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From Reading Of The People I Admired - Ranging From The Soldiers Of Valley Forge And Morgan's Riflemen To My Southern Forefathers And Kinfolk - I Felt A Great Admiration For Men Who Were Fearless And Who Could Hold Their Own In The World. And I Had A Great Desire To Be Like Them.

-Theodore Roosevelt

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From Reading Of The

Theodore Roosevelt

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From Reading Of The People I Admired - Ranging From The Soldiers Of Valley Forge And Morgan's Riflemen To My Southern Forefathers And Kinfolk - I Felt A Great Admiration For Men Who Were Fearless And Who Could Hold Their Own In The World. And I Had A Great Desire To Be Like Them.

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The Extermination Of The Buffalo Has Been A Veritable Tragedy Of The Animal World.

The Truth Is That Any Good Modern Rifle Is Good Enough. The Determining Factor Is The Man Behind The Gun.

The Old Parties Are Husks, With No Real Soul Within Either, Divided On Artificial Lines, Boss-ridden And Privilege-controlled, Each A Jumble Of Incongruous Elements, And Neither Daring To Speak Out Wisely And Fearlessly On What Should Be Said On The Vital Issues Of The Day.

It Is No Use To Preach To [children] If You Do Not Act Decently Yourself.

I Believe That The Officers, And, Especially, The Directors, Of Corporations Should Be Held Personally Responsible When Any Corporation Breaks The Law.

If We Lose The Virile, Manly Qualities, And Sink Into A Nation Of Mere Hucksters, Putting Gain Over National Honor, And Subordinating Everything To Mere Ease Of Life, Then We Shall Indeed Reach A Condition Worse Than That Of The Ancient Civilizations In The Years Of Their Decay.

Every Person Who Invests In Well-selected Real Estate In A Growing Section Of A Prosperous Community Adopts The Surest And Safest Method Of Becoming Independent, For Real Estate Is The Basis Of Wealth.

The Wild Life Of Today Is Not Ours To Do With As We Please. The Original Stock Was Given To Us In Trust For The Benefit Both Of The Present And The Future. We Must Render An Accounting Of This Trust To Those Who Come After Us.

When You Are Asked If You Can Do A Job, Tell 'em, 'certainly I Can!' Then Get Busy And Find Out How To Do It.

With Self-discipline, All Things Are Possible

Formal Education

The Human Body Has Two Ends On It: One To Create With And One To Sit On. Sometimes People Get Their Ends Reversed. When This Happens They Need A Kick In The Seat Of The Pants.

Property Belongs To Man And Not Man To Property.

Comparison With Something That Is Better Is The Thief Of Joy. Comparison With Something That Is Worse Is A Joy - Full Of Relief And Gratitude! You Cannot Always Choose What Happens To You Or Your Circumstances But You Can Always Choose Your Attitude By What You Choose To Compare Your Experiences Or Circumstances To And Therefore How You Will Feel!! We Can Make Any Experience Either A Heaven Or A Hell By What We Compare It To. Our Emotions Are 'an Inside Job!'

When We Control Business In The Public Interest We Are Also Bound To Encourage It In The Public Interest Or It Will Be A Bad Thing For Everybody And Worst Of All For Those On Whose Behalf The Control Is Nominally Exercised.

I Believe That This Republic Will Endure For Many Centuries. If So There Will Doubtless Be Among Its Presidents Protestants And Catholics, And Very Probably At Some Time, Jews. I Have Consistently Tried While President To Act In Relation To My Fellow Americans Of Catholic Faith As I Hope That Any Future President Who Happens To Be Catholic Will Act Towards His Fellow Americans Of Protestant Faith. Had I Followed Any Other Course I Should Have Felt That I Was Unfit To Represent The American People.

Much Has Been Given Us, And Much Will Rightfully Be Expected From Us. We Have Duties To Others And Duties To Ourselves; And We Can Shrink Neither.

Just As Lincoln Got Contradictory Advice From The Extremists Of Both Sides . . . So Now I Have To Guard Myself Against The Extremists Of Both Sides.

We Here In America, Hold In Our Hands The Hope Of The World, The Fate Of The Coming Years; And Shame And Disgrace Will Be Ours If In Our Eyes The Light Of High Resolve Is Dimmed, If We Trail In The Dust The Golden Hopes Of Men.

Men Can Never Escape Being Governed. Either They Must Govern Themselves Or They Must Submit To Being Governed By Others.

A Vote Is Like A Rifle; Its Usefulness Depends Upon The Character Of The User.

The One Being Abhorrent To The Powers Above The Earth And Under Them Is The Hyphenated American

Oh, If Only I Could Be President And Congress, Too, Just For Ten Minutes.

