Theodore Roosevelt Quotes - Page 2

...the majority in a democracy has no more right to tyrannize over a minority than, under a different system, the latter would to oppress the former.
Theodore Roosevelt
We must hold to a rigid accountability those public servants who show unfaithfulness to the interests of the nation or inability to rise to the high level of the new demands upon our strength and our resources.
Theodore Roosevelt
A great democracy has got to be progressive or it will soon cease to be great or a democracy.
Theodore Roosevelt
A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.
Theodore Roosevelt
In order to succeed we need leaders of inspired idealism, leaders to whom are granted great visions, who dream greatly and strive to make their dreams come true; who can kindle the people with the fire from their own burning souls. The leader for the time being, whoever he may be, is but an instrument, to be used until broken and then to be cast aside; and if he is worth his salt he will care no more when he is broken than a soldier cares when he is sent where his life is forfeit in order that the victory may be won.
Theodore Roosevelt
Of all the questions which can come before this nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us.
Theodore Roosevelt
It is not often that a man can make opportunities for himself. But he can put himself in such shape that when or if the opportunities come he is ready.
Theodore Roosevelt
Politeness [is] a sign of dignity, not subservience.
Theodore Roosevelt
Every book of tactics in the regiment was in use from morning until night, and the officers and non-commissioned officers were always studying the problems presented at the schools.
Theodore Roosevelt
Peace is normally a great good, and normally it coincides with righteousness, but it is righteousness and not peace which should bind the conscience of a nation as it should bind the conscience of an individual; and neither a nation nor an individual can surrender conscience to another's keeping.
Theodore Roosevelt
That was a good mark in Latin, and I am pleased with your steady improvement in it.
Theodore Roosevelt
The President and the Congress are all very well in their way. They can say what they think they think, but it rests with the Supreme Court to decide what they have really thought.
Theodore Roosevelt
The government is us; WE are the government, you and I."- Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Bodily vigor is good, and vigor of intellect is even better, but far above both is character. It is true, of course, that a genius may, on certain lines, do more than a brave and manly fellow who is not a genius; and so, in sports, vast physical strength may overcome weakness, even though the puny body may have in it the heart of a lion. But, in the long run, in the great battle of life, no brilliancy of intellect, no perfection of bodily development, will count when weighed in the balance against that assemblage of virtues, active and passive, of moral qualities, which we group together under the name of character; and if between any two contestants, even in college sport or in college work, the difference in character on the right side is as great as the difference of intellect or strength the other way, it is the character side that will win.
Theodore Roosevelt
Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike.
Theodore Roosevelt
Aggressive fighting for the right is the noblest sport the world affords.
Theodore Roosevelt
I have only a second rate brain, but I think I have a capacity for action.
Theodore Roosevelt
In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.
Theodore Roosevelt
Be practical as well as generous in your ideals. Keep your eyes on the stars, but remember to keep your feet on the ground.
Theodore Roosevelt
Wide differences of opinion in matters of religious, political, and social belief must exist if conscience and intellect alike are not to be stunted, if there is to be room for healthy growth.
Theodore Roosevelt
We should not take part in acting a lie any more than in telling a lie. Weshould not say that men are equal where they are not equal, nor proceed uponthe assumption that there is an equality where it does not exist; but we shouldstrive to bring about a measurable equality, at least to the extent of preventingthe inequality which is due to force or fraud.
Theodore Roosevelt
The citizen must have high ideals, and yet he must be able to achieve them inpractical fashion.
Theodore Roosevelt
Indeed, it is a sign of marked political weakness in anycommonwealth if the people tend to be carried away by mere oratory, if theytend to value words in and for themselves, as divorced from the deeds for whichthey are supposed to stand. The phrase-maker, the phrase-monger, the readytalker, however great his power, whose speech does not make for courage,sobriety, and right understanding, is simply a noxious element in the bodypolitic, and it speaks ill for the public if he has influence over them. To admirethe gift of oratory without regard to the moral quality behind the gift is to dowrong to the republic.
Theodore Roosevelt
That is why I decline to recognize the meremultimillionaire, the man of mere wealth, as an asset of value to any country;and especially as not an asset to my own country. If he has earned or uses hiswealth in a way that makes him a real benefit, of real use- and such is often thecase- why, then he does become an asset of real worth.
Theodore Roosevelt
Character must show itself in the man'sperformance both of the duty he owes himself and of the duty he owes the state.The man's foremast duty is owed to himself and his family; and he can do thisduty only by earning money, by providing what is essential to material wellbeing;it is only after this has been done that he can hope to build a highersuperstructure on the solid material foundation; it is only after this has beendone that he can help in his movements for the general well-being. He must pullhis own weight first, and only after this can his surplus strength be of use to thegeneral public. It is not good to excite that bitter laughter which expressescontempt; and contempt is what we feel for the being whose enthusiasm tobenefit mankind is such that he is a burden to those nearest him; who wishes todo great things for humanity in the abstract, but who cannot keep his wife incomfort or educate his children.
Theodore Roosevelt
There has never yet been a person in our history who led a life of ease whose name is worth remembering.
Theodore Roosevelt
Most of the men had simple souls. They could relate facts, but they said very little about what they dimly felt.
Theodore Roosevelt
We did everything possible to keep up the spirits of the men, but it was exceedingly difficult because there was nothing for them to do.
Theodore Roosevelt
The joy of living is his who has the heart to demand it.
Theodore Roosevelt
No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency.
