Yesterday, December seventh, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. We will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and the resolve of the U.S. to overcome adversity.
Franklin D. Roosevelt's quote acknowledges the historical significance of December 7, 1941, the day of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He emphasizes the infamy of this event, which shocked the nation and ushered in a decisive turning point in World War II. His call for divine assistance highlights the determination and unity of the American people in facing the challenges ahead, signaling an unwavering commitment to triumph in a time of crisis.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech commemorating veterans.
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.
History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.
The revolution of Saint Domingo was taking its course. I saw that the whites could not endure, because they were divided and because they were overpowered by numbers; I congratulated myself that I was a black man.
The shot heard round the world.
Revolutions are the locomotives of history.
History is not a procession of illustrious people. It's about what happens to a people. Millions of anonymous people is what history is about.
I am speaking to you from the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing Street. This morning the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German Government an official note stating that unless we heard from them by eleven o'clock, that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and consequently this country is at war with Germany.
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