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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.

-Theodore Roosevelt

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If There Is One

Theodore Roosevelt

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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.

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The Only Trouble With The Movement For The Preservation Of Our Forests Is That It Has Not Gone Nearly Far Enough, And Was Not Begun Soon Enough.

The Armenian Massacre Was The Greatest Crime Of The War.

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

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

A Party Should Not Contain Utterly Incongruous Elements, Radically Divided On The Real Issues, And Acting Together Only On False And Dead Issues Insincerely Painted As Real And Vital. It Should Not In The Several States As Well As In The Nation Be Prostituted To The Service Of The Baser Type Of Political Boss. It Should Be So Composed That There Should Be A Reasonable Agreement In The Actions Taken By It Both In The Nation And In The Several States. Judged By These Standards, Both Of The Old Parties Break Down.

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

Thorough Knowledge

Character, In The Long Run, Is The Decisive Factor In The Life Of An Individual And Of Nations Alike.

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.

I Would Rather Go Out Of Politics Having The Feeling That I Had Done What Was Right Than Stay In With The Approval Of All Men, Knowing In My Heart That I Have Acted As I Ought Not To.

We Can Just As Little Afford To Follow The Doctrinaires Of An Extreme Individualism As The Doctrinaires Of An Extreme Socialism.

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

No Man Is Above The Law And No Man Is Below It: Nor Do We Ask Any Man's Permission When We Ask Him To Obey It.

Asking Permission

I Have Always Said I Would Not Have Been President Had It Not Been For My Experience In North Dakota.

Conservation Means Development As Much As It Does Protection.

The Weakling And The Coward Cannot Be Saved By Honesty Alone; But Without Honesty The Brave And Able Man Is Merely A Civic Wild Beast Who Should Be Hunted Down By Every Lover Of Righteousness. No Man Who Is Corrupt, No Man Who Condones Corruption In Others, Can Possibly Do His Duty By The Community.

Every Man Owes A Part Of His Time And Money To The Business Or Industry In Which He Is Engaged. No Man Has The Moral Right To Withhold His Support From An Organization That Is Striving To Improve Conditions Within His Sphere.

Comparison Is The Thief Of Joy.

We Wish To Control Big Business So As To Secure Among Other Things Good Wages For The Wage-workers And Reasonable Prices For The Consumers. Wherever In Any Business The Prosperity Of The Business Man Is Obtained By Lowering The Wages Of His Workmen And Charging An Excessive Price To The Consumers We Wish To Interfere And Stop Such Practices. We Will Not Submit To That Kind Of Prosperity Any More Than We Will Submit To Prosperity Obtained By Swindling Investors Or Getting Unfair Advantages Over Business Rivals.

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.

Keep Your Eyes On The Stars, And Your Feet On The Ground.

It Is An Incalculable Added Pleasure To Any One's Sum Of Happiness If He Or She Grows To Know, Even Slightly And Imperfectly, How To Read And Enjoy The Wonder-book Of Nature.

My Hat Is In The Ring.

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

A Good Shot Must Necessarily Be A Good Man Since The Essence Of Good Marksmanship Is Self-control And Self-control Is The Essential Quality Of A Good Man.

Let The Watchwords Of All Our People Be The Old Familiar Watchwords Of Honesty, Decency, Fair-dealing, And Commonsense."... "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.""the Welfare Of Each Of Us Is Dependent Fundamentally Upon The Welfare Of All Of Us.

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.

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.

Give The Brethren A Chance To Do Something, Anything, No Matter How Small Or Unimportant. A Brother Convinced That He Is Helpful Is Enthusiastic.

Perhaps The Most Incapable Executive That Ever Filled The Presidential Chair...it Would Be Difficult To Imagine A Man Less Fit To Guide The State With Honor And Safety Through The Stormy Times That Marked The Opening Of The Present Century.

To Announce That There Must Be No Criticism Of The President... Is Morally Treasonable To The American Public.

Freedom Of Speech

These International Bankers And Rockefeller Standard Oil Interests Control The Majority Of Newspapers And The Columns Of These Papers To Club Into Submission Or Drive Out Of Public Office Officials Who Refuse To Do The Bidding Of The Powerful Corrupt Cliques Which Compose The Invisible Government.

A Thorough Knowledge Of The Bible Is Worth More Than A College Education.

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.