A Man Must First Care For His Own Household Before He Can Be Of Use To The State. But No Matter How Well He Cares For His Household, He Is Not A Good Citizen Unless He Also Takes Thought Of The State. In The Same Way, A Great Nation Must Think Of Its Own Internal Affairs; And Yet It Cannot Substantiate Its Claim To Be A Great Nation Unless It Also Thinks Of Its Position In The World At Large.

The One Quality Which Sets One Man Apart From Another- The Key Which Lifts One To Every Aspiration While Others Are Caught Up In The Mire Of Mediocrity- Is Not Talent, Formal Education, Nor Intellectual Brightness - It Is Self-discipline. With Self-discipline All Things Are Possible. Without It, Even The Simplest Goal Can Seem Like The Impossible Dream.

Old Age Is Like Everything Else. To Make A Success Of It, You've Got To Start Young.

Congratulations

Constructive Change Offers The Best Method For Avoiding Destructive Change.

I Must Be Wanting To Be President. Every Young Man Does. But I Won't Let Myself Think Of It; I Must Not, Because If I Do, I Will Begin To Work For It; I'll Be Careful, Calculating, Cautious In Word And Act, And So - I'll Beat Myself.

Great Thoughts Speak Only To The Thoughtful Mind, But Great Actions Speak To All Mankind.

Although Not A Very Old Man, I Have Yet Lived A Great Deal In My Life, And I Have Known Sorrow Too Bitter And Joy Too Keen To Allow Me To Become Either Cast Down Or Elated For More Than A Very Brief Period Over Any Success Or Defeat.

No Man Should Receive A Dollar Unless That Dollar Has Been Fairly Earned.

Progressive Taxation

Don't Limit Your Challenges - Challenge Your Limits. Don't Spread Patriotism Too Thin.

And It Is Through Strife And The Readiness For Strife That A Man Or A Nation Must Win Greatness. So, Let The World Know That We Are Here And Willing To Pour Out Our Blood, Our Treasure, Our Tears. And That America Is Ready And If Need Be Desirous Of Battle

There Are Good Men And Bad Men Of All Nationalities, Creeds And Colors; And If This World Of Ours Is Ever To Become What We Hope Some Day It May Become, It Must Be By The General Recognition That The Man's Heart And Soul, The Man's Worth And Actions, Determine His Standing.

If There Is Not The War, You Don't Get The Great General; If There Is Not A Great Occasion, You Don't Get A Great Statesman; If Lincoln Had Lived In A Time Of Peace, No One Would Have Known His Name.

I Always Believe In Going Hard At Everything, Whether It Is Latin Or Mathematics, Boxing Or Football, But At The Same Time I Want To Keep The Sense Of Proportion. It Is Never Worth While To Absolutely Exhaust One's Self Or To Take Big Chances Unless For An Adequate Object. I Want You To Keep In Training The Faculties Which Would Make You, If The Need Arose, Able To Put Your Last Ounce Of Pluck And Strength Into A Contest. But I Do Not Want You To Squander These Qualities.

A Nation That Still Needs To Distinguish Between Stealing An Election, And Stealing A New Pair Of Shoes, Is Not Completely Civilized Yet.

No Ordinary Work Done By A Man Is Either As Hard Or As Responsible As The Work Of A Woman Who Is Bringing Up A Family Of Small Children; For Upon Her Time And Strength Demands Are Made Not Only Every Hour Of The Day But Often Every Hour Of The Night.

The Labor Unions Shall Have A Square Deal, And The Corporations Shall Have A Square Deal, And In Addition, All Private Citizens Shall Have A Square Deal.

It Is No Limitation Upon Property Rights Or Freedom Of Contract To Require That When Men Receive From Government The Privilege Of Doing Business Under Corporate Form... They Shall Do So Under Absolutely Truthful Representations... Great Corporations Exist Only Because They Were Created And Safeguarded By Our Institutions; And It Is Therefore Our Right And Duty To See That They Work In Harmony With These Institutions.

From The Greatest To The Smallest, Happiness And Usefulness Are Largely Found In The Same Soul, And The Joy Of Life Is Won In Its Deepest And Truest Sense Only By Those Who Have Not Shirked Life's Burdens.

The Name Roosevelt Has This Legendary Force In Our Country At This Time.

Unjust War Is To Be Abhorred; But Woe To The Nation That Does Not Make Ready To Hold Its Own In Time Of Need Against All Who Would Harm It! And Woe Thrice Over To The Nation In Which The Average Man Loses The Fighting Edge, Loses The Power To Serve As A Soldier If The Day Of Need Should Arise!

The Chief Factor In Any Man's Success Or Failure Must Be His Own Character.

