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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.

-Theodore Roosevelt

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Perhaps The Most Incapable

Theodore Roosevelt

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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.

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I Abhor Unjust War. I Abhor Injustice And Bullying By The Strong At The Expense Of The Weak, Whether Among Nations Or Individuals. I Abhor Violence And Bloodshed. I Believe That War Should Never Be Resorted To When, Or So Long As, It Is Honorably Possible To Avoid It. I Respect All Men And Women Who From High Motives And With Sanity And Self-respect Do All They Can To Avert War. I Advocate Preparation For War In Order To Avert War; And I Should Never Advocate War Unless It Were The Only Alternative To Dishonor.

Some Men Can Live Up To Their Loftiest Ideals Without Ever Going Higher Than A Basement.

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.

Progress Has Brought Us Both Unbounded Opportunities And Unbridled Difficulties. Thus, The Measure Of Our Civilization Will Not Be That We Have Done Much, But What We Have Done With That Much. 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. The Thought Of Modern Industry In The Hands Of Christian Charity Is A Dream Worth Dreaming. The Thought Of Industry In The Hands Of Paganism Is A Nightmare Beyond Imagining. The Choice Between The Two Is Upon Us.

Our Flag Is A Proud Flag, And It Stands For Liberty And Civilization. Where It Has Once Floated, There Must Be No Return To Tyranny.

In The Grand Canyon, Arizona Has A Natural Wonder Which Is In Kind Absolutely Unparalleled Throughout The Rest Of The World. I Want To Ask You To Keep This Great Wonder Of Nature As It Now Is. I Hope You Will Not Have A Building Of Any Kind, Not A Summer Cottage, A Hotel Or Anything Else, To Mar The Wonderful Grandeur, The Sublimity, The Great Loneliness And Beauty Of The Canyon. Leave It As It Is. You Cannot Improve On It. The Ages Have Been At Work On It, And Man Can Only Mar It.

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.

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.

There Is Nothing More Distressing ... Than The Hard, Scoffing Spirit Which Treats The Allegation Of Dishonesty In A Public Man As A Cause For Laughter. Such Laughter Is Worse Than The Crackling Of Thorns Under A Pot, For It Denotes Not Merely The Vacant Mind, But The Heart In Which High Emotions Have Been Choked Before They Could Grow To Fruition.

In A Crisis, The Man Worth His Salt Is The Man Who Meets The Needs Of The Situation In Whatever Way Is Necessary.

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

Not Trying Is The Surest Way Of Achieving Nothing At All.

In This World The One Thing Supremely Worth Having Is The Opportunity To Do Well And Worthily A Piece Of Work Of Vital Consequence To The Welfare Of Mankind.

Conservation Means Development As Much As It Does Protection.

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.

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

Poverty Is A Bitter Thing; But It Is Not As Bitter As The Existence Of Restless Vacuity And Physical, Moral, And Intellectual Flabbiness, To Which Those Doom Themselves Who Elect To Spend All Their Years In That Vainest Of All Vain Pursuits-the Pursuit Of Mere Pleasure As A Sufficient End In Itself.

Nine Tenths Of Wisdom Consists In Being Wise In Time.

It Is By No Means Necessary That A Great Nation Should Always Stand At The Heroic Level. But No Nation Has The Root Of Greatness In It Unless In Time Of Need It Can Rise To The Heroic Mood.

Death Is Always, Under All Circumstances, A Tragedy, For If It Is Not Then It Means That Life Has Become One.

The Bulk Of Government Is Not Legislation But Administration.

This Country Has Nothing To Fear From The Crooked Man Who Fails. We Put Him In Jail. It Is The Crooked Man Who Succeeds Who Is A Threat To This Country.

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.

Of All The Officers Of The Government, Those Of The Department Of Justice Should Be Kept Most Free From Any Suspicion Of Improper Action On Partisan Or Factional Grounds, So That There Shall Be Gradually A Growth, Even Though A Slow Growth, In The Knowledge That The Federal Courts And The Representatives Of The Federal Department Of Justice Insist On Meting Out Even-handed Justice To All.

The Conservation Of Natural Resources Is The Fundamental Problem. Unless We Solve That Problem It Will Avail Us Little To Solve All Others.

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 Shirk Neither. We Have Become A Great Nation, Forced By The Fact Of Its Greatness Into Relations With Other Nations Of The Earth, And We Must Behave As Beseems A People With Such Responsibilities.

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.

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.

The Only Tyrannies From Which Men, Women And Children Are Suffering In Real Life Are The Tyrannies Of Minorities.