I Have Now Run Up Against An Ugly Snag, The Sunday Excise Law. It Is Altogether Too Strict, But I Have No Honorable Alternative Save To Enforce It And I Am Enforcing It, To The Furious Rage Of The Saloon Keepers, And Of Many Good People Too; For Which I Am Sorry.

Men With The Muckrake Are Often Indispensable To The Well-being Of Society, But Only If They Know When To Stop Raking The Muck, And To Look Upward To The Celestial Crown Above Them.... If They Gradually Grow To Feel That The Whole World Is Nothing But Muck Their Power Of Usefulness Is Gone.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

The Establishment Of The National Park Service Is Justified By Considerations Of Good Administration, Of The Value Of Natural Beauty As A National Asset, And Of The Effectiveness Of Outdoor Life And Recreation In The Production Of Good Citizenship.

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.

Compromise" Is So Often Used In A Bad Sense That It Is Difficult To Remember That Properly It Merely Describes The Process Of Reaching An Agreement. Naturally There Are Certain Subjects On Which No Man Can Compromise. For Instance, There Must Be No Compromise Under Any Circumstances With Official Corruption, And Of Course No Man Should Hesitate To Say As Much.

Bodily Vigor Is Good, And Vigor Of Intellect Is Even Better, But Far Above Is Character.

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.

If An American Is To Amount To Anything He Must Rely Upon Himself, And Not Upon The State; He Must Take Pride In His Own Work, Instead Of Sitting Idle To Envy The Luck Of Others. He Must Face Life With Resolute Courage, Win Victory If He Can, And Accept Defeat If He Must, Without Seeking To Place On His Fellow Man A Responsibility Which Is Not Theirs.

Cowardice In A Race, As In An Individual, Is The Unpardonable Sin.

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.

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.

Of All Forms Of Tyranny The Least Attractive And The Most Vulgar Is The Tyranny Of Mere Wealth.

While President, I Have Been President - Emphatically.

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 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

The Only Time You Really Live Fully Is From Thirty To Sixty. The Young Are Slaves To Dreams; The Old Servants Of Regrets. Only The Middle-aged Have All Their Five Senses In The Keeping Of Their Wits.

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.

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.

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.

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

Give A Man A Soccer Ball, He Plays For A Moment. Teach A Man To Play Soccer, He Plays For A Life Time.

Councils Of War Never Fight.

When We Undertake The Impossible, We Often Fail To Do Anything At All.

Your Attitude About Who You Are And What You Have Is A Very Little Thing That Makes A Very Big Difference.

The Most Ultimately Righteous Of All Wars Is A War With Savages, Though It Is Apt To Be Also The Most Terrible And Inhuman. The Rude, Fierce Settler Who Drives The Savage From The Land Lays All Civilized Mankind Under A Debt To Him. ...[i]t Is Of Incalculable Importance That America, Australia, And Siberia Should Pass Out Of The Hands Of Their Red, Black, And Yellow Aboriginal Owners, And Become The Heritage Of The Dominant World Races.

It Is Of Far More Important That A Man Shall Play Something Himself, Even If He Plays It Badly, Than That He Shall Go With Hundreds Of Companions To See Someone Else Play Well.

The Great Virtue Of My Radicalism Lies In The Fact That I Am Perfectly Ready, If Necessary, To Be Radical On The Conservative Side.

A Healthy State Can Exist Only When The Men And Women Who Make It Up Lead Clean, Vigorous, Healthy Lives; When The Children Are So Trained That They Shall Endeavor, Not To Shirk Difficulties, But To Overcome Them; Not To Seek Ease, But To Know How To Wrest Triumph From Toil And Risk.

It Either Is Or Ought To Be Evident To Everyone That Business Has To Prosper Before Anyone Can Get Any Benefit From It.

Massive Potential You Have And, In Recognition Of All This, Would You Mind Having Your Salary Halved.

In Every Community There Are Little Knots Of Fantastic Extremists Who Loudly Proclaim That They Are Striving For Righteousness, And Who, In Reality, Do Their Feeble Best For Unrighteousness. Just As The Upright Politician Should Hold In Peculiar Scorn The Man Who Makes The Name Of Politician A Reproach And A Shame, So The Genuine Reformer Should Realize That The Cause He Champions Is Especially Jeopardized By The Mock Reformer Who Does What He Can To Make Reform A Laughingstock Among Decent Men.