The Credit Belongs To The Man Who Is Actually In The Arena; Whose Face Is Marred With Dust And Sweat; Who Strives Valiantly; Who Errs And May Fall Again And Again, Because There Is No Effort Without Error Or Shortcoming.

To Hell With The Constitution When People Want Coal!

We Want The Active And Zealous Help Of Every Man Far-sighted Enough To Realize The Importance From The Standpoint Of The Nation's Welfare In The Future Of Preserving The Forests.

I Do Not Intend That Our Natural Resources Shall Be Exploited By The Few Against The Interests Of The Many.

A Healthy-minded Boy Should Feel Hearty Contempt For The Coward And Even More Hearty Indignation For The Boy Who Bullies Girls Or Small Boys, Or Tortures Animals.

The Reader, The Booklover, Must Meet His Own Needs Without Paying Too Much Attention To What His Neighbors Say Those Needs Should Be.

I Do Not Believe There Was Ever A Life More Attractive Than Life On A Cattle Farm.

It Is A Wicked Thing To Be Neutral Between Right And Wrong.

Great Corporations Exist Only Because They Are Created And Safeguarded By Our Institutions; And It Is Therefore Our Right And Duty To See That They Work In Harmony With These Institutions.

While President, I Have Been President - Emphatically.

The Poorest Way To Face Life Is To Face It With A Sneer.

Germany Has Reduced Savagery To A Science, And This Great War For The Victorious Peace Of Justice Must Go On Until The German Cancer Is Cut Clean Out Of The World Body.

If You Could Kick The Person In The Pants Responsible For Most Of Your Trouble, You Wouldn't Sit For A Month.

Alike For The Nation And The Individual, The One Indispensable Requisite Is Character.

The Chase Is Among The Best Of All National Pastimes; It Cultivates That Vigorous Manliness For The Lack Of Which In A Nation, As In An Individual, The Possession Of No Other Qualities Can Possibly Atone.

I Enter A Most Earnest Plea That In Our Hurried And Rather Bustling Life Of Today We Do Not Lose The Hold That Our Forefathers Had On The Bible.

Let Individuals Contribute As They Desire; But Let Us Prohibit In Effective Fashion All Corporations From Making Contributions For Any Political Purpose, Directly Or Indirectly.

What Such A Man Needs Is Not Courage But Nerve Control, Cool Headedness. This He Can Get Only By Practice.

Believe You Can Do It And You Are Halfway There

Far And Away The Best Prize That Life Has To Offer Is The Chance To Work Hard At Work Worth Doing.

In Popular Government Results Worth While Can Only Be Achieved By Men Who Combine Worthy Ideals With Practical Good Sense.

It Is Not The Critic Who Counts

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.

Don't Hit At All If It Is Honorably Possible To Avoid Hitting; But Never Hit Soft.

Thorough Knowledge

The Nation Behaves Well If It Treats The Natural Resources As Assets Which It Must Turn Over To The Next Generation Increased; And Not Impaired In Value.

I Wish To Preach, Not The Doctrine Of Ignoble Ease, But The Doctrine Of The Strenuous Life.

Each One Must Do His Part If We Wish To Show That The Nation Is Worthy Of Its Good Fortune.

We Shall Make Mistakes; And If We Let These Mistakes Frighten Us From Our Work We Shall Show Ourselves Weaklings.

Making Mistakes

There Is Not In All America A More Dangerous Trait Than The Deification Of Mere Smartness Unaccompanied By Any Sense Of Moral Responsibility.

There Can Be No Effective Control Of Corporations While Their Political Activity Remains. To Put An End To It Will Be Neither A Short Nor An Easy Task, But It Can Be Done ... Corporate Expenditures For Political Purposes, And Especially Such Expenditures By Public-service Corporations, Have Supplied One Of The Principal Sources Of Corruption In Our Political Affairs.

There Are No Words That Can Tell The Hidden Spirit Of The Wilderness, That Can Reveal Its Mystery, Its Melancholy And Its Charm. There Is A Delight In The Hardy Life Of The Open... Apart From This, Yet Mingled With It, Is The Strong Attraction Of The Silent Places, Of The Large Tropic Moons, And The Splendor Of The New Stars; Where The Wanderer Sees The Awful Glory Of Sunrise And Sunset In The Wide Waste Spaces Of The Earth, Unworn Of Man, And Changed Only By The Slow Change Of The Ages Through Time Everlasting.

The Welfare Of Each Of Us Is Dependent Fundamentally Upon The Welfare Of All Of Us

To Permit Every Lawless Capitalist, Every Law-defying Corporation, To Take Any Action, No Matter How Iniquitous, In The Effort To Secure An Improper Profit And To Build Up Privilege, Would Be Ruinous To The Republic And Would Mark The Abandonment Of The Effort To Secure In The Industrial World The Spirit Of Democratic Fair Dealing.

