The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

Television broadcast, 30 March 1952, in N. F. Busch ‘Adlai E. Stevenson’ (1952) ch. 5
If they [the Republicans] will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the
truth about them.
Speech during 1952 presidential campaign, in J. B. Martin ‘Adlai Stevenson and Illinois’ (1976) ch. 8
Let’s talk sense to the American people. Let’s tell them the truth, that there are no gains
without pains.
Speech of Acceptance at the Democratic National Convention, Chicago, Illinois, 26 July 1952, in ‘Speeches
of Adlai Stevenson’ (1952) p. 20
A hungry man is not a free man.
Speech at Kasson, Minnesota, 6 September 1952, in ‘Speeches of Adlai Stevenson’ (1952) ‘Farm Policy’
There is no evil in the atom; only in men’s souls.
Speech at Hartford, Connecticut, 18 September 1952, in ‘Speeches of Adlai Stevenson’ (1952) ‘The Atomic
Future’
In America any boy may become President.
Speech in Indianapolis, 26 September 1952, in ‘Major Campaign Speeches of Adlai E. Stevenson;
1952’ (1953) p. 174
A free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.
Speech in Detroit, 7 October 1952, in ‘Major Campaign Speeches of Adlai E. Stevenson; 1952’ (1953) p. 218
The Republican party did not have to accept the voice of the Senator from Wisconsin nor
encourage the excesses of its Vice-Presidential nominee [Richard Nixon]—the young man who
asks you to set him one heart-beat from the Presidency of the United States.
Speech at Cleveland, Ohio, 23 October 1952, in ‘New York Times’ 24 October 1952, p. 14 (commonly
quoted: ‘just a heart-beat away...’
A funny thing happened to me on the way to the White House.
Speech in Washington, 13 December 1952, following his defeat in the Presidential election, in Alden
Whitman ‘Portrait: Adlai E. Stevenson’ (1965) ch. 1
We hear the Secretary of State [John Foster Dulles] boasting of his brinkmanship—the art of
bringing us to the edge of the abyss.
Speech in Hartford, Connecticut, 25 February 1956, in ‘New York Times’ 26 February 1956, p. 64
She [Eleanor Roosevelt] would rather light a candle than curse the darkness, and her glow has
warmed the world.
On learning of Mrs Roosevelt’s death, in ‘New York Times’ 8 November 1962
7.171 Anne Stevenson 1933—
Blackbirds are the cellos of the deep farms.
‘Green Mountain, Black Mountain’ (1982)
7.172 Robert Louis Stevenson 1850-94
The harmless art of knucklebones has seen the fall of the Roman empire and the rise of the
United States.
‘Across the Plains’ (1892) ‘The Lantern-Bearers’ pt. 1