Life Is A Great Adventure…accept It In Such A Spirit.

Knowing What's Right Doesn't Mean Much Unless You Do What's Right.

People Ask The Difference Between A Leader And A Boss. The Leader Leads, And The Boss Drives.

There Are Those Who Believe That A New Modernity Demands A New Morality. What They Fail To Consider Is The Harsh Reality That There Is No Such Thing As A New Morality. There Is Only One Morality . All Else Is Immorality.

He Who Makes No Mistakes Makes No Progress.

The Dull, Purblind Folly Of The Very Rich Men, Their Greed And Arrogance, And The Corruption In Business And Politics, Have Tended To Produce A Very Unhealthy Condition.

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

It Is Character That Counts In A Nation As In A Man.

What Counts In A Man Or In A Nation Is Not What The Man Or The Nation Can Do, But What He Or It Actually Does.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

A President Has A Great Chance; His Position Is Almost That Of A King And A Prime Minister Rolled Into One. Once He Has Left Office He Cannot Do Very Much; And He Is A Fool If He Fails To Realize It All And To Be Profoundly Thankful For Having Had The Great Chance.

Among The Wise And High-minded People Who In Self-respecting And Genuine Fashion Strive Earnestly For Peace, There Are The Foolish Fanatics Always To Be Found In Such A Movement And Always Discrediting It The Men Who Form The Lunatic Fringe In All Reform Movements.

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.

When You Play, Play Hard; When You Work, Don't Play At All.

Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy.

Difficult Times

Freedom Means The Supremacy Of Human Rights Everywhere.

I Keep My Good Health By Having A Very Bad Temper, Kept Under Good Control.

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 Object Of Government Is The Welfare Of The People.

Every Thinking Man, When He Thinks, Realizes That The Teachings Of The Bible Are So Interwoven And Intertwined With Our Whole Civic And Social Life That It Would Be Literally, I Do Not Mean Figuratively, But Literally Impossible For Us To Figure What The Loss Would Be If These Teachings Were Removed. We Would Lose All The Standards By Which We Now Judge Both Public And Private Morals; All The Standards Toward Which We, With More Or Less Resolution, Strive To Raise Ourselves.

No People On Earth Have More Cause To Be Thankful Than Ours, And This Is Said Reverently, In No Spirit Of Boastfulness In Our Own Strength, But With The Gratitude To The Giver Of Good Who Has Blessed Us.

To Every Man Who Faces Life With Real Desire To Do His Part In Everything, I Appeal For A Study Of The Bible.

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.

Believe You Can And You're Halfway There.

Envy Is As Evil A Thing As Arrogance.

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.

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.

Laws Are Essential Emanations From The Self-poised Character Of God; They Radiate From The Sun To The Circling Edge Of Creation. Verily, The Mighty Lawgiver Hath Subjected Himself Unto Laws.

At The Risk Of Repetition Let Me Say Again That My Plea Is Not For Immunity To, But For The Most Unsparing Exposure Of, The Politician Who Betrays His Trust, Of The Big Business Man Who Makes Or Spends His Fortune In Illegitimate Or Corrupt Ways. There Should Be A Resolute Effort To Hunt Every Such Man Out Of The Position He Has Disgraced. Expose The Crime, And Hunt Down The Criminal; But Remember That Even In The Case Of Crime, If It Is Attacked In Sensational, Lurid, And Untruthful Fashion, The Attack May Do More Damage To The Public Mind Than The Crime Itself.

I Ask Of Each Mason, Of Each Member, Of Each Brother, That He Shall Remember Ever That There Is Upon Him A Peculiar Obligation To Show Himself In Every Respect A Good Citizen; For After All, The Way He Can Best Do His Duty By The Ancient Order To Which He Belongs Is By Reflecting Credit Upon That Order By Way In Which He Performs His Duty As A Citizen Of The United States.

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.

No Educated Man Can Afford To Be Ignorant Of The Bible.

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.

Don't Foul, Don't Flinch-hit The Line Hard.

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.

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

I Have Already Lived And Enjoyed As Much Life As Any Nine Other Men I Have Known.

Men With The Muckrake Are Often Indispensable To The Well-being Of Society, But Only If They Know When To Stop Raking The Muck.

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.

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.