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The Country's Honor Must Be Upheld At Home And Abroad.

It Is Of Little Use For Us To Pay Lip-loyalty To The Mighty Men Of The Past Unless We Sincerely Endeavor To Apply To The Problems Of The Present Precisely The Qualities Which In Other Crises Enabled The Men Of That Day To Meet Those Crises.

The Man Who Does Not Think It Was America's Duty To Fight For Her Own Sake In View Of The Infamous Conduct Of Germany Toward Us Stands On A Level With A Man Who Wouldn't Think It Necessary To Fight In A Private Quarrel Because His Wife's Face Was Slapped.

Every Man Holds His Property Subject To The General Right Of The Community To Regulate Its Use To Whatever Degree The Public Welfare May Require It.

Americanism Is A Question Of Spirit, Of Conviction And Purpose, Not Creed Or Birthplaces. The Test Of Our Worth Is The Service We Render.

With A Great Moral Issue Involved, Neutrality Does Not Serve Righteousness; For To Be Neutral Between Right And Wrong Is To Serve Wrong.

The Best Lesson That Any People Can Learn Is That There Is No Patent Cure-all Which Will Make The Body Politic Perfect, And That Any Man Who Is Able Glibly To Answer Every Question As To How To Deal With The Evils Of The Body Politic Is At Best A Foolish Visionary And At Worst An Evil-minded Quack.

The Foes From Whom We Pray To Be Delivered Are Our Own Passions, Appetites, And Follies; And Against These There Is Always Need That We Should War.

It Behooves Every Man To Remember That The Work Of The Critic Is Of Altogether Secondary Importance, And That, In The End, Progress Is Accomplished By The Man Who Does Things.

Obedience Of The Law Is Demanded; Not Asked As A Favor.

I Don't Pity Any Man Who Does Hard Work Worth Doing. I Admire Him. I Pity The Creature Who Does Not Work, At Whichever End Of The Social Scale He May Regard Himself As Being.

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.

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.

Any Man Who Tries To Excite Class Hatred, Sectional Hate, Hate Of Creeds, Any Kind Of Hatred In Our Community, Though He May Affect To Do It In The Interest Of The Class He Is Addressing, Is In The Long Run With Absolute Certainly That Class's Own Worst Enemy.

No President Has Ever Enjoyed Himself As Much As I?

Councils Of War Never Fight.

Americanism Is A Question Of Principle, Of Idealism, Of Character. It Is Not A Matter Of Birthplace, Or Creed, Or Line Of Descent.

The Men And Women Who Have The Right Ideals . . . Are Those Who Have The Courage To Strive For The Happiness Which Comes Only With Labor And Effort And Self-sacrifice, And Those Whose Joy In Life Springs In Part From Power Of Work And Sense Of Duty.

There Is A Delight In The Hardy Life Of The Open. There Are No Words That Can Tell The Hidden Spirit Of The Wilderness, That Can Reveal Its Mystery, Its Melancholy And Its Charm. The Nation Behaves Well If It Treats The Natural Resources As Assets Which It Must Turn Over To The Next Generation Increased; And Not Impaired In Value. Conservation Means Development As Much As It Does Protection.

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. Therefore It Behooves Us To Do Our Best To See That The Standard Of The Average Citizen Is Kept High; And The Average Cannot Be Kept High Unless The Standard Of The Leaders Is Very Much Higher.

Avoid The Base Hypocrisy Of Condemning In One Man What You Pass Over In Silence When Committed By Another.

Yes, Haven, Most Of Us Enjoy Preaching, And Ive Got Such A Bully Pulpit!

The Man Who Really Counts In The World Is The Doer, Not The Mere Critic -- The Man Who Actually Does The Work, Even If Roughly And Imperfectly, Not The Man Who Only Talks Or Writes About How It Ought To Be Done.

The Cubists Are Entitled To The Serious Attention Of All Who Find Enjoyment In The Colored Puzzle Pictures Of The Sunday Newspapers.

We Demand That Big Business Give The People A Square Deal; In Return We Must Insist That When Any One Engaged In Big Business Honestly Endeavors To Do Right He Shall Himself Be Given A Square Deal.

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.

There Is No Patent Recipe For Getting Good Citizenship. You Get It By Applying The Old, Old Rules Of Decent Conduct, The Rules In Accordance With Which Decent Men Have Had To Shape Their Lives From The Beginning .. Fundamental Precepts, Put Forth In The Bible And Embodied Consciously Or Unconsciously In The Code Of Morals Of Every Great And Successful Nation From Antiquity To Modern Times.

