Background Image
...
If A Strong Man Has Not In Him The Lift Toward Lofty Things, His Strength Makes Him Only A Curse To Himself And His Neighbor.
-Theodore Roosevelt
...
Please Wait....
Translating....

If A Strong Man

Theodore Roosevelt
...
If A Strong Man Has Not In Him The Lift Toward Lofty Things, His Strength Makes Him Only A Curse To Himself And His Neighbor.

Understanding the Quote: "if a strong man has not in him the lift toward lofty..."

This quote by Theodore Roosevelt reflects deeply on the theme of leadership. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Leadership, Strong, Men, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Theodore Roosevelt interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt is celebrated for insightful thoughts on leadership and strong. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

Views: 4
Topic
Leadership
Strong
Men
More From Theodore Roosevelt
The Name Roosevelt Has This Legendary Force In Our Country At This Time.
Country
Time
Names
No People Is Wholly Civilized Where A Distinction Is Drawn Between Stealing An Office And Stealing A Purse.
People
Office
President
It Is, Of Course, The Merest Truism To Say A Party Is Of Use Only So Far As It Serves The Nation.
Party
Use
Politics
Life Is A Great Adventure…accept It In Such A Spirit.
Adventure
Spirit
Life Is
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.
Country
Truth
Mean
Show Me A Man Who Makes No Mistakes, And I Will Show You A Man Who Doesn't Do Things.
Mistake
Men
Show Me
All For Each, And Each For All, Is A Good Motto; But Only On Condition That Each Works With Might And Main To So Maintain Himself As Not To Be A Burden To Others.
Might
Motto
Burden
It Is True Of The Nation, As Of The Individual, That The Greatest Doer Must Also Be A Great Dreamer.
Ambition
Dreamer
Doers
The Bosses Of The Democratic Party And The Bosses Of The Republican Party Alike Have A Closer Grip Than Ever Before On The Party Machines In The States And In The Nation. This Crooked Control Of Both The Old Parties By The Beneficiaries Of Political And Business Privilege Renders It Hopeless To Expect Any Far-reaching And Fundamental Service From Either.
Party
Boss
Political
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!
War
Fighting
Men
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.
Determination
Honesty
Integrity
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.
Men
Joy
Sorrow
No Other President Ever Enjoyed The Presidency As I Did.
Presidential
President
Presidency
I Never Won Anything Without Hard Labor And The Exercise Of My Best Judgment.
Exercise
Judgment
Labor
Unrestrained Greed Means The Ruin Of The Great Woods And The Drying Up Of The Sources Of The Rivers.
Mean
Rivers
Greed
Get Action. Do Things; Be Sane; Don't Fritter Away Your Time; Create, Act, Take A Place Wherever You Are And Be Somebody; Get Action.
Action
Sane
Wherever You Are
The American People Are Slow To Wrath, But When Their Wrath Is Once Kindled It Burns Like A Consuming Flame.
Wrath
Flames
People
Because We Are Unqualifiedly And Without Reservation Against Any System Of Denominational Schools, Maintained By The Adherents Of Any Creed With The Help Of State Aid, Therefore, We As Strenuously Insist That The Public Schools Shall Be Free From Sectarian Influences, And Above All, Free From Any Attitude Of Hostility To The Adherents Of Any Particular Creed.
Attitude
School
Atheism
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.
Lakes
Race
Feet
Courage, Hard Work, Self-mastery, And Intelligent Effort Are All Essential To Successful Life.
Life
Work
Successful
You Cannot Create Prosperity By Law. Sustained Thrift, Industry, Application, Intelligence, Are The Only Things That Ever Do, Or Ever Will, Create Prosperity. But You Can Very Easily Destroy Prosperity By Law.
Law
Prosperity
Application
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.
Religious
Differences
Diversity
Some Men Can Live Up To Their Loftiest Ideals Without Ever Going Higher Than A Basement.
Men
Higher
Basements
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.
Business
Squares
People
There Can Be No Fifty-fifty Americanism In This Country. There Is Room Here For Only 100% Americanism, Only For Those Who Are Americans And Nothing Else
Country
Fifty
Rooms
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.
Country
Fate
Men
I Am Rather More Apt To Read Old Books Than New Ones.