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

No, I'm Not A Good Shot, But I Shoot Often.

A Soft, Easy Life Is Not Worth Living, If It Impairs The Fibre Of Brain And Heart And Muscle. We Must Dare To Be Great; And We Must Realize That Greatness Is The Fruit Of Toil And Sacrifice And High Courage... For Us Is The Life Of Action, Of Strenuous Performance Of Duty; Let Us Live In The Harness, Striving Mightily; Let Us Rather Run The Risk Of Wearing Out Than Rusting Out.

There Is But One Answer To Terrorism And It Is Best Delivered With A Winchester Rifle.

If I Were A Factory Employee, A Workman On The Railroads Or A Wage-earner Of Any Sort, I Would Undoubtedly Join The Union Of My Trade. If I Disapproved Of Its Policy, I Would Join In Order To Fight That Policy; If The Union Leaders Were Dishonest, I Would Join In Order To Put Them Out. I Believe In The Union And I Believe That All Men Who Are Benefited By The Union Are Morally Bound To Help To The Extent Of Their Power In The Common Interests Advanced By The Union.

Speak Softly And Carry A Big Stick; You Will Go Far.

The True Christians Are The True Citizens, Lofty Of Purpose, Resolute In Endeavor, Ready For A Hero's Deeds, But Never Looking Down On Their Task Because It Is Cast In The Day Of Small Things; Scornful Of Baseness, Awake To Their Own Duties As Well As To Their Rights, Following The Higher Law With Reverence, And In This World Doing All That In Their Power Lies, So That When Death Comes They May Feel That Humanity Is In Some Degree Better Because They Lived.

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

What I Have Advocated Is Not Wild Radicalism. It Is The Highest And Wisest Kind Of Conservatism.

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.

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.

Courtesy Is As Much A Mark Of A Gentleman As Courage.

[among The Books He Chooses, A Statesman] Ought To Read Interesting Books On History And Government, And Books Of Science And Philosophy; And Really Good Books On These Subjects Are As Enthralling As Any Fiction Ever Written In Prose Or Verse.

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.

When Money Comes In At The Gate, Sport Flies Out At The Window.

The Little Owls Call To Each Other With Tremulous, Quavering Voices Throughout The Livelong Night, As They Sit In The Creaking Trees.

A President Has A Great Chance; His Position Is Almost That Of A King And A Prime Minister Rolled Into One.

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.

No Triumph Of Peace Is Quite So Great As The Supreme Triumphs Of War.

Americanism Means The Virtues Of Courage, Honor, Justice, Truth, Sincerity, And Hardihood - The Virtues That Made America.

The Pacifist Is As Surely A Traitor To His Country And To Humanity As Is The Most Brutal Wrongdoer.

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.

The Man Who Loves Other Countries As Much As His Own Stands On A Level With The Man Who Loves Other Women As Much As He Loves His Own Wife.

I Don't Think Any President Ever Enjoyed Himself More Than I Did. Moreover, I Don't Think Any Ex-president Ever Enjoyed Himself More.

Do Something Now. If Not You, Who? If Not Here, Where? If Not Now, When?

We Will Send Ships And Marines As Soon As Possible For The Protection Of American Life And Property.

It Is Essential That There Should Be Organization Of Labor. This Is An Era Of Organization. Capital Organizes And Therefore Labor Must Organize.

Gradually The True Mason Gains Experience In Using These Working Tools And Can Observe Subtler And Subtler Indications Of Personal Flaws.

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.

If We Are To Be Really Great People, We Must Strive In Good Faith To Play A Great Part In The World. We Cannot Avoid Meeting Great Issues. All That We Can Determine For Ourselves Is Whether We Shall Meet Them Well Or Ill.

The Need For Collecting Large Campaign Funds Would Vanish If Congress Provided An Appropriation For The Proper And Legitimate Expenses Of Each Of The Great National Parties, An Appropriation Ample Enough To Meet The Necessity For Thorough Organization And Machinery, Which Requires A Large Expenditure Of Money. Then The Stipulation Should Be Made That No Party Receiving Campaign Funds From The Treasury Should Accept More Than A Fixed Amount From Any Individual Subscriber Or Donor; And The Necessary Publicity For Receipts And Expenditures Could Without Difficulty Be Provided.

Free Speech Exercised Both Individually And Through A Free Press, Is A Necessity In Any Country Where People Are Themselves Free.