It Is Both Foolish And Wicked To Teach The Average Man Who Is Not Well Off That Some Wrong Or Injustice Has Been Done Him, And That He Should Hope For Redress Elsewhere Than In His Own Industry, Honesty, And Intelligence.

It Is A Bad Thing For A Nation To Raise And To Admire A False Standard Of Success; And There Can Be No Falser Standard Than That Set By The Deification Of Material Well-being In And For Itself.

In A Civilized And Cultivated Country Wild Animals Only Continue To Exist At All When Preserved By Sportsmen. The Excellent People Who Protest Against All Hunting, And Consider Sportsmen As Enemies Of Wild Life, Are Ignorant Of The Fact That In Reality The Genuine Sportsman Is By All Odds The Most Important Factor In Keeping The Larger And More Valuable Wild Creatures From Total Extermination.

There Is No Reason Why People Should Not Call Themselves Cubists, Or Octagonists, Or Parallelopipedonists, Orknights Oftheisoscelestriangle, Or Brothers Of The Cosine, If They So Desire; As Expressing Anything Serious And Permanent, One Term Is As Fatuous As Another.

The One Characteristic More Essential Than Any Other Is Foresight... It Should Be The Growing Nation With A Future Which Takes The Long Look Ahead.

No People Ever Yet Benefited By Riches If Their Prosperity Corrupted Their Virtue.

When Liberty Becomes License, Some Form Of One-man Power Is Not Far Distant.

Every Reform Movement Has A Lunatic Fringe.

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.

No Nation Can Be Really Great Unless It Is Great In Peace, In Industry, Integrity, Honesty. Skilled Intelligence In Civic Affairs And Industrial Enterprises Alike; The Special Ability Of The Artist, The Man Of Letters, The Man Of Science, And The Man Of Business; The Rigid Determination To Wrong No Man, And To Stand For Righteousness-all These Are Necessary In A Great Nation.

All That The Law Can Do Is To Shape Things So That No Injustice Shall Be Done By One To The Other, And That Each Man Shall Be Given The First Chance To Show The Stuff That Is In Him.

We Must Diligently Strive To Make Our Young Men Decent, God-fearing, Law-abiding, Honor-loving, Justice-doing And Also Fearless And Strong.

It Is Not What We Have That Will Make Us A Great Nation; It Is The Way In Which We Use It.

Use It Or Lose It

I Do Not Believe That Any Man Can Adequately Appreciate The World Of To-day Unless He Has Some Knowledge Of -- A Little More Than A Slight Knowledge, Some Feeling For And Of -- The History Of The World Of The Past.

The Lives Of Truest Heroism Are Those In Which There Are No Great Deeds To Look Back Upon. It Is The Little Things Well Done That Go To Make Up A Truly Successful And Good Life.

I Do Not Dislike But I Certainly Have No Especial Respect Or Admiration For And No Trust In, The Typical Big Moneyed Men Of My Country. I Do Not Regard Them As Furnishing Sound Opinion As Respects Either Foreign Or Domestic Business.

The Fortunes Amassed Through Corporate Organization Are Now So Large, And Vest Such Power In Those That Wield Them, As To Make It A Matter Of Necessity To Give To The Sovereign - That Is, To The Government, Which Represents The People As A Whole - Some Effective Power Of Supervision Over Their Corporate Use. In Order To Insure A Healthy Social And Industrial Life, Every Big Corporation Should Be Held Responsible By, And Be Accountable To, Some Sovereign Strong Enough To Control Its Conduct.

When The Time Of Danger Comes, All Americans, Whatever Their Social Standing, Whatever Their Creed, Whatever The Training They Have Received, No Matter From What Section Of The Country They Have Come, Stand Together As Men, As Americans, And Are Content To Face The Same Fate And Do The Same Duties Because Fundamentally They All Alike Have The Common Purpose To Serve The Glorious Flag Of Their Common Country.

I Wish To Preach Not The Doctrine Of Ignoble Ease But The Doctrine Of The Strenuous Life; The Life Of Toil And Effort; Of Labour And Strife; To Preach That Highest Form Of Success Which Comes Not To The Man Who Desires Mere Easy Peace But To The Man Who Does Not Shrink From Danger, From Hardship, Or From Bitter Toil, And Who Out Of These Wins The Splendid Ultimate Triumph. A Life Of Ignoble Ease, A Life Of That Peace Which Springs Merely From Lack Either Of Desire Or Of Power To Strive After Great Things, Is As Little Worthy Of A Nation As Of An Individual.

The Object Of Government Is The Welfare Of The People. The Material Progress And Prosperity Of A Nation Are Desirable Chiefly So Far As They Lead To The Moral And Material Welfare Of All Good Citizens.

