quote · Legacy record
Several centuries ago the greatest writer in history described the two most menacing clouds that hang over human government and human society as "malice domestic and fierce foreign war." We are not rid of these dangers but we can summon our intelligence to meet them.Never was there more genuine reason for Americans to face down these two causes of fear. "Malice domestic" from time to time will come to you in the shape of those who would raise false issues, pervert facts, preach the gospel of hate, and minimize the importance of public action to secure human rights or spiritual ideals. There are those today who would sow these seeds, but your answer to them is in the possession of the plain facts of our present condition.
Several centuries ago the greatest writer in history described the two most menacing clouds that hang over human government and human society as "malice domestic and fierce foreign war." We are not rid of these dangers but we can summon our intelligence to meet them.Never was there more genuine reason for Americans to face down these two causes of fear. "Malice domestic" from time to time will come to you in the shape of those who would raise false issues, pervert facts, preach the gospel of hate, and minimize the importance of public action to secure human rights or spiritual ideals. There are those today who would sow these seeds, but your answer to them is in the possession of the plain facts of our present condition.
Approximate author period: c. 1913 AD · modern
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- Author or tradition
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
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- Approximate author period: c. 1913 AD · modern
Approximate author-period anchor from life dates 1882 to 1945; Wikidata Q8007, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8007 (accessed 2026-10-08). Not a quotation composition date.
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 85176; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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