J. Edgar Hoover Quotations

The cure for crime is not the electric chair, but the high chair.

We are a fact-gathering organization only. We don't clear anybody. We don't condemn anybody.

Justice is merely incidental to law and order.

I regret to say that we of the FBI are powerless to act in cases of oral-genital intimacy, unless it has in some way obstructed interstate commerce.

Above all, I would teach him to tell the truth Truth-telling, I have found, is the key to responsible citizenship. The thousands of criminals I have seen in 40 years of law enforcement have had one thing in common: Every single one was a liar.

No amount of law enforcement can solve a problem that goes back to the family.

Just the minute the FBI begins making recommendations on what should be done with its information, it becomes a Gestapo.

Banks are an almost irresistible attraction for that element of our society which seeks unearned money.

There is no doubt that America is now the prime target of international communism.

Experts say that children are not born criminals, nor pampered parasites. They are made that way by the environment in which they live.

Justice is merely incidental to law and order. Law and order is what covers the whole picture. Justice is part of it, but it can't be separated as a single thing.

What you need is a good Hoovering.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been requested to assist in the investigation of reported sightings of flying disks...

WHAT WE NEED IN AMERICA TODAY IS A VIGOROUS RETURN TO THE GOD OF OUR FATHERS AND A MOST VIGOROUS DEFENSE AGAINST THE MINION OF GODLESSNESS AND ATHEISM.

We (the FBI) are a fact-gathering organization only. We don't clear anybody. We don't condemn anybody.

Why should you care if you have nothing to hide?

I would do it [study UFOs], but before agreeing to do it, we must insist upon full access to discs recovered. For instance in the L.A. case, the Army grabbed it and would not let us have it for cursory examination.

It can be held certain that information that is withheld or suppressed contains truths that are detrimental to the persons involved in the suppression.

I don't need to tell you that, what determines a man's legacy is often what isn't seen.

The flames of freedom which were lighted across this great land of ours in Thomas Jefferson's day have continued to burn with an intense and magnetic light for nearly 200 years. They have been fed by the spiritual fuel which abounds only in a land where an abiding faith in God and recognition of Him as the true Author of Liberty prevail.

All persons who bear the blessed title of parent have the personal responsibility to see that their children are growing up fully appreciative of the rights of God and their fellowmen.

Purpose of counter-intelligence action is to disrupt and it is immaterial whether facts exist to substantiate the charge. If facts are present it aids in the success of the proposal but the Bureau feels … that disruption can be accomplished without facts to back it up.

Justice is incidental to law and order.

There is something addictive about secrets.

Even great men can be corrupted

When morals decline and good men do nothing, evil flourishes.

The will to do, the tenacity to overcome all obstacles and to finish the course, the strength to cling to inexorable ideals, are all rooted in courage.

The American mind simply has not come to a realization of the evil which has been introduced into our midst.

There is but one way to eliminate juvenile delinquency - that is by providing each child in America with competent parents.

A child who has been taught to respect the laws of God will have little difficulty respecting the laws of men.

There will never be another Black Messiah unless we create him

What's important at this time is to re-clarify the difference between hero and villain.

The most effective weapon against crime is cooperation... The efforts of all law enforcement agencies with the support and understanding of the American people.

The Communist threat from without must not blind us to the Communist threat from within. The latter is reaching into the very heart of America through its espionage agents and a cunning, defiant, and lawless communist party, which is fanatically dedicated to the Marxist cause of world enslavement and destruction of the foundations of our republic.

The individual is handicapped by coming face-to-face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists.

J. Edgar Hoover: When morals decline and good men do nothing, evil flourishes. A society unwilling to learn from past is doomed. We must never forget our history.

The individual comes face-to-face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists. The American mind has not come to a realisation of the evil which has been introduced into our midst. It rejects even the assumption that human creatures could espouse a philosophy which must ultimately destroy all that is good and decent.