War
Book
Old Books
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.
Men
Zealous
Want
Leave It As It Is. You Can Not Improve On It. You Can Only Mar It. The Ages Have Been At Work On It And Man Can Only Mar It. What You Can Do Is Keep It For Your Children, Your Children's Children And For All Who Come After You.
Children
Men
Age
From The Very Beginning Our People Have Markedly Combined Practical Capacity For Affairs With Power Of Devotion To An Ideal. The Lack Of Either Quality Would Have Rendered The Other Of Small Value.
People
Quality
Affair
It Is Not Only Highly Desirable But Necessary That There Should Be Legislation Which Shall Carefully Shield The Interests Of Wage-workers, And Which Shall Discriminate In Favor Of The Honest And Humane Employer By Removing The Disadvantage Under Which He Stands When Compared With Unscrupulous Competitors Who Have No Conscience And Will Do Right Only Under Fear Of Punishment.
Punishment
Favors
Shields
The Unforgivable Crime Is Soft Hitting. Do Not Hit At All If It Can Be Avoided; But Never Hit Softly.
Hitting
Unforgivable
Crime
Each One Must Do His Part If We Wish To Show That The Nation Is Worthy Of Its Good Fortune.
Wish
Fortune
Worthy
If We Seek Merely Swollen, Slothful Ease And Ignoble Peace, If We Shrink From The Hard Contests Where Men Must Win At The Hazard Of Their Lives And At The Risk Of All They Hold Dear, Then Bolder And Stronger Peoples Will Pass Us By, And Will Win For Themselves The Domination Of The World.
Life
Peace
Winning
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.
Business
Men
Wind
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.
History
Joy
Fit
All Constitutions, Those Of The States No Less Than That Of The Nation, Are Designed, And Must Be Interpreted And Administered So As To Fit Human Rights.
Rights
Constitution
Fit
In Popular Government Results Worth While Can Only Be Achieved By Men Who Combine Worthy Ideals With Practical Good Sense.
Men
History
Results
I Highly Venerate The Masonic Institution, Under The Fullest Persuasion That, When Its Principles Are Acknowledged And Its Laws And Precepts Obeyed, It Comes Nearest To The Christian Religion, In Its Moral Effects And Influence, Of Any Institution With Which I Am Acquainted.
Christian
Law
Principles
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.
Lying
Men
Doe
Far Better Is It To Dare Mighty Things, To Win Glorious Triumphs, Even Though Checkered By Failure... Than To Rank With Those Poor Spirits Who Neither Enjoy Nor Suffer Much, Because They Live In A Gray Twilight That Knows Not Victory Nor Defeat.
Love
Inspirational
Life
The Effort To Make Financial Or Political Profit Out Of The Destruction Of Character Can Only Result In Public Calamity. Gross And Reckless Assaults On Character, Whether On The Stump Or In Newspaper, Magazine, Or Book, Create A Morbid And Vicious Public Sentiment, And At The Same Time Act As A Profound Deterrent To Able Men Of Normal Sensitiveness And Tend To Prevent Them From Entering The Public Service At Any Price.
Book
Character
Men
Our Government, National And State, Must Be Freed From The Sinister Influence Or Control Of Special Interests. Exactly As The Special Interests Of Cotton And Slavery Threatened Our Political Integrity Before The Civil War, So Now The Great Special Business Interests Too Often Control And Corrupt The Men And Methods Of Government For Their Own Profit. We Must Drive The Special Interests Out Of Politics.
Integrity
War
Men
If We Put Corrupt Men In Public Office And Sneeringly Acquiesce In Their Corruptions, Then We Are Wrong Ourselves.
Men
Office
Corruption
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.
Opportunity
Men
Secret
There Is Something To Be Said For Government By A Great Aristocracy Which Has Furnished Leaders To The Nation In Peace And War For Generations; Even A Democrat Like Myself Must Admit This.
War
Government
Leader
There Are Rainy Days In Autumn And Stormy Days In Winter When The Rocking Chair In Front Of The Fire Simply Demands An Accompanying Book.
Book
Autumn
Winter
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.
Creativity
Two
People
Kings And Such Are Just As Funny As Politicians.