Anything That Encourages Pauperism, Anything That Relaxes The Manly Fiber And Lowers Self-respect, Is An Unmixed Evil.

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

Criticism Is Necessary And Useful; It Is Often Indispensable; But It Can Never Take The Place Of Action, Or Be Even A Poor Substitute For It. The Function Of The Mere Critic Is Of Very Subordinate Usefulness. It Is The Doer Of Deeds Who Actually Counts In The Battle For Life, And Not The Man Who Looks On And Says How The Fight Ought To Be Fought, Without Himself Sharing The Stress And The Danger.

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.

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

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 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.

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.

The Most Practical Kind Of Politics Is The Politics Of Decency.

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

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

Americans Learn Only From Catastrophe And Not From Experience.

Mckinley Shows All The Background Of A Chocolate Eclair.

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.

Everyone Loves Justice In The Affairs Of Another.

I Do Not In The Least Object To A Sport Because It Is Rough.

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

Freedom Of Speech

More And More, As It Becomes Necessary To Preserve The Game, Let Us Hope That The Camera Will Largely Supplant The Rifle.

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.

It Is A Great Mistake To Think That The Extremist Is A Better Man Than The Moderate. Usually The Difference Is Not That He Is Morally Stronger, But That He Is Intellectually Weaker. He Is Not More Virtuous. He Is Simply More Foolish.

We Stand At Armageddon And We Battle For The Lord.

I Have Often Been Afraid, But I Would Not Give In To It. I Made Myself Act As Though I Was Not Afraid And Gradually My Fear Disappeared.

It Pays No Matter What Comes After It, To Try And Do Things, To Accomplish Things In This Life And Not Merely To Have A Soft And Pleasant Time.

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

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.

It Is True Of The Nation, As Of The Individual, That The Greatest Doer Must Also Be A Great Dreamer.

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.

Of One Man In Especial, Beyond Anyone Else, The Citizens Of A Republic Should Beware, And That Is Of The Man Who Appeals To Them To Support Him On The Ground That He Is Hostile To Other Citizens Of The Republic, That He Will Secure For Those Who Elect Him, In One Shape Or Another, Profit At The Expense Of Other Citizens Of The Republic. It Makes No Difference Whether He Appeals To Class Hatred Or Class Interest, To Religious Or Anti-religious Prejudice. The Man Who Makes Such An Appeal Should Always Be Presumed To Make It For The Sake Of Furthering His Own Interest.

I Have Had A Great Time As President.

Had A Great Time

Then Get Busy And Find Out How To Do It.

Job Opportunities

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

I Wish That All Americans Would Realize That American Politics Is World Politics.

'liar' Is Just As Ugly A Word As 'thief,' Because It Implies The Presence Of Just As Ugly A Sin In One Case As In The Other. If A Man Lies Under Oath Or Procures The Lie Of Another Under Oath, If He Perjures Himself Or Suborns Perjury, He Is Guilty Under The Statute Law.

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

The Greatest Historian Should Also Be A Great Moralist. It Is No Proof Of Impartiality To Treat Wickedness And Goodness On The Same Level.

I Dream Of Men Who Take The Next Step Instead Of Worrying About The Next Thousand Steps.

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.

Do Nothing To Mar Its Grandeur ... Keep It For Your Children, Your Children's Children, And All Who Come After You, As The One Great Sight Which Every American Should See.

...let Men Express The Intense Admiration, Which I Share With All Other Americans, Of The Record Made By The Marines.

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.

In A Civilized And Cultivated Country, Wild Animals Only Continue To Exist At All When Preserved By Sportsmen.

When I Hear Of The Destruction Of A Species, I Feel Just As If All The Works Of Some Great Writer Have Perished.

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.

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

There Are Many Occasions When The Highest Praise One Can Receive Is The Attack Of Some Given Scoundrel.

There Are Always In Life Countless Tendencies For Good And For Evil, And Each Succeeding Generation Sees Some Of These Tendencies Strengthened And Some Weakened; Nor Is It By Any Means Always, Alas! That The Tendencies For Evil Are Weakened And Those For Good Strengthened. But During The Last Few Decades There Certainly Have Been Some Notable Changes For Good In Boy Life. The Great Growth In The Love Of Athletic Sports, For Instance, While Fraught With Danger If It Becomes One-sided And Unhealthy, Has Beyond All Question Had An Excellent Effect In Increased Manliness.

It Is Only The Warlike Power Of A Civilized People That Can Give Peace To The World.

