The point in history at which we stand is full of promise and danger. The world will either move forward toward unity and widely shared prosperity - or it will move apart.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the dual nature of historical moments, emphasizing both potential and risks for the future.
Franklin D. Roosevelt highlights a critical juncture in history where significant choices must be made. He asserts that humanity has the potential to advance collectively towards prosperity and unity, but if those opportunities are neglected, society risks fragmentation and decline. This statement serves as a call to action for individuals to recognize their power in shaping the future through collective effort and cooperation.
In practice
This quote can be used in a graduation speech to inspire students about their role in shaping the future.
There has been one persistent theme through all Axis propaganda. This theme has been that Americans are admittedly rich, that Americans have considerable industrial power - but that Americans are soft and decadent, that they cannot and will not unite and work and fight. ... Let them tell that to the Marines!
The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.
A war of ideas can no more be won without books than a naval war can be won without ships. Books, like ships, have the toughest armor, the longest cruising range, and mount the most powerful guns.
Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
A world turned into a stereotype, a society converted into a regiment, a life translated into a routine, make it difficult for either art or artists to survive. Crush individuality in society and you crush art as well. Nourish the conditions of a free life and you nourish the arts, too.
I haven't chosen any party yet because people choose parties when they get older. When it's time, I'll look, and if I can't find one to join, I'll make another party.
The more time you spend in your discomfort zone, the more your comfort zone will expand.
Employees have been worrying about the rising tide of automation for 200 years now, and for 200 years employers have been assuring them that new jobs will naturally materialize to take their place.
Everything that you are against works against you. Everything that you are against can be restated in a way that puts you in support of something. When you are able to state what you are for rather than what you are against, you are focusing on the potential for positive change. Once that is in place, you will find whatever you are focusing on expanding.
What can change the world today is the same thing that has changed it in the past-an idea and the service of dedicated, committed individuals to that idea.
You can’t mandate [cultural change], can’t engineer it. What you can do is create the conditions for transformation. You can provide incentives. You can define the marketplace realities and goals. But then you have to trust. In fact, in the end, management doesn’t change culture. Management invites the workforce itself to change the culture.
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