Selected Quotes By Teddy Roosevelt
"A great democracy has got to be progressive or it will soon cease to be great or a democracy."
Teddy Roosevelt, Society
"I am only an average man, but by George, I work harder at it than the average man."
Teddy Roosevelt, Work
"Nothing worth having comes easy."
Teddy Roosevelt, Life
"No man should receive a dollar unless that dollar has been fairly earned."
Teddy Roosevelt, Wealth
"Only those are fit to live who do not fear to die; and none are fit to die who have shrunk from the joy of life and the duty of life. Both life and death are parts of the same Great Adventure."
Teddy Roosevelt, Life, Death
"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."
Teddy Roosevelt, Intelligence/Wisdom
"The great body of our citizens shoot less as times goes on. We should encourage rifle practice among schoolboys, and indeed among all classes, as well as in the military services by every means in our power. Thus, and not otherwise, may we be able to assist in preserving peace in the world... The first step – in the direction of preparation to avert war if possible, and to be fit for war if it should come – is to teach men to shoot!"
Teddy Roosevelt, Anger and Fighting
"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official."
Teddy Roosevelt, Government
"Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing."
Teddy Roosevelt, Work
"Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of today."
Teddy Roosevelt, Government
"Our aim is not to do away with corporations; on the contrary, these big aggregations are an inevitable development of modern industrialism, and the effort to destroy them would be futile unless accomplished in ways that would work the utmost mischief to the entire body politic. We can do nothing of good in the way of regulating and supervising these corporations until we fix clearly in our minds that we are not attacking the corporations, but endeavoring to do away with any evil in them. We are not hostile to them; we are merely determined that they shall be so handled as to subserve the public good. We draw the line against misconduct, not against wealth."
Teddy Roosevelt, Society, Wealth
"Be practical as well as generous in your ideals. Keep your eyes on the stars, but remember to keep your feet on the ground."
Teddy Roosevelt, Goals
"No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency."
Teddy Roosevelt, Kindness
"Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike."
Teddy Roosevelt, Society
"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."
Teddy Roosevelt, Kindness
"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."
Teddy Roosevelt, Success
"If given the choice between Righteousness and Peace, I choose Righteousness."
Teddy Roosevelt, Anger and Fighting
"The joy in life is his who has the heart to demand it."
Teddy Roosevelt, Happiness
"We despise and abhor the bully, the brawler, the oppressor, whether in private or public life, but we despise no less the coward and the voluptuary. No man is worth calling a man who will not fight rather than submit to infamy or see those that are dear to him suffer wrong."
Teddy Roosevelt, Society
"In this country we have no place for hyphenated Americans."
Teddy Roosevelt, Society
"Comparison is the thief of joy."
Teddy Roosevelt, Happiness
"The reason fat men are good natured is they can neither fight nor run."
Teddy Roosevelt, Society
"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."
Teddy Roosevelt, Society
"Politeness [is] a sign of dignity, not subservience."
Teddy Roosevelt, Intelligence/Wisdom
"If you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow."
Teddy Roosevelt, Success
"When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not Guilty'."
Teddy Roosevelt, Government
"Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft!"
Teddy Roosevelt, Management
"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."
Teddy Roosevelt, Management
"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."
Teddy Roosevelt, Work
"When you play, play hard; when you work, don't play at all."
Teddy Roosevelt, Work
"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."
Teddy Roosevelt, Society
"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."
Teddy Roosevelt, Intelligence/Wisdom
"Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering."
Teddy Roosevelt, Life
"A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user."
Teddy Roosevelt, Government
"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."
Teddy Roosevelt, Work
"Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country."
Teddy Roosevelt, Society
"The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first and love of soft living and the get-rich-quick theory of life."
Teddy Roosevelt, Society
"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."
Teddy Roosevelt, Freedom
"I am a part of everything that I have read."
Teddy Roosevelt, Intelligence/Wisdom
"Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."
Teddy Roosevelt, Success
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."
Teddy Roosevelt, Success
"Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don&pos;t have the strength."
Teddy Roosevelt, Courage, Strength
"In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing."
Teddy Roosevelt, Intelligence/Wisdom
"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."
Teddy Roosevelt, Society
"If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month."
Teddy Roosevelt, Intelligence/Wisdom
"Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground."
Teddy Roosevelt, Goals
"Knowing what's right doesn't mean much unless you do what's right."
Teddy Roosevelt, Intelligence/Wisdom
"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else."
Teddy Roosevelt, Government
"To educate a person in the mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society."
Teddy Roosevelt, Intelligence/Wisdom, Society
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
Teddy Roosevelt, Government
"The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything."
Teddy Roosevelt, Mistakes
"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."
Teddy Roosevelt, Problems
"When you're at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on."
Teddy Roosevelt, Problems
"People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."
Teddy Roosevelt, Society
"Believe you can and you're halfway there."
Teddy Roosevelt, Success
"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed."
Teddy Roosevelt, Success
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
Teddy Roosevelt, Life
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."