The General Tendency Towards An Eight-hour Working Day Has Undoubtedly Been Healthful, And It Is Wise For The State To Set A Good Example As An Employer Of Labor, Both As To The Number Of Hours Of Labor Exacted And As To Paying A Just And Reasonable Wage.

It Is Not The Critic Who Counts...the Credit Belongs To The Man Who Is Actually In The Arena.

Toward All Other Nations, Large And Small, Our Attitude Must Be One Of Cordial And Sincere Friendship. We Must Show Not Only In Our Words, But In Our Deeds, That We Are Earnestly Desirous Of Securing Their Good Will By Acting Toward Them In A Spirit Of Just And Generous Recognition Of All Their Rights.

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.

The Wildlife And Its Habitat Cannot Speak, So We Must And We Will.

It May Be True That He Travels Farthest Who Travels Alone, But The Goal Thus Reached Is Not Worth Reaching.

There Are Two Things That I Want You To Make Up Your Minds To: First, That You Are Going To Have A Good Time As Long As You Live - I Have No Use For The Sour-faced Man - And Next, That You Are Going To Do Something Worthwhile, That You Are Going To Work Hard And Do The Things You Set Out To Do.

Those Who Oppose All Reform Will Do Well To Remember That Ruin In Its Worst Form Is Inevitable If Our National Life Brings Us Nothing Better Than Swollen Fortunes For The Few And The Triumph In Both Politics And Business Of A Sordid And Selfish Materialism.

Over-sentimentality, Over-softness, In Fact Washiness And Mushiness Are The Great Dangers Of This Age And Of This People. Unless We Keep The Barbarian Virtues, Gaining The Civilized Ones Will Be Of Little Avail.

If There Ever Was A Pursuit Which Stultified Itself By Its Very Conditions, It Is The Pursuit Of Pleasure As The All-sufficing End Of Life. Happiness Cannot Come To Any Man Capable Of Enjoying True Happiness Unless It Comes As The Sequel To Duty Well And Honestly Done. To Do That Duty You Need To Have More Than One Trait. From The Greatest To The Smallest, Happiness And Usefulness Are Largely Found In The Same Soul, And The Joy Of Life Is Won In Its Deepest And Truest Sense Only By Those Who Have Not Shirked Life's Burdens.

Fertile Plains, Every Foot Of Them Tilled, Are Of The First Necessity; But Great Natural Playgrounds Of Mountain, Forest, Cliff-walled Lake, And Brawling Brook Are Also Necessary To The Full And Many-sided Development Of A Fine Race.

No Greater Wrong Can Ever Be Done Than To Put A Good Man At The Mercy Of A Bad, While Telling Him Not To Defend Himself Or His Fellows; In No Way Can The Success Of Evil Be Made Surer Or Quicker.

We Are Consuming Our Forests Three Times Faster Than They Are Being Reproduced. Some Of The Richest Timber Lands Of This Continent Have Already Been Destroyed, And Not Replaced, And Other Vast Areas Are On The Verge Of Destruction. Yet Forests, Unlike Mines, Can Be So Handled As To Yield The Best Results Of Use, Without Exhaustion, Just Like Grain Fields.

The Constitution Was Made For The People And Not The People For The Constitution.

To Announce There Must Be No Criticism Of The President Or That We Are To Stand With The President, Right Or Wrong, Is Not Only Unpatriotic And Servile, But Is Morally Treasonable To The American Public.

Where A Trust Becomes A Monopoly The State Has An Immediate Right To Interfere.

Unrestrained Greed Means The Ruin Of The Great Woods And The Drying Up Of The Sources Of The Rivers.

I Am Only An Average Man But, By George, I Work Harder At It Than The Average Man.

The First Duty Of An American Citizen, Then, Is That He Shall Work In Politics.

The Reason Fat Men Are Good Natured Is They Can Neither Fight Nor Run.

There Is Need Of A Sound Body, And Even More Need Of A Sound Mind. But Above Mind And Above Body Stands Character-the Sum Of Those Qualities Which We Mean When We Speak Of A Man's Force And Courage, Of His Good Faith And Sense Of Honor.

We Have A Right To Expect That The Best Trained, The Best Educated Men On The Pacific Slope, The Rocky Mountains, And Great Plains States Will Take The Lead In The Preservation And Right Use Of Forests, In Securing The Right Use Of Waters, And In Seeing That Our Land Policy Is Not Twisted From Its Original Purpose, But Is Perpetuated By Amendment, By Change When Such Change Is Necessary In The Life Of That Purpose, The Purpose Being To Turn The Public Domain Into Farms Each To Be The Property Of The Man Who Actually Tills It And Makes His Home In It.