Kings
Government
Politician
The Welfare Of Each Of Us Is Dependent Fundamentally Upon The Welfare Of All Of Us
Oval
Welfare
Dependent
There Is A Homely Old Adage Which Runs: "speak Softly And Carry A Big Stick; You Will Go Far." If The American Nation Will Speak Softly, And Yet Build And Keep At A Pitch Of The Highest Training A Thoroughly Efficient Navy, The Monroe Doctrine Will Go Far.
Running
Patriotic
Training
The Constitution Was Made For The People And Not The People For The Constitution.
People
Constitution
Made
I Shall Ask You To Be As Quiet As Possible. I Don’t Know Whether You Fully Understand That I Have Just Been Shot — But It Takes More Than That To Kill A Bull Moose.
Badass
Bad Ass
Gentleman
Every Man Owes Some Of His Time To The Upbuilding Of The Profession To Which He Belongs.
Men
Profession
Every Man
If A Strong Man Has Not In Him The Lift Toward Lofty Things, His Strength Makes Him Only A Curse To Himself And His Neighbor.
Leadership
Strong
Men
If I Have To Choose Between Peace And Righteousness, I'll Choose Righteousness.
Righteousness
Ifs
Never Throughout History Has A Man Who Lived A Life Of Ease Left A Name Worth Remembering.
Wisdom
Memories
Struggle
It Is Time For Us Now As A Nation To Exercise The Same Reasonable Foresight In Dealing With Our Great Natural Resources That Would Be Shown By Any Prudent Man In Conserving And Widely Using The Property Which Contains The Assurance Of Well-being For Himself And His Children.
Children
Exercise
Men
Wild Flowers Should Be Enjoyed Unplucked Where They Grow.
Flower
Should
Grows
We [must] Hold The Just Balance And Set Ourselves As Resolutely Against Improper Corporate Influence On The One Hand As Against Demagogy And Mob Rule On The Other.
Hands
Balance
Mob Rule
The Greatest Historian Should Also Be A Great Moralist. It Is No Proof Of Impartiality To Treat Wickedness And Goodness On The Same Level.
History
Wickedness
Levels
The Reader, The Booklover, Must Meet His Own Needs Without Paying Too Much Attention To What His Neighbors Say Those Needs Should Be.
Needs
Attention
Too Much
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.
Country
Land
Rivers
It Is Impossible To Win The Great Prizes Of Life Without Running Risks, And The Greatest Of All Prizes Are Those Connected With The Home.
Life
Happiness
Running
I Would A Great Deal Rather Be Anything, Say Professor Of History, Than Vice President.
President
Vices
Professors
The Chief Factor In Any Man's Success Or Failure Must Be His Own Character.
Success
Character
Men
Envy Is As Evil A Thing As Arrogance.
Evil
Envy
Arrogance
Keep Your Eyes On The Stars, And Your Feet On The Ground.
Love
Dream
Stars
No Man Can Lead A Public Career Really Worth Leading, No Man Can Act With Rugged Independence In Serious Crises, Nor Strike At Great Abuses, Nor Afford To Make Powerful And Unscrupulous Foes, If He Is Himself Vulnerable In His Private Character.
Powerful
Character
Men
Be Practical As Well As Generous In Your Ideals. Keep Your Eyes On The Stars, But Remember To Keep Your Feet On The Ground.
Stars
Eye
Generous Spirit
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!'
Gratitude
Jobs
Attitude
I Am A Man Who Believes With All Fervor And Intensity In Moderate Progress. Too Often Men Who Believe In Moderation Believe In It Only Moderately And Tepidly And Leave Fervor To The Extremists Of The Two Sides - The Extremists Of Reaction And The Extremists Of Progress. Washington, Lincoln . . . Are Men Who, To My Mind, Stand As The Types Of What Wide, Progressive Leadership Should Be.
Believe
Men
Two Sides
Aggressive Fighting For The Right Is The Noblest Sport The World Affords.