Theodore Roosevelt
Books are all very well in their way, and we love them at Sagamore Hill; but children are better than books.
Theodore Roosevelt
I was glad to hear that you were to be confirmed.
Theodore Roosevelt
Although not a very old man, I have yet lived a great deal in my life, and I have known sorrow too bitter and joy too keen to allow me to become either cast down or elated for more than a very brief period over any success or defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt
There were all kinds of things I was afraid of at first, ranging from grizzly bears to ‘mean’ horses and gun-fighters; but by acting as if I was not afraid I gradually ceased to be afraid.
Theodore Roosevelt
No man should receive a dollar unless that dollar has been fairly earned.
Theodore Roosevelt
To all who have known really happy family lives, that is, to all who have known or who have witnessed the greatest happiness which there can be on this earth, it is hardly necessary to say that the highest idea of the family is attainable only where the father and mother stand to each other as lovers and friends. In these homes the children are bound to father and mother by ties of love, respect, and obedience, which are simply strengthened by the fact that they are treated as reasonable beings with rights of their own, and that the rule of the household is changed to suit the changing years, as childhood passes into manhood and womanhood.
Theodore Roosevelt
No man needs sympathy because he has to work, because he has a burden to carry. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
Theodore Roosevelt
When you play, play hard; when you work, don't play at all.
Theodore Roosevelt
The death-knell of the republic had rung as soon as the active power became lodged in the hands of those who sought, not to do justice to all citizens, rich and poor alike, but to stand for one special class and for its interests as opposed to the interests of others.
Theodore Roosevelt
The death-knell of the republic had rung as soon as the active power became lodged in the hands of those who sought, not to do justice to all citizens, rich and poor alike, but to stand for one special class and for its interests as opposed to the interests of others.
Theodore Roosevelt
I am a part of everything that I have read.
Theodore Roosevelt
The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.
Theodore Roosevelt
Generally the thunder-storms came in the afternoon, but once I saw one at sunrise, driving down the high mountain valleys toward us. It was a very beautiful and almost terrible sight; for the sun rose behind the storm, and shone through the gusty rifts, lighting the mountain-crests here and there, while the plain below lay shrouded in the lingering night. The angry, level rays edged the dark clouds with crimson, and turned the downpour into sheets of golden rain; in the valleys the glimmering mists were tinted every wild hue; and the remotest heavens were lit with flaming glory.
Theodore Roosevelt
Our fight is a fundamental fight against both of the old corrupt party machines, for both are under the dominion of the plunder league of the professional politicians who are controlled and sustained by the great beneficiaries of privilege and reaction.
Theodore Roosevelt
If this country is really to go forward along the path of social and economic justice, there must be a new party of nationwide and non-sectional principles, a party where the titular national chiefs and the real state leaders shall be in genuine accord, a party in whose counsels the people shall be supreme, a party that shall represent in the nation and the several states alike the same cause, the cause of human rights and of governmental efficiency. At present both the old parties are controlled by professional politicians in the interests of the privileged classes, and apparently each has set up as its ideal of business and political development a government by financial despotism tempered by make-believe political assassination. Democrat and Republican alike, they represent government of the needy many by professional politicians in the interests of the rich few. This is class government, and class government of a peculiarly unwholesome kind.
Theodore Roosevelt
To befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business & corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.
Theodore Roosevelt
I would rather go out of politics having the feeling that I had done what was right than stay in with the approval of all men, knowing in my heart that I have acted as I ought not to.
Theodore Roosevelt
When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not Guilty'.
Theodore Roosevelt
Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children's children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.
Theodore Roosevelt
The men worked hard and faithfully. As a rule, in spite of the number of rough characters among them, they behaved very well. One night a few of them went on a spree, and proceeded "to paint San Antonio red." One was captured by the city authorities, and we had to leave him behind us in jail. The others we dealt with ourselves, in a way that prevented a repetition of the occurrence.
Theodore Roosevelt
I am an American; free born and free bred, where I acknowledge no man as my superior, except for his own worth, or as my inferior, except for his own demerit.
Theodore Roosevelt
Each time we face our fear, we gain strength, courage, and confidence in the doing.
Theodore Roosevelt
There is quite enough sorrow and shame and suffering and baseness in real life and there is no need for meeting it unnecessarily in fiction. As Police Commissioner it was my duty to deal with all kinds of squalid misery and hideous and unspeakable infamy, and I should have been worse than a coward if I had shrunk from doing what was necessary; but there would have been no use whatever in my reading novels detailing all this misery and squalor and crime, or at least in reading them as a steady thing. Now and then there is a powerful but sad story which really is interesting and which really does good; but normally the books which do good and the books which healthy people find interesting are those which are not in the least of the sugar-candy variety, but which, while portraying foulness and suffering when they must be portrayed, yet have a joyous as well as a noble side.
Theodore Roosevelt
Nothing in this world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty. No kind of life is worth leading if it is always an easy life. I know that your life is hard; I know that your work is hard; and hardest of all for those of you who have the highest trained consciences, and who therefore feel always how much you ought to do. I know your work is hard, and that is why I congratulate you with all my heart. I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life; I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.
Theodore Roosevelt
A man who has never gone to school may steal a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.
Theodore Roosevelt
To educate a person in the mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society.
Theodore Roosevelt
It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.
Theodore Roosevelt
People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care
Theodore Roosevelt
Believe that you can and you are halfway there
Theodore Roosevelt
Believe you can, and you're halfway there.
Theodore Roosevelt