Every Man Owes Some Of His Time To The Upbuilding Of The Profession To Which He Belongs.

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.

We Want Men Who Will Fix Their Eyes On The Stars, But Who Will Not Forget That Their Feet Must Walk On The Ground.

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 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.

The Only Man Who Makes No Mistakes Is The Man Who Never Does Anything. Do Not Be Afraid To Make Mistakes Providing You Do Not Make The Same One Twice.

From Its Origin To The Present Hour, In All Its Vicissitudes, Masonry Has Been The Steady Unwearing Friend Of Man.

If There Is Any One Duty Which More Than Another We Owe It To Our Children And Our Children's Children To Perform At Once, It Is To Save The Forests Of This Country, For They Constitute The First And Most Important Element In The Conservation Of The Natural Resources Of This Country.

While The Nation That Has Dared To Be Great, That Has Had The Will And The Power To Change The Destiny Of The Ages, In The End Must Die, Yet No Less Surely The Nation That Has Played The Part Of The Weakling Must Also Die; And Whereas The Nation That Has Done Nothing Leaves Nothing Behind It, The Nation That Has Done A Great Work Really Continues, Though In Changed Form, To Live Forevermore.

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

In Any Moment Of Decision, The Best Thing You Can Do Is The Right Thing, The Next Best Thing Is The Wrong Thing, And The Worst Thing You Can Do Is Nothing.

If Elected, I Shall See To It That Every Man Has A Square Deal, No Less And No More.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Never Throughout History Has A Man Who Lived A Life Of Ease Left A Name Worth Remembering.

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.

Probably The Greatest Harm Done By Vast Wealth Is The Harm That We Of Moderate Means Do Ourselves When We Let The Vices Of Envy And Hatred Enter Deep Into Our Own Natures.

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 United States Does Not Have A Choice As To Whether Or Not Is Will Or Will Not Play A Great Part In The World. Fate Has Made That Choice For Us. The Only Question Is Whether We Will Play The Part Well Or Badly.

If We Put Corrupt Men In Public Office And Sneeringly Acquiesce In Their Corruptions, Then We Are Wrong Ourselves.

Every Special Interest Is Entitled To Justice - Full, Fair, And Complete... But Not One Is Entitled To A Vote In Congress, To A Voice On The Bench, Or To Representation In Any Public Office.

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

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

We Of An Older Generation Can Get Along With What We Have, Though With Growing Hardship; But In Your Full Manhood And Womanhood You Will Want What Nature Once So Bountifully Supplied And Man So Thoughtlessly Destroyed; And Because Of That Want You Will Reproach Us, Not For What We Have Used, But For What We Have Wasted...so Any Nation Which In Its Youth Lives Only For The Day, Reaps Without Sowing, And Consumes Without Husbanding, Must Expect The Penalty Of The Prodigal Whose Labor Could With Difficulty Find Him The Bare Means Of Life.

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.

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

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

Kings And Such Are Just As Funny As Politicians.

No Man Who Is Corrupt, No Man Who Condones Corruption In Others, Can Possibly Do His Duty By The Community.

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.

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.

There Is Apt To Be A Lunatic Fringe Among The Votaries Of Any Forward Movement.

Forward Movement

To Divide Along The Lines Of Section Or Caste Or Creed Is Un-american.

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

The Lunatic Fringe In All Reform Movements.

The Performance Of Duty, And Not An Indulgence In Vapid Ease And Vapid Pleasure, Is All That Makes Life Worth While.

It Is Imperative To Exercise Over Big Business A Control And Supervision Which Is Unnecessary As Regards Small Business. All Business Must Be Conducted Under The Law, And All Business Men, Big Or Little, Must Act Justly. But A Wicked Big Interest Is Necessarily More Dangerous To The Community Than A Wicked Little Interest. 'big Business' In The Past Has Been Responsible For Much Of The Special Privilege Which Must Be Unsparingly Cut Out Of Our National Life.

The Corporation That Shrinks From The Light" Would Have Anything To Fear From Government. About The Welfare Of Such Corporations We Need Not Be Oversensitive.

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.

After Nightfall The Face Of The Country Seems To Alter Marvelously, And The Clear Moonlight Only Intensifies The Change. The River Gleams Like Running Quicksilver, And The Moonbeams Play Over The Grassy Stretches Of The Plateaus...the Bad Lands Seem To Be Stranger And Wilder Than Ever, The Silvery Rays Turning The Country Into A Kind Of Grim Fairyland.

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!