Sports
Fighting
History
The Very Reason Why We Object To State Ownership, That It Puts A Stop To Individual Initiative And To The Healthy Development Of Personal Responsibility, Is The Reason Why We Object To An Unsupervised, Unchecked Monopolistic Control In Private Hands. We Urge Control And Supervision By The Nation As An Antidote To The Movement For State Socialism. Those Who Advocate Total Lack Of Regulation, Those Who Advocate Lawlessness In The Business World, Themselves Give The Strongest Impulse To What I Believe Would Be The Deadening Movement Toward Unadulterated State Socialism.
Wisdom
Believe
Responsibility
I Hate A Man Who Skins The Land.
Hate
Men
Land
What Such A Man Needs Is Not Courage But Nerve Control, Cool Headedness. This He Can Get Only By Practice.
Adversity
Men
Practice
Certain Rich Men, Whose Lives Are Evil And Corrupt, Are The Representatives Of Predatory Wealth Accumulated By All Forms Of Inequity, From The Oppression Of Wage Workers To Unfair Methods Of Crushing Out Competition.
Crush
Men
Evil
All Daring And Courage, All Iron Endurance Of Misfortune-make For A Finer, Nobler Type Of Manhood.
Iron
History
Endurance
Much Of The Usefulness Of Any Career Must Lie In The Impress That It Makes Upon, And The Lessons That It Teaches To, The Generations That Come After.
Lying
Careers
Generations
Under Government Ownership Corruption Can Flourish Just As Rankly As Under Private Ownership.
Government
Corruption
Ownership
We Can Just As Little Afford To Follow The Doctrinaires Of An Extreme Individualism As The Doctrinaires Of An Extreme Socialism.
Wisdom
Politics
Littles
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.
Men
Law
Done
If You Could Kick The Person In The Pants Responsible For Most Of Your Trouble, You Wouldn't Sit For A Month.
Inspirational
Funny
Life
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.
Loyalty
Men
People
The Woman Has The Right To Be Emancipated From The Position Of A Drudge Or A Toy. She Is Entitled To A Full Equality In Rights With Man.
Men
Rights
Toys
...to Befoul The Unholy Alliance Between Corrupt Business And Corrupt Politics Is The First Task Of The Statesmanship Of The Day.
Peace
War
Corporations
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.
Criticism
President
Unpatriotic
I Wish To Say Seriously To All The Daily Newspapers, To The Republicans, The Democrat, And Socialist Parties, That They Cannot, Month In Month Out And Year In And Year Out, Make The Kind Of Untruthful, Of Bitter Assault That They Have Made And Not Expect That Brutal, Violent Natures, Or Brutal And Violent Characters, Especially When The Brutality Is Accompanied By A Not Very Strong Mind; They Cannot Expect That Such Natures Will Be Unaffected By It.
Strong
Character
Media
It May Be True That He Travels Farthest Who Travels Alone, But The Goal Thus Reached Is Not Worth Reaching.
Goal
May
Reaching
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.
Spring
Winning
Men
The Greatest Privilege And Greatest Duty For Any Man Is To Be Happily Married, And No Other Form Of Success Or Service, For Either Man Or Woman, Can Be Wisely Accepted As A Substitute Or Alternative
Men
Alternatives
Privilege
We Wish Peace, But We Wish The Peace Of Justice, The Peace Of Righteousness. We Wish It Because We Think It Is Right And Not Because We Are Afraid.
Peace
Thinking
Justice
No People Ever Yet Benefited By Riches If Their Prosperity Corrupted Their Virtue.
People
Riches
Prosperity
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.
Boys
Games
History
The Great Man Is Always The Man Of Mighty Effort.
Men
Effort
Training
Abraham Lincoln - The Spirit Incarnate Of Those Who Won Victory In The Civil War - Was The True Representative Of This People, Not Only For His Own Generation, But For All Time, Because He Was A Man Among Men.
War
Men
People
I Have Often Thought That Unselfishness Combined In One Word More Of The Teachings Of The Bible Than Any Other In The Language.
Teaching
Language
One Word
There Are No Words That Can Tell The Hidden Spirit Of The Wilderness, That Can Reveal Its Mystery, Its Melancholy And Its Charm.
History
Presidential
Environmental
Let Us Rather Run The Risk Of Wearing Out Than Rusting Out.
Running
Work Ethic
Risk
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.
