Theodore Roosevelt Quotes - Page 25

• In this country we have no place for hyphenated Americans.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Country, Diversity

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• The plea of good intentions is not one that can be allowed to have much weight in passing historical judgment upon a man whose wrong-headedness and distorted way of looking at things produced, or helped to produce, such incalculable evil; there is a wide political applicability in the remark attributed to a famous Texan, to the effect that he might, in the end, pardon a man who shot him on purpose, but that he would surely never forgive one who did so accidentally.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Men, Evil, Political

  Theodore Roosevelt (1899). “Thomas H. Benton”

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• It may be true that he travels farthest who travels alone, but the goal thus reached is not worth reaching.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Goal, May, Reaching

  Theodore Roosevelt (1899). “The Rough Riders: An Autobiography”, p.592, Library of America

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• Americanism is a question of spirit, of conviction and purpose, not creed or birthplaces. The test of our worth is the service we render.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Purpose, Tests, Spirit

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• Of all the officers of the Government, those of the Department of Justice should be kept most free from any suspicion of improper action on partisan or factional grounds, so that there shall be gradually a growth, even though a slow growth, in the knowledge that the Federal courts and the representatives of the Federal Department of Justice insist on meting out even-handed justice to all.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Government, Justice, Growth

  Theodore Roosevelt (1951). “1903-1905”

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• The fool who has not sense to discriminate between what is good and what is bad is well nigh as dangerous as the man who does discriminate and yet chooses the bad.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Men, Doe, Fool

  The Man with the Muck-rake, delivered 14 April 1906

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• In name we had the Declaration of Independence in 1776; but we gave the lie by our acts to the words of the Declaration of Independence until 1865; and words count for nothing except in so far as they represent acts.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Lying, Names, Independence

  Theodore Roosevelt (1926). “The Works of Theodore Roosevelt”

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• The one being abhorrent to the powers above the earth and under them is the hyphenated American

  Theodore Roosevelt

  America, Abhorrent, Earth

  Theodore Roosevelt (1941). “Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia”

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• Cowardice in a race, as in an individual, is the unpardonable sin.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Race, Sin, Individual

  Theodore Roosevelt (1897). “American ideals and other essays, social and political”

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• A small politician, of low capacity and mean surroundings, proud to act as the servile tool of men worse than himself but also stronger and abler.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Mean, Men, Stronger

  Theodore Roosevelt (1887). “Life of Thomas Hart Benton”

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• It [the Civil War] was a heroic struggle; and, as is inevitable with all such struggles, it had also a dark and terrible side. Very much was done of good, and much also of evil; and, as was inevitable in such a period of revolution, often the same man did both good and evil. For our great good fortune as a nation, we, the people of the United States as a whole, can now afford to forget the evil, or, at least, to remember it without bitterness, and to fix our eyes with pride only on the good that was accomplished.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  War, Struggle, Eye

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• No man can do both effective and decent work in public life unless he is a practical politician on the one hand, and a sturdy believer in Sunday-school politics on the other. He must always strive manfully for the best, and yet, like Abraham Lincoln, must often resign himself to accept the best possible.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  School, Sunday, Men

  Theodore Roosevelt (1967). “Writings”

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• I am simply unable to understand the value placed by so many people upon great wealth.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  People, Understanding, Wealth

  Theodore Roosevelt (1952). “Letters of Theodore Roosevelt: The big stick, 1905-1909”

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• The great lawyer who employs his talent and his learning in the highly emunerative task of enabling a very wealthy client to override or circumvent the law is doing all that in him lies to encourage the growth in the country of a spirit of dumb anger against all laws and of disbelief in their efficacy.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Country, Courage, Lying

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• There never has been devised, and there never will be devised, any law which will enable a man to succeed save by the exercise of those qualities which have always been the prerequisites of success - the qualities of hard work, of keen intelligence, of unflinching will.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Hard Work, Exercise, Men

  Theodore Roosevelt (2016). “Theodore Roosevelt's Words of Wit and Wisdom”, p.69, Chartwell

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• If we are to be really great people, we must strive in good faith to play a great part in the world. We cannot avoid meeting great issues. All that we can determine for ourselves is whether we shall meet them well or ill.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Faith, Greatness, Play

  Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge (2017). “The Complete Works of Theodore Roosevelt”, p.2907, Madison & Adams Press

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• We must treat each man on his worth and merits as a man. We must see that each is given a square deal, because he is entitled to no more and should receive no less.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Men, Squares, Merit

  Speech at New York State Fair, Syracuse, N.Y., 7 Sept. 1903 See Theodore Roosevelt 11

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• With self-discipline, all things are possible

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Self, Discipline, Formal Education

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• When great nations fear to expand, shrink from expansion, it is because their greatness is coming to an end. Are we, still in the prime of our lusty youth, still at the beginning of our glorious manhood, to sit down among the outworn people, to take our place with the weak and the craven? A thousand times no!

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Greatness, People, Expansion

  Theodore Roosevelt (1941). “Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia”

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• Men can never escape being governed. Either they must govern themselves or they must submit to being governed by others.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Men, Submit

  Theodore Roosevelt, Paul H. Jeffers (1998). “The Bully Pulpit: A Teddy Roosevelt Book of Quotations”, p.59, Taylor Trade Publications

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• I violate no secret when I say that one of the greatest values in Masonry is that it affords an opportunity for men of all walks of life to meet on common ground where all men are equal and have one common interest.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Opportunity, Men, Secret

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• I think we are warranted in contending that a society thus constituted, and which may be rendered so admirable an engine of improvement, far from meriting reproach, deserves highly of the community.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Thinking, Community, May

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• I hold it to be our duty to see that the wage-worker, the small producer, the ordinary consumer, shall get their fair share of business prosperity. But it either is or ought to be evident to everyone that business has to prosper before anybody can get any benefit from it.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Ordinary, Benefits, Prosperity

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• Our surest protection against assault from abroad has been not all our guards, gates and guns, or even our two oceans, but our essential goodness as a people. Our richest asset has been not our material wealth but our values.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Ocean, Gun, Two

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• In the Western Hemisphere the adherence of the United States to the Monroe Doctrine may force the United States, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of such wrong doing or impotence, to the exercise of an international police power.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Exercise, Power, Police

  Annual Message to Congress, 6 Dec. 1904. Known as the "Roosevelt Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine

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