I Like To See Quentin (roosevelt) Practicing Baseball. It Gives Me Hope That One Of My Boys Will Not Take After His Father In This Respect, And Will Prove Able To Play The National Game.

A True Forest Is Not Merely A Storehouse Full Of Wood, But, As It Were, A Factory Of Wood.

Women Should Have Free Access To Every Field Of Labor Which They Care To Enter, And When Their Work Is As Valuable As That Of A Man It Should Be Paid As Highly.

90% Of The Work In This Country Is Done By People Who Don't Feel Good".

Freedom From Effort In The Present Merely Means That There Has Been Effort Stored Up In The Past.

The True Friend Of Property, The True Conservative, Is He Who Insists That Property Shall Be The Servant And Not The Master Of The Commonwealth; Who Insists That The Creature Of Man’s Making Shall Be The Servant And Not The Master Of The Man Who Made It. The Citizens Of The United States Must Effectively Control The Mighty Commercial Forces Which They Have Called Into Being. 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.

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.

I Cannot Consent To Take The Position That The Door Of Hope - The Door Of Opportunity - Is To Be Shut Upon Any Man, No Matter How Worthy, Purely Upon The Grounds Of Race Or Color. Such An Attitude Would, According To My Convictions, Be Fundamentally Wrong.

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

Every Reform Movement Has A Lunatic Fringe.

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.

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 Better To Be Faithful Than Famous.

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.

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.

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

The Beauty And Charm Of The Wilderness Are His For The Asking, For The Edges Of The Wilderness Lie Close Beside The Beaten Roads Of The Present Travel.

There Is Nothing More Practical Than The Preservation Of Beauty, Than The Preservation Of Anything That Appeals To The Higher Emotions Of Mankind

Power Always Brings With It Responsibility.

War With Evil; But Show No Spirit Of Malignity Toward The Man Who May Be Responsible For The Evil. Put It Out Of His Power To Do Wrong.

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.

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.

An Airedale Can Do Anything Any Other Dog Can Do And Then Whip The Other Dog If He Has To.

Wild Flowers Should Be Enjoyed Unplucked Where They Grow.

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.

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.

Water Is A Commodity Not By Any Means To Be Found Everywhere...when Found, It Is More Than Likely To Be Bad, Being Either From A Bitter Alkaline Pool, Or From A Hole In A Creek, So Muddy That It Can Only Be Called Liquid By Courtesy.

There Are Dreadful Moments When Death Comes Very Near Those We Love, Even If For The Time Being It Passes By. But Life Is A Great Adventure, And The Worst Of All Fears Is The Fear Of Living.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

We Have Duties To Others, And Duties To Ourselves, And We Cannot Shirk Either.

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

The Sons Of All Of Us Will Pay In The Future If We Of The Present Do Not Do Justice In The Present.

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.

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

It's Not The Critic Who Counts.

To Announce That There Must Be No Criticism Of The President, Or That We Are To Stand By The President, Right Or Wrong, Is Not Only Unpatriotic And Servile, But Is Morally Treasonable To The American Public. Nothing But The Truth Should Be Spoken About Him Or Any One Else. But It Is Even More Important To Tell The Truth, Pleasant Or Unpleasant, About Him Than About Any One Else.

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.

There Is Superstition In Science Quite As Much As There Is Superstition In Theology, And It Is All The More Dangerous Because Those Suffering From It Are Profoundly Convinced That They Are Freeing Themselves From All Superstition.

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!'

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

The President Is That Invisible Force That Makes A School Of Fish Suddenly Change Direction, So That Everyone 'ohhs' And 'ahhs' At The Glimmering Mass And Only Later Wonders What Makes Them Move In That Way. I Read Somewhere-_harper's_, I'm Fairly Certain-that The Fish Are Only Avoiding Pockets Of Extra Cold Water.

Speak Softly, I'm Getting My Massage.

Rattlesnakes Are Only Too Plentiful Everywhere; Along The River Bottoms, In The Broken, Hilly Ground, And On The Prairies And The Great Desert Wastes Alike...if It Can It Will Get Out Of The Way, And Only Coils Up In Its Attitude Of Defence When It Believes That It Is Actually Menaced.

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.

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.

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

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.

Pursuit Of Happiness

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.

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.

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.

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