Happiness
Joy
Soul
In Foreign Affairs We Must Make Up Our Minds That Whether We Wish It Or Not, We Are A Great People And Must Play A Great Part In The World. It Is Not Open To Us To Choose Whether We Will Play That Great Part Or Not.
Play
People
Mind
There Is A Point, Of Course, Where A Man Must Take The Isolated Peak And Break With All His Associates For Clear Principle; But Until That Time Comes He Must Work, If He Would Be Of Use, With Men As They Are. As Long As The Good In Them Overbalances The Evil, Let Him Work With Them For The Best That Can Be Obtained.
Time
Men
Long
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.
Strong
Stars
Sunset
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.
Men
Evil
Good Man
Thank God For The Iron In The Blood Of Our Fathers
Father
Blood
Iron
Nothing Worth Having Was Ever Achieved Without Effort.
Moving
Moving Forward
Fitness Motivational
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.
Country
Nature
Children
We Cannot Afford Merely To Sit Down And Deplore The Evils Of City Life As Inevitable, When Cities Are Constantly Growing, Both Absolutely And Relatively. We Must Set Ourselves Vigorously About The Task Of Improving Them; And This Task Is Now Well Begun.
Cities
Evil
Tasks
90% Of The Work In This Country Is Done By People Who Don't Feel Good".
Country
People
Feel Good
The Ordinary Air Fighter Is An Extraordinary Man And The Extraordinary Air Fighter Stands As One In A Million Among His Fellows.
Men
Air
Ordinary
I Hold That In This Country There Must Be Complete Severance Of Church And State; That Public Moneys Shall Not Be Used For The Purpose Of Advancing Any Particular Creed; And Therefore That The Public Schools Shall Be Nonsectarian And No Public Moneys Appropriated For Sectarian Schools.
Country
School
Presidential
It Is Only Through Labor And Painful Effort, By Grim Energy And Resolute Courage, That We Move On To Better Things.
Inspirational
Inspiring
Moving On
Malefactors Of Great Wealth Have Arrogantly Ignored The Public Welfare.
Ignored
Wealth
Welfare
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.
Loss
Class
Government
We Can Have No '50-50' Allegiance In This Country. Either A Man Is An American And Nothing Else, Or He Is Not An American At All.
Country
Men
Allegiance
The Dreams Of Golden Glory In The Future Will Not Come True Unless, High Of Heart And Strong Of Hand, By Our Own Mighty Deeds We Make Them Come True.
Dream
Strong
Heart
Freedom From Effort In The Present Merely Means That There Has Been Effort Stored Up In The Past.
Freedom
Mean
Past
One Of The Fundamental Necessities In A Representative Government Such As Ours Is To Make Certain That The Men To Whom The People Delegate Their Power Shall Serve The People By Whom They Are Elected, And Not The Special Interests. I Believe That Every National Officer, Elected Or Appointed, Should Be Forbidden To Perform Any Service Or Receive Any Compensation, Directly Or Indirectly, From Interstate Corporations; And A Similar Provision Could Not Fail To Be Useful Within The States.
Believe
Men
People
A Great Democracy Must Be Progressive Or It Will Soon Cease To Be A Great Democracy.
Democracy
Progressive
Cease
The Man Of Great Wealth Owes A Peculiar Obligation To The State Because He Derives Special Advantages From The Mere Existence Of Government.
Men
Special
Peculiar
To Sit Home, Read One's Favorite Paper, And Scoff At The Misdeeds Of The Men Who Do Things Is Easy, But It Is Markedly Ineffective. It Is What Evil Men Count Upon The Good Men's Doing.
Home
Men
Evil
Patriotism Means To Stand By The Country. It Does Not Mean To Stand By The President.
Country
Peace
War
There Were All Kinds Of Things I Was Afraid Of At First, Ranging From Grizzly Bears To 'mean' Horses And Gun-fighters; But By Acting As If I Was Not Afraid I Gradually Ceased To Be Afraid.
Horse
Fear
Mean
Ours Is A Government Of Liberty By, Through, And Under The Law. A Great Democracy Must Be Progressive Or It Will Soon Cease To Be Great Or A Democracy.
Government
Law
History
The Lunatic Fringe In All Reform Movements.
Reform
Movement
Fringe
Power Always Brings With It Responsibility.