You, The Sons Of The Pioneers, If You Are True To Your Ancestry, Must Make Your Lives As Worthy As They Made Theirs. They Sought For True Success, And Therefore They Did Not Seek Ease. They Knew That Success Comes Only To Those Who Lead The Life Of Endeavor

I Believe That The Next Half Century Will Determine If We Will Advance The Cause Of Christian Civilization Or Revert To The Horrors Of Brutal Paganism.

It Is Difficult To Make Our Material Condition Better By The Best Law, But It Is Easy Enough To Ruin It By Bad Laws.

Perhaps There Is No More Important Component Of Character Than Steadfast Resolution.

It Is Well Indeed For Out Land That We Of This Generation Have Learned To Think Nationally.

A Finer Body Of Men Has Never Been Gathered By Any Nation Than The Men Who Have Done The Work Of Building The Panama Canal; The Conditions Under Which They Have Lived And Have Done Their Work Have Been Better Than In Any Similar Work Ever Undertaken In The Tropics; They Have All Felt An Eager Pride In Their Work; And They Have Made Not Only America But The Whole World Their Debtors By What They Have Accomplished.

To The Second End, We Hold That Minimum Wage Commissions Should Be Established In The Nation And In Each State To Inquire Into Wages Paid In Various Industries And To Determine The Standard Which The Public Ought To Sanction As A Minimum; And We Believe That, As A Present Installment Of What We Hope For In The Future, There Should Be At Once Established In The Nation And Its Several States Minimum Standards For The Wages Of Women, Taking The Present Massachusetts Law As A Basis From Which To Start And On Which To Improve.

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.

If A Man Continually Blusters, If He Lacks Civility, A Big Stick Will Not Save Him From Trouble, And Neither Will Speaking Softly Avail, If Back Of The Softness There Does Not Lie Strength, Power.

I Am Delighted To Have You Play Football. I Believe In Rough, Manly Sports. But I Do Not Believe In Them If They Degenerate Into The Sole End Of Any One's Existence. I Don't Want You To Sacrifice Standing Well In Your Studies To Any Over-athleticism; And I Need Not Tell You That Character Counts For A Great Deal More Than Either Intellect Or Body In Winning Success In Life. Athletic Proficiency Is A Mighty Good Servant, And Like So Many Other Good Servants, A Mighty Bad Master.

Order Without Liberty And Liberty Without Order Are Equally Destructive.

A Churchless Community, A Community Where Men Have Abandoned And Scoffed At Or Ignored Their Religious Needs, Is A Community On The Rapid Downgrade.

All Privileges Based On Wealth, And All Emnity To Honest Men Merely Because They Are Wealthy, Are Un-american.

To Borrow A Simile From The Football Field, We Believe That Men Must Play Fair, But That There Must Be No Shirking, And That The Success Can Only Come To The Player Who Hits The Line Hard.

This Country Will Not Be A Good Place For Any Of Us To Live In Unless We Make It A Good Place For All Of Us To Live In.

In Doing Your Work In The Great World, It Is A Safe Plan To Follow A Rule I Once Heard On The Football Field: Don't Flinch, Don't Fall; Hit The Line Hard.

I Do. That Is Character!

The Wolf Is The Arch Type Of Ravin, The Beast Of Waste And Desolation.

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.

Most Of Us Tiptoe Through Life In Order To Make It Safely To Death.

The One Thing I Want To Leave My Children Is An Honorable Name.

Rough Board Shelves Hold A Number Of Books, Without Which Some Of The Evenings Would Be Long Indeed.

Whatever It Is, Handle It So That Your Children's Children Will Get The Benefit Of It.

In The History Of Mankind Many Republics Have Risen, Have Flourished For A Less Or Greater Time, And Then Have Fallen Because Their Citizens Lost The Power Of Governing Themselves And Thereby Of Governing Their State; And In No Way Has This Loss Of Power Been So Often And So Clearly Shown As In The Tendency To Turn The Government Into A Government Primarily For The Benefit Of One Class Instead Of A Government For The Benefit Of The People As A Whole.

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.

The Good Citizen Will Demand Liberty For Himself, And As A Matter Of Pride He Will See To It That Others Receive The Liberty Which He Thus Claims As His Own. Probably The Best Test Of True Love Of Liberty In Any Country Is The Way In Which Minorities Are Treated In That Country. Not Only Should There Be Complete Liberty In Matters Of Religion And Opinion, But Complete Liberty For Each Man To Lead His Life As He Desires, Provided Only That In So Doing He Does Not Wrong His Neighbor.

Work Hard At Work Worth Doing.

This Broken Country Extends Back From The River For Many Miles And Has Been Called Always Be Indian, French Voyager And American Trappers Alike, The Bad Lands.

All Daring And Courage, All Iron Endurance Of Misfortune-make For A Finer, Nobler Type Of Manhood.

