Theodore Roosevelt Quotes - Page 9

• The reactionary is always willing to take a progressive attitude on any issue that is dead.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Attitude, Issues, Political

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

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• In battle, the ONLY bullets that count are those that hit.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Battle, Bullets

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• The Americans of other blood must remember that the man who in good faith and without reservations gives up another country for this must in return receive exactly the same rights, not merely legal, but social and spiritual, that other Americans proudly possess. We of the United States belong to a new and separate nationality. We are all Americans and nothing else, and each, without regard to his birthplace, creed, or national origin, is entitled to exactly the same rights as all other Americans.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Spiritual, Country, Giving Up

  Theodore Roosevelt (1921). “Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star: War-time Editorials”

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• Our chief usefulness to humanity rests on our combining power with high purpose. Power undirected by high purpose spells calamity, and high purpose by itself is utterly useless if the power to put it into effect is lacking.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Power, Humanity, Purpose

  Theodore Roosevelt (2015). “Theodore Roosevelt on Bravery: Lessons from the Most Courageous Leader of the Twentieth Century”, p.78, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Inspirational, Heart, Joy

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• There is not one among us in whom a devil does not dwell; at some time, on some point, that devil masters each of us... It is not having been in the Dark House, but having left it, that counts.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Dark, House, Devil

  Theodore Roosevelt (2012). “In the Words of Theodore Roosevelt: Quotations from the Man in the Arena”, p.173, Cornell University Press

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• War is not merely justifiable, but imperative upon honorable men, upon an honorable nation, where peace can only be obtained by the sacrifice of conscientious conviction or of national welfare.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  War, Sacrifice, Men

  Theodore Roosevelt (2005). “Fear God and Take Your Own Part”, p.389, Cosimo, Inc.

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• Alone of human beings the good and wise mother stands on a plane of equal honor with the bravest soldier; for she has gladly gone down to the brink of the chasm of darkness to bring back the children in whose hands rests the future of the years.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Wise, Mother, Children

  Theodore Roosevelt (2012). “In the Words of Theodore Roosevelt: Quotations from the Man in the Arena”, p.125, Cornell University Press

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• 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

  Believe, Fighting, Optimism

  Theodore Roosevelt (2015). “Theodore Roosevelt on Bravery: Lessons from the Most Courageous Leader of the Twentieth Century”, p.58, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• Never trust a man who says he is only a little crooked, and that the crookedness is exercised in your interest.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Men, Littles, Never Trust

  Theodore Roosevelt (1910). “The New Nationalism”, Best Books on

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• I have often thought that unselfishness combined in one word more of the teachings of the Bible than any other in the language.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Teaching, Language, One Word

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• The truth is that any good modern rifle is good enough. The determining factor is the man behind the gun.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Gun, Men, Rifles

  Theodore Roosevelt (1910). “The Works of Theodore Roosevelt: African game trails”

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• The teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally impossible for us to figure to ourselves what that life would be if these teachings were removed.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Teaching, Would Be, Impossible

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• I believe in corporations. They are indispensable instruments of our modern civilization. But I believe they should be so regulated that they shall act for the interests of the community as a whole.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Believe, Civilization, Community

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• We have room but for one Language here and that is the English Language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans of American nationality and not as dwellers in a polyglot boarding-house.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  America, People, House

  Theodore Roosevelt (1954). “Letters: The days of Armageddon, 1909-1914”

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• Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has been effort stored up in the past.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Freedom, Mean, Past

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• It is essential that there should be organization of labor. This is an era of organization. Capital organizes and therefore labor must organize.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Aquariums, Organization, Essentials

  Theodore Roosevelt, Eugene Thwing (1919). “Newer Roosevelt messages: speeches, letters and magazine articles dealing with the war, before and after, and other vital topics”

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• There can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Political, Corporations, Remains

  Theodore Roosevelt (2012). “In the Words of Theodore Roosevelt: Quotations from the Man in the Arena”, p.174, Cornell University Press

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• The joy of living is his who has the heart to demand it. Life is a great adventure, and I want to say to you, accept it in such a spirit.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Heart, Adventure, Joy

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• No nation deserves to exist if it permits itself to lose the stern and virile virtues; and this without regard to whether the loss is due to the growth of a heartless and all-absorbing commercialism, to prolonged indulgence in luxury and soft, effortless ease, or to the deification of a warped and twisted sentimentality.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Loss, Luxury, Heartless

  Nobel Lecture, delivered 5 May 2010, Oslo, Norway

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• Conservation means development as much as it does protection. I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land; but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful use, the generations that come after us.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Nature, Mean, Land

  Theodore Roosevelt, Paul H. Jeffers (1998). “The Bully Pulpit: A Teddy Roosevelt Book of Quotations”, p.32, Taylor Trade Publications

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• Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Love, Dream, Stars

  Theodore Roosevelt (1955). “Theodore Roosevelt's America: Selections from the Writings of the Oyster Bay Naturalist”

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• We cannot afford to differ on the question of honesty if we expect our republic permanently to endure. Honesty is not so much a credit as an absolute prerequisite to efficient service to the public. Unless a man is honest, we have no right to keep him in public life; it matters not how brilliant his capacity.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Honesty, Truth, Men

  Theodore Roosevelt (1901). “The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses”

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• We need the iron qualities that go with true manhood. We need the positive virtues of resolution, of courage, of indomitable will, of power to do without shrinking the rough work that must always be done.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Wisdom, Courage, Work

  Theodore Roosevelt (1901). “The Works of Theodore Roosevelt: The strenuous life”

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• The men of wealth who today are trying to prevent the regulation and control of their business in the interest of the public by the proper government authorities will not succeed, in my judgment, in checking the progress of the movement. But if they did succeed they would find that they had sown the wind and would surely reap the whirlwind, for they would ultimately provoke the violent excesses which accompany a reform coming by convulsion instead of by steady and natural growth.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Business, Men, Wind

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

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