Responsibility
Evil
Good And Evil
The Public Must Retain Control Of The Great Waterways. It Is Essential That Any Permit To Obstruct Them For Reasons And On Conditions That Seem Good At The Moment Should Be Subject To Revision When Changed Conditions Demand.
Rafting
Essentials
Demand
A Churchless Community, A Community Where Men Have Abandoned And Scoffed At Or Ignored Their Religious Needs, Is A Community On The Rapid Downgrade.
Christian
Religious
Men
No Ability, No Strength And Force, No Power Of Intellect Or Power Of Wealth, Shall Avail Us, If We Have Not The Root Of Right Living In Us.
Roots
Wealth
Force
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.
Writing
Men
Doe
The Only Man Who Never Makes A Mistake Is The Man Who Never Does Anything.
Inspirational
Change
Positive
Character, In The Long Run, Is The Decisive Factor In The Life Of An Individual And Of Nations Alike.
Running
Perseverance
Stay Strong
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.
Men
Joy
Soul
I Have No Business To Feel Downcast Or Querulous Merely Because When So Much As Been Given Me I Have Not Had Even More.
Grieving
Given
Feels
My Position As Regards The Monied Interests Can Be Put In A Few Words. In Every Civilized Society Property Rights Must Be Carefully Safeguarded; Ordinarily And In The Great Majority Of Cases, Human Rights And Property Rights Are Fundamentally And In The Long Run, Identical; But When It Clearly Appears That There Is A Real Conflict Between Them, Human Rights Must Have The Upper Hand; For Property Belongs To Man And Not Man To Property.
Running
Real
Men
There Is Not In All America A More Dangerous Trait Than The Deification Of Mere Smartness Unaccompanied By Any Sense Of Moral Responsibility.
Responsibility
America
Moral
Let Us Speak Courteously, Deal Fairly, And Keep Ourselves Armed And Ready.
Second Amendment
Speak
Deals
I Was A Reasonably Good Student In College ... My Chief Interests Were Scientific. When I Entered College, I Was Devoted To Out-of-doors Natural History, And My Ambition Was To Be A Scientific Man Of The Audubon, Or Wilson, Or Baird, Or Coues Type-a Man Like Hart Merriam, Or Frank Chapman, Or Hornaday, To-day.
Ambition
Science
College
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.
Hard Work
Exercise
Men
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.
Honesty
Truth
Men
Appraisals Are Where You Get Together With Your Team Leader And Agree What An Outstanding Member Of The Team You Are, How Much Your Contribution Has Been Valued, What Massive Potential You Have And, In Recognition Of All This, Would You Mind Having Your Salary Halved.
Team
Leader
Mind
I Want To See You Shoot The Way You Shout.
Soldier
Want
Way
The Function Of Our Government Is To Insure To All Its Citizens, Now And Hereafter, Their Rights To Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness. If We Of This Generation Destroy The Resources From Which Our Children Would Otherwise Derive Their Livelihood, We Reduce The Capacity Of Our Land To Support A Population, And So Either Degrade The Standard Of Living Or Deprive The Coming Generations Of Their Fight To Life On This Continent.
Children
Fighting
Pursuit Of Happiness
We Must All Either Wear Out Or Rust Out, Every One Of Us. My Choice Is To Wear Out.
Adversity
Choices
Rust
The First Duty Of An American Citizen, Then, Is That He Shall Work In Politics.
Citizens
Firsts
Duty
Alike For The Nation And The Individual, The One Indispensable Requisite Is Character.
Character
Individual
Indispensable
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.
Football
Fall
World
Every Child Has Inside Him An Aching Void For Excitement And If We Don't Fill It With Something Which Is Exciting And Interesting And Good For Him, He Will Fill It With Something Which Is Exciting And Interesting And Which Isn't Good For Him.
Children
Interesting
Void
Hardness Of Heart Is A Dreadful Quality, But It Is Doubtful Whether In The Long Run It Works More Damage Than Softness Of Head.
Running
Heart
Long
The Cubists Are Entitled To The Serious Attention Of All Who Find Enjoyment In The Colored Puzzle Pictures Of The Sunday Newspapers.
Sunday
Serious
Attention
Absence And Death Are The Same - Only That In Death There Is No Suffering.
