Quote of the Day: Franklin D. Roosevelt on Politics & Power

Before he ever led the nation through war, Franklin D. Roosevelt had to relearn how to stand. Polio didn’t just weaken his legs; it tested his patience, his pride, and his ability to plan a future he couldn’t brute-force into existence. That kind of resilience teaches a blunt lesson: outcomes aren’t wishes, they’re designs. It’s from that hard-won realism that we get: “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.”

Read generously, this isn’t a permission slip for paranoia, it’s an invitation to maturity. The world runs on incentives, timing, and coordination. Whether you’re watching a headline, navigating an office reorg, or trying to change your community, the surface story is rarely the whole story. The practical move is to ask one clarifying question: What would someone have to want for this to make sense? That single prompt turns confusion into leadership.

Apply it inward, too. “Nothing happens by accident” is also a mirror. If your calendar is crowded but your goals are stalled, that’s not bad luck, it’s a plan you didn’t consciously choose. Replace vague intentions with deliberate sequences: decide what you’re optimizing for, identify who must say yes, and choose the next smallest action that moves the coalition, family, team, or self, forward. Deliberate planning isn’t control; it’s resilience with a schedule.

Franklin D. Roosevelt earned his authority the hard way, architecting the New Deal’s sweeping reforms and steering the United States through the Great Depression and World War II with uncommon strategic discipline.

Today, pick one recurring frustration and do a five-minute “behind-the-scenes” audit: write down who benefits from the status quo, what they fear losing, and one conversation you can initiate to change the incentives. Walk into that conversation calmly, eyes open, and build the future on purpose, may your next step be steady and well-aimed.