There Is No Moral Difference Between Gambling At Cards Or In Lotteries Or On The Race Track And Gambling In The Stock Market. One Method Is Just Pernicious To The Body Politic As The Other Kind.

Society Has No Business To Permit Degenerates To Reproduce Their Kind

I Always Keep My Weather Eye On The Opposition Of My Seventh House Moon To My First House Mars.

Do Not Get Into A Fight If You Can Possibly Avoid It. If You Get In, See It Through. Don't Hit If It Is Honorably Possible To Avoid Hitting, But Never Hit Soft. Don't Hit At All If You Can Help It; Don't Hit A Man If You Can Possibly Avoid It; But If You Do Hit Him, Put Him To Sleep.

The Farmer Is A Poor Creature Who Skins The Land And Leaves It Worthless To His Children. The Farmer Is A Good Farmer Who, Having Enabled The Land To Support Himself And To Provide For The Education Of His Children, Leaves It To Them A Little Better Than He Found It Himself.

I'm As Strong As A Bull Moose And You Can Use Me To The Limit.

A Man Who Is Good Enough To Shed His Blood For The Country Is Good Enough To Be Given A Square Deal Afterwards.

Freedom Means The Supremacy Of Human Rights Everywhere.

I Am Far From Underestimating The Importance Of Dividends, But I Rank Dividends Below Human Character.

No Man Can Be A Good Citizen Unless He Has A Wage More Than Sufficient To Cover The Bare Cost Of Living, And Hours Of Labor Short Enough So After His Day's Work Is Done He Will Have Time And Energy To Bear His Share In The Management Of The Community, To Help In Carrying The General Load.

We Do Not Admire The Man Of Timid Peace. We Admire The Man Who Embodies Victorious Effort; The Man Who Never Wrongs His Neighbor, Who Is Prompt To Help A Friend, But Who Has Those Virile Qualities Necessary To Win In The Stern Strife Of Actual Life.

The Supreme Duty Of The Nation Is The Conservation Of Human Resources Through An Enlightened Measure Of Social And Industrial Justice. We Pledge Ourselves To Work Unceasingly In State And Nation For ... The Protection Of Home Life Against The Hazards Of Sickness, Irregular Employment And Old Age Through The Adoption Of A System Of Social Insurance Adapted To American Use.

Each Child Represents Either A Potential Addition To The Protective Capacity And Enlightened Citizenship Of The Nation Or, If Allowed To Suffer From Neglect, A Potential Addition To The Destructive Forces Of A Community. . . . The Interests Of The Nation Are Involved In The Welfare Of This Array Of Children No Less Than In Our Great Material Affairs.

Materially We Must Strive To Secure A Broader Economic Opportunity For All Men, So That Each Shall Have A Better Chance To Show The Stuff Of Which He Is Made.

The American People Are Slow To Wrath, But When Their Wrath Is Once Kindled It Burns Like A Consuming Flame.

In Other Words, Character Is Far More Important Than Intellect To The Race As To The Individual. We Need Intellect, And There Is No Reason Why We Should Not Have It Together With Character; But If We Must Choose Between The Two We Choose Character Without A Moment's Hesitation.

The Most Successful Politician Is He Who Says What The People Are Thinking Most Often In The Loudest Voice.

Such An Experiment Without Actual Conditions Of War To Support It Is A Foolish Waste Of Time. . . . I Once Saw A Man Kill A Lion With A 30-30 Caliber Rifle Under Certain Conditions, But That Doesn't Mean That A 30-30 Rifle Is A Lion Gun.

A People Without Children Would Face A Hopeless Future; A Country Without Trees Is Almost As Helpless; Forests Which Are So Used That They Cannot Renew Themselves Will Soon Vanish, And With Them All Their Benefits. A True Forest Is Not Merely A Storehouse Full Of Wood, But, As It Were, A Factory Of Wood And At The Same Time A Reservoir Of Water. When You Help To Preserve Our Forests Or Plant New Ones You Are Acting The Part Of Good Citizens.

...to Befoul The Unholy Alliance Between Corrupt Business And Corrupt Politics Is The First Task Of The Statesmanship Of The Day.

I Wish To See The Bible Study As Much A Matter Of Course In The Secular Colleges As In The Seminary.

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!

Nothing Should Be Permitted To Stand In The Way Of The Preservation Of The Forests, And It Is Criminal To Permit Individuals To Purchase A Little Gain For Themselves Through The Destruction Of Forests When This Destruction Is Fatal To The Well-being Of The Whole Country In The Future.

I Want To See You Game, Boys, I Want To See You Brave And Manly, And I Also Want To See You Gentle And Tender.

A Leader Is An Average, Everyday Person Who Is Highly Motivated.

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