Missing You
Distance
World Suffering
Look Toward The Stars But Keep Your Feet Firmly On The Ground.
Stars
Feet
Looks
It Either Is Or Ought To Be Evident To Everyone That Business Has To Prosper Before Anyone Can Get Any Benefit From It.
Benefits
Ought
Evident
Do Something Now. If Not You, Who? If Not Here, Where? If Not Now, When?
Ifs
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.
Heart
Adventure
Joy
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.
Sports
Football
Latin
The Farther One Gets Into The Wilderness, The Greater Is The Attraction Of Its Lonely Freedom.
Lonely
Wilderness
Greater
I Do Not Believe There Was Ever A Life More Attractive Than Life On A Cattle Farm.
Believe
Attractive
Cattle
Conservation Means Development As Much As It Does Protection. A Man's Usefulness Depends Upon His Living Up To His Ideals Insofar As He Can.
Mean
Men
History
Americans Learn Only From Catastrophe And Not From Experience.
Catastrophe
The Man Who Holds That Every Human Right Is Secondary To His Profit Must Now Give Way To The Advocate Of Human Welfare.
Men
Giving
Way
My Hat Is In The Ring.
Hats
Rings
Zeal
It Was A Pleasure To Deal With A Man Of High Ideals, Who Scorned Everything Mean And Base, And Who Possessed Those Robust And Hardy Qualities Of Body And Mind, For The Lack Of Which No Merely Negative Virtue Can Ever Atone.
Mean
Men
Mind
The Biggest Corporation, Like The Humblest Private Citizen, Must Be Held To Strict Compliance With The Will Of The People As Expressed In The Fundamental Law.
Law
People
Citizens
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.
Country
Business
Men
Character Is Far More Important Than Intellect In Making A Man A Good Citizen Or Successful At His Calling- Meaning By Character Not Only Such Qualities As Honesty And Truthfulness, But Courage, Perseverance And Self-reliance.
Perseverance
Honesty
Character
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.
Thinking
Community
May
Believe You Can And You're Halfway There.
Inspirational
Motivational
Positive
To Discriminate Against A Thoroughly Upright Citizen Because He Belongs To Some Particular Church, Or Because, Like Abraham Lincoln, He Has Not Avowed His Allegiance To Any Church, Is An Outrage Against The Liberty Of Conscience, Which Is One Of The Foundations Of American Life.
Presidential
Church
Liberty
Now And Then We Hear The Wilder Voices Of The Wilderness, From Animals That In The Hours Of Darkness Do Not Fear The Neighborhood Of Man: The Coyotes Wail Like Dismal Ventriloquists, Or The Silence May Be Broken By The Snorting And Stamping Of A Deer.
Animal
Men
Voice
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.
Loss
Luxury
Heartless
We Are Face To Face With Our Destiny And We Must Meet It With A High And Resolute Courage.
Destiny
Faces
Face To Face
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.
Advice
Sides
Contradictory
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.
Responsibility
Government
America
You Can't Choose Your Potential, But You Can Choose To Fulfill It.
The Extermination Of The Buffalo Has Been A Veritable Tragedy Of The Animal World.
Animal
Tragedy
World
Now, It Is Very Necessary That We Should Not Flinch From Seeing What Is Vile And Debasing. There Is Filth On The Floor, And It Must Be Scraped Up With The Muck Rake; And There Are Times And Places Where This Service Is The Most Needed Of All The Services That Can Be Performed. But The Man Who Never Does Anything Else, Who Never Thinks Or Speaks Or Writes, Save Of His Feats With The Muck Rake, Speedily Becomes, Not A Help But One Of The Most Potent Forces For Evil.
Writing
Men
Thinking
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.
Loyalty
Past
Men
The Forces That Tend For Evil Are Great And Terrible, But The Forces Of Truth And Love And Courage And Honesty And Generosity And Sympathy Are Also Stronger Than Ever Before.
Honesty
Generosity
Evil
If There Is One Tendency Of The Day Which More Than Any Other Is Unhealthy And Undesirable, It Is The Tendency To Deify Mere "smartness," Unaccompanied By A Sense Of Moral Accountability. We Shall Never Make Our Republic What It Should Be Until As A People We Thoroughly Understand And Put In Practice The Doctrine That Success Is Abhorrent If Attained By The Sacrifice Of The Fundamental Principles Of Morality.
