Leadership Quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt

Roosevelt’s line reads like folksy optimism until that last clause snaps it into something harder: governance. “Treat people right” is moral language, but in FDR’s mouth it doubles as strategy. The New Deal wasn’t charity; it was an attempt to rebuild trust in institutions by proving they could materially improve ordinary life. The promise isn’t sainthood, it’s reciprocity: if a government dignifies citizens with jobs, security, and a fair shake, most citizens will return the favor with buy-in, patience, and social peace.

Then comes the kicker: “ninety percent of the time.” That small statistic is the whole political philosophy. Roosevelt is acknowledging, almost casually, that good faith is not a guarantee. Some people will defect, free-ride, demagogue, or sabotage. He’s warning against the naive belief that kindness automatically produces harmony, while still insisting that decency is the most reliable baseline for public life. It’s a leader telling you: I’m not sentimental about human nature, I’m practical about incentives.

Context matters. Roosevelt governed through depression, bitter class conflict, and eventually war. He needed broad coalitions - labor and business, immigrants and old-stock voters, Southern segregationists and Northern liberals. “Treat people right” flatters the idea of a shared civic ethic; “ninety percent” gives him room to be tough on the remaining ten: to regulate, to police fraud, to confront extremists. The quote’s power is its calibrated realism: an ethic sturdy enough to guide policy, and skeptical enough to survive politics.