hypocrite is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation.
• All progress has resulted from people who took unpopular positions.
• An Independent is someone who wants to take the politics out of politics.
• A diplomat's life is made up of three ingredients: protocol, Geritol and alcohol.
• If the Republicans will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them.
• An editor is someone who separates the wheat from the chaff and then prints the chaff.

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Famous Cat Bill Veto STATE OF ILLINOIS EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT SPRINGFIELD, April 23, 1949.

To the Honorable, the Members of the Senate of the Sixth-sixth General Assembly:

I herewith return, without my approval, Senate Bill No. 93, entitled, "An Act to Provide Protection to Insectivorous Birds by Restraining Cats." This is the so-called "Cat Bill." I veto and withhold my approval from this Bill for the following reasons:

It would impose fines on owners or keepers who permitted their cats to run at large off their premises. It would permit any person to capture or call upon the police to pick up and imprison, cats at large. It would permit the use of traps. The bill would have statewide application -- on farms, in villages, and in metropolitan centers.

This legislation has been introduced in the past several sessions of the Legislature, and it has, over the years, been the source of much comment -- not all of which has been in a serious vein. It may be that the General Assembly has now seen fit to refer it to one who can view it with a fresh outlook. Whatever the reasons for passage at this session, I cannot believe there is a widespread public demand for this law or that it could, as a practical matter, be enforced.

Furthermore, I cannot agree that it should be the declared public policy of Illinois that a cat visiting a neighbor's yard or crossing the highway is a public nuisance. It is in the nature of cats to do a certain amount of unescorted roaming. Many live with their owners in apartments or other restricted premises, and I doubt if we want to make their every brief foray an opportunity for a small game hunt by zealous citizens -- with traps or otherwise. I am afraid this Bill could only create discord, recrimination and enmity. Also consider the owner's dilemma: To escort a cat abroad on a leash is against the nature of the cat, and to permit it to venture forth for exercise unattended into a night of new dangers is against the nature of the owner. Moreover, cats perform useful service, particularly in rural areas, in combating rodents -- work they necessarily perform alone and without regard for property lines.

We are all interested in protecting certain varieties of birds. That cats destroy some birds, I well know, but I believe this legislation would further but little the worthy cause to with its proponents give such unselfish effort. The problem of cat versus bird is as old as time. If we attempt to resolve it by legislation why knows but what we may be called upon to take sides as well in the age old problems of dog versus cat, bird versus bird, or even bird versus worm. In my opinion, the State of Illinois and its local governing bodies already have enough to do without trying to control feline delinquency.

For these reasons, and not because I love birds the less or cats the more, I veto and withhold my approval from Senate Bill No. 93.

Respectfully, ADLAI E. STEVENSON, Governor

Veto Messages of Adlai E. Stevenson, Governor of Illinois, on Senate and House Bills Passed by the 66th General Assembly of Illinois. Springfield: State of Illinois, 1949.

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