Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

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.

Books are all very well in their way, and we love them at Sagamore Hill; but children are better than books.

Books are almost as individual as friends. There is no earthly use in laying down general laws about them. Some meet the needs of one person, and some of another; and each person should beware of the booklover’s besetting sin, of what Mr. Edgar Allan Poe calls ‘the mad pride of intellectuality,’ taking the shape of arrogant pity for the man who does not like the same kind of books.

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

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.

The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything.

The joy in life is his who has the heart to demand it.

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.

I feel like a Bull Moose.

Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country.

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.

I care not what others think of what I do but I care very much about what I think of what I do. That is character!

When you play, play hard; when you work, don't play at all.

Nine-tenths of wisdom consists in being wise in time.

As regards the extraordinary prizes, the element of luck is the determining factor.

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.

Pray not for lighter burdens but for stronger backs.

We should not forget that it will be just as important to our descendants to be prosperous in their time as it is to us to be prosperous in our time.

No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency.

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.

Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official.

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

Believe that you can and you are halfway there

In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.

Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground

Most of the men had simple souls. They could relate facts, but they said very little about what they dimly felt.

There is not a man of us who does not at times need a helping hand to be stretched out to him, and then shame upon him who will not stretch out the helping hand to his brother.

When you're at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on.

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.

My hat's in the ring. The fight is one and I'm stripped to the buff.

Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us to restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations. The movement for the conservation of wildlife and the larger movement for the conservation of all our natural resources are essentially democratic in spirit, purpose, and method.

It is true of the Nation, as of the individual, that the greatest doer must also be a great dreamer.

We are bound in honor to strive to bring ever nearer the day when, as far is humanly possible, we shall be able to realize the ideal that each man shall have an equal opportunity to show the stuff that is in him by the way in which he renders service.

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.

I can do one of two things. I can be President of the United States or I can control Alice Roosevelt. (His 19-year-old daughter.) I cannot possibly do both.

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.

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.