Sacrifice
Practice
People
In Order To Succeed We Need Leaders Of Inspired Idealism, Leaders To Whom Are Granted Great Visions, Who Dream Greatly And Strive To Make Their Dreams Come True; Who Can Kindle The People With The Fire From Their Own Burning Souls. The Leader For The Time Being, Whoever He May Be, Is But An Instrument, To Be Used Until Broken And Then To Be Cast Aside; And If He Is Worth His Salt He Will Care No More When He Is Broken Than A Soldier Cares When He Is Sent Where His Life Is Forfeit In Order That The Victory May Be Won.
Dream
Order
Fire
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.
School
Sunday
Men
It Is The People, And Not The Judges, Who Are Entitled To Say What Their Constitution Means, For The Constitution Is Theirs, It Belongs To Them And Not To Their Servants In Office—any Other Theory Is Incompatible With The Foundation Principles Of Our Government.
Mean
Government
People
Nine Tenths Of Wisdom Consists In Being Wise In Time.
Inspirational
Wise
Wisdom
Unless The Man Is Master Of His Soul All Other Kinds Of Mastery Amount To Little.
Men
Soul
Mastery
Yes, My Friend, And If You Will Steal For Me Then You Will Steal From Me.
Stealing
My Friends
Ifs
So That His Place Shall Never Be With Those Cold And Timid Souls Who Knew Neither Victory Nor Defeat.
Courage
Badass
Military
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.
Men
Land
Community
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.
Government
People
Progress
I Stand For The Square Deal. I Mean Not Merely That I Stand For Fair Play Under The Present Rules Of The Game, But That I Stand For Having Those Rules Changed So As To Work For A More Substantial Equality Of Opportunity And Of Reward For Equally Good Service.
Mean
Opportunity
Squares
Lincoln-sad, Patient, Kindly Lincoln, Who After Bearing Upon His Weary Shoulders For Four Years A Greater Burden Than That Borne By Any Other Man Of The Nineteenth Century Laid Down His Life For The People Whom Living He Had Served As Well-built Upon His Early Study Of The Bible.
Men
Years
People
The First Requisite Of A Good Citizen In This Republic Of Ours Is That He Shall Be Able And Willing To Pull His Weight; That He Shall Not Be A Mere Passenger, But Shall Do His Share In The Work That Each Generation Of Us Finds Ready To Hand; And, Furthermore, That In Doing His Work He Shall Show, Not Only The Capacity For Sturdy Self-help, But Also Self-respecting Regard For The Rights Of Others.
Rights
Self
Hands
I Wish To Preach, Not The Doctrine Of Ignoble Ease, But The Doctrine Of The Strenuous Life.
Life
Strength
Dedication
The White House Is A Bully Pulpit.
White
House
Bully
I Keep My Good Health By Having A Very Bad Temper, Kept Under Good Control.
Good Health
Temper
Bad Temper
The Leader Works In The Open And The Boss In Covert. The Leader Leads, And The Boss Drives.
Leadership
Boss
Outstanding Leaders
There Is No Room In This Country For Hyphenated Americanism. When I Refer To Hyphenated Americans, I Do Not Refer To Naturalized Americans. Some Of The Very Best Americans I Have Ever Known Were Naturalized Americans, Americans Born Abroad. But A Hyphenated American Is Not An American At All.
Country
Rooms
Born
A Man Who Has Never Gone To School May Steal From A Freight Car; But If He Has A University Education, He May Steal The Whole Railroad.
Graduation
Senior
Education
No, I'm Not A Good Shot, But I Shoot Often.
Success
Hunting
Duck Hunting
When I Say I Believe In A Square Deal I Do Not Mean To Give Every Man The Best Hand. If The Cards Do Not Come To Any Man, Or If They Do Come, And He Has Not Got The Power To Play Them, That Is His Affair. All I Mean Is That There Shall Be No Crookedness In The Dealing.
Believe
Mean
Men
Trending Author
Jerry Lewis
Amos Oz
Dianna Agron
Standing Bear
Dick Clark
George Galloway
Category
Information