James F. Byrnes Quotes

Friendship without self-interest is one of the rare and beautiful things of life.

Provision was also made for the distribution of Germany’s foreign assets among the Allies.

Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem to be more afraid of life than death.

German militarism and Nazism have devastated twice in our generation the lands of German neighbors.

I hope that the German people will never again make the mistake of believing that because the American people are peace-loving, they will sit back hoping for peace if any nation uses force or the threat of force to acquire dominion over other peoples and other governments.

It is not in the interest of the German people or in the interest of world peace that Germany should become a pawn or a partner in a military struggle for power between the East and the West.

That was the principle of reparations to which President Truman agreed at Potsdam. And the United States will not agree to the taking from Germany of greater reparations than was provided by the Potsdam Agreement.

The conditions which now exist in Germany make it impossible for industrial production to reach the levels which the occupying powers agreed were essential for a minimum German peacetime economy.

The world so clamors for action that men and women devote little time to thinking. Many believe in secondhand thinking. They find it easier to ascertain and adopt the thoughts of others than to think for themselves.

We have learned that peace and well-being are indivisible and that our peace and well-being cannot be purchased at the price of peace or the well-being of any other country.

Power intoxicates men. It is never voluntarily surrendered. It must be taken from them.

The American people want peace. They have long since ceased to talk of a hard or a soft peace for Germany.