“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams” is a popular quotation that has been credited to Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962). However, the quotation has not been found in her writings and first appears in print in 1986.
 
   
Wikiquote: Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (11 October 1884 – 7 November 1962) was a social activist, first lady and the wife of US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
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Disputed
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
. Often attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt without an original source in her writings, for example in the introduction to It Seems to Me : Selected Letters of Eleanor Roosevelt (2001) by Leonard C. Schlup and Donald W. Whisenhunt, p. 2. But archivists have not been able to find the quote in any of her writings, see the comment from Ralph Keyes in The Quote Verifier above.
 
Google Books
Learning vacations
Fifth Edition
By Gerson G. Eisenberg
Princeton, NJ: Peterson’s Guides
1986
Pg. 130:
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt
 
Google Books
The Executive Female
Volumes 9-11
1986
Pg. 83:
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Eleanor Roosevelt
 
Google Books
Ms. Magazine
Volume 16, Issues 7-12
1988
Pg. 41:
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT ONCE said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
 
Google Books
The Role of Mentoring within Cooperative Extension:
The 4-H Youth Development Program
By Gail Elizabeth Feagles
Dissertation: Project report (M.P.S. (Agr.))—Cornell University
August 1990
Pg. 34:
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
 
1 October 1990, Lethbridge (Alberta) Herald,  “Former missionary finds a new calling,” pg. A2, col. 4:
“I feel the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
(Sister Beatrice Lorenz—ed.)
 
23 May 1991, Waunakee (WI) Tribune, pg. 3, col. 3:
Class of ‘91
WAUNAKEE HIGH SCHOOL
CLASS MOTTO:
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”
 
Google Books
TalentEd:
Strategies for Developing the Talent in Every Learner
By Jerry D. Flack
Englewood, CO: Teacher Ideas Press
1993
Pg. 36:
As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
   
Google Books
Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul:
101 Stories to Open the Hearts and Rekindle the Spirits of Women
By Jack Canfield, et al.
Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications
1998
Pg. 237:
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt
 
Wellstone.org
Swarthmore College Commencement
May 1998
Swarthmore College
Paul’s Speeches
(...)
In closing, to the graduating seniors, I say this with all sincerity. I do not believe the future will belong to those who are content with the present, I do not believe the future will belong to the cynics, or to those who stand on the sideline. The future will belong to those who have passion, and to those who are willing to make the personal commitment to make our country better. The future will belong to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.