Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

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

There has never yet been a person in our history who led a life of ease whose name is worth remembering.

~ 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

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

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

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

I have only a second rate brain, but I think I have a capacity for action.

~ Theodore Roosevelt

Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike.

~ 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

That was a good mark in Latin, and I am pleased with your steady improvement in it.

~ 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

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

Speak softly and carry a big stick, you will go far.

~ Theodore Roosevelt

Politeness [is] a sign of dignity, not subservience.

~ 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

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

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

A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.

~ Theodore Roosevelt

A great democracy has got to be progressive or it will soon cease to be great or a democracy.

~ 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

...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

Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… 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

We Americans have many grave problems to solve, many threatening evils to fight, and many deeds to do, if, as we hope and believe, we have the wisdom, the strength, and the courage and the virtue to do them. But we must face facts as they are. We must neither surrender ourselves to a foolish optimism, nor succumb to a timid and ignoble pessimism.

~ Theodore Roosevelt

Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering.

~ Theodore Roosevelt

The credit belongs to those who are actually in the arena, who strive valiantly; who know the great enthusiasums, the great devotions, and spend themselves in a worthy cause; who at best know the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if they fail, fail while daring greatly, so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

~ Theodore Roosevelt

You would be much amused with the animals round the ranch.

~ Theodore Roosevelt

No man is above the law, and no man is below it.

~ Theodore Roosevelt

Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it.

~ Theodore Roosevelt

The existence of any method, standard, custom or practice is no reason for its continuance when a better is offered.

~ Theodore Roosevelt

The Cubists are entitled to the serious attention of all who find enjoyment in the colored puzzle pictures of the Sunday newspapers. Of course there is no reason for choosing the cube as a symbol, except that it is probably less fitted than any other mathematical expression for any but the most formal decorative art. There is no reason why people should not call themselves Cubists, or Octagonists, or Parallelopipedonists, or Knights of the Isosceles Triangle, or Brothers of the Cosine, if they so desire; as expressing anything serious and permanent, one term is as fatuous as another.

~ Theodore Roosevelt

I am a strong individualist by personal habit, inheritance, and conviction; but it is a mere matter of common sense to recognize that the State, the community, the citizens acting together, can do a number of things better than if they were left to individual action.

~ Theodore Roosevelt

To waste, to destroy our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed.

~ Theodore Roosevelt

It was a pleasure to deal with a man of high ideals, who scorned everything mean and base, and who possessed those robust and hardy qualities of body and mind, for the lack of which no merely negative virtue can ever atone.

~ Theodore Roosevelt

There is filth on the floor, and it must be scraped up with the muck-rake.

~ Theodore Roosevelt

The leaders of thought and of action grope theirway forward to a new life, realizing, sometimes dimly, sometimes clear-sightedly,that the life of material gain, whether for a nation or an individual, is of valueonly as a foundation, only as there is added to it the uplift that comes fromdevotion to loftier ideals.

~ Theodore Roosevelt

In the long run, success or failure will beconditioned upon the way in which the average man, the average women, does his or her duty, first in the ordinary, every-day affairs of life, and next in those great occasional cries which call for heroic virtues. The average citizen must be a good citizen if our republics are to succeed. The stream will not permanently rise higher than the main source; and the main source of national power and national greatness is found in the average citizenship of the nation.

~ Theodore Roosevelt