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

Congratulations

It Is, Of Course, The Merest Truism To Say A Party Is Of Use Only So Far As It Serves The Nation.

Nowhere, Not At Sea, Does A Man Feel More Lonely Than When Riding Over The Far-reaching, Seemingly Never-ending Plains.

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.

All The Resources We Need Are In The Mind.

We Must Remember Not To Judge Any Public Servant By Any One Act, And Especially Should We Beware Of Attacking The Men Who Are Merely The Occasions And Not The Cause Of Disaster.

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

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.

Comparison Is The Thief Of Joy.

The Settler And Pioneer Have At Bottom Had Justice On Their Side; This Great Continent Could Not Have Been Kept As Nothing But A Game Preserve For Squalid Savages.

There Is No Room In This Country For Hyphenated Americanism. The One Absolutely Certain Way Of Bringing This Nation To Ruin, Of Preventing All Possibility Of Its Continuing To Be A Nation At All, Would Be To Permit It To Become A Tangle Of Squabbling Nationalities.

The Conservation Of Our Natural Resources And Their Proper Use Constitute The Fundamental Problem Which Underlies Almost Every Other Problem Of Our National Life.

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

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.

I Do Not Care A Rap As To Who Gets Credit For The Work, Provided The Work Is Done.

Nobody Cares How Much You Know, Until They Know How Much You Care.

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.

On The Whole, We Think That The Greatest Victories Are Yet To Be Won, The Greatest Deeds Yet To Be Done, And That There Are Yet In Store For Our Peoples, And For The Causes That We Uphold, Grander Triumphs Than Have Ever Yet Been Scored. But Be This As It May, We Gladly Agree That The One Plain Duty Of Every Man Is To Face The Future As He Faces The Present, Regardless Of What It May Have In Store For Him, Turning Toward The Light As He Sees The Light, To Play His Part Manfully, As A Man Among Men.

Greatest Victory

The Liar Is No Whit Better Than The Thief, And If His Mendacity Takes The Form Of Slander He May Be Worse Than Most Thieves. It Puts A Premium Upon Knavery Untruthfully To Attack An Honest Man, Or Even With Hysterical Exaggeration To Assail A Bad Man With Untruth.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Duties Are Even More Important Than The Rights; And In The Long Run I Think That The Reward Is Ampler And Greater For Duty Well Done, Than For The Insistence Upon Individual Rights.

I Want To See You Shoot The Way You Shout.

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 Worst Of All Fears Is The Fear Of Living

Practical Efficiency Is Common, And Lofty Idealism Not Uncommon; It Is The Combination Which Is Necessary, And The Combination Is Rare

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Optimism Is A Good Characteristic, But If Carried To An Excess, It Becomes Foolishness. We Are Prone To Speak Of The Resources Of This Country As Inexhaustible; This Is Not So.

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.

Everything Is Un-american That Tends Either To Government By A Plutocracy Or Government By A Mob. To Divide Along The Lines Of Section Or Caste Or Creed Is Un-american. All Privileges Based On Wealth, And All Enmity To Honest Men Merely Because They Are Wealthy, Are Un-american-both Of Them Equally So. The Things That Will Destroy America Are Prosperity-at-any-price, Peace-at-any-price, Safety-first Instead Of Duty-first, The Love Of Soft Living And The Get-rich-quick Theory Of Life.

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.

Believe You Can Do It And You Are Halfway There

My Hat's In The Ring. The Fight Is On And I'm Stripped To The Buff.

I Would A Great Deal Rather Be Anything, Say Professor Of History, Than Vice President.

There Is Quite Enough Sorrow And Shame And Suffering And Baseness In Real Life, And There Is No Need For Meeting It Unnecessarily In Fiction.

Every Man Among Us Is More Fit To Meet The Duties And Responsibilities Of Citizenship Because Of The Perils Over Which, In The Past, The Nation Has Triumphed; Because Of The Blood And Sweat And Tears, The Labor And The Anguish, Through Which, In The Days That Have Gone, Our Forefathers Moved On To Triumph.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The First Requisite Of A Good Citizen In This Republic Of Ours Is That He Shall Be Able And Willing To Pull His Own Weight.

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

The Constitution Guarantees Protection To Property, And We Must Make That Promise Good. But It Does Not Give The Right Of Suffrage To Any Corporation. It Is Necessary That Laws Should Be Passed To Prohibit The Use Of Corporate Funds Directly Or Indirectly For Political Purposes; It Is Still More Necessary That Such Laws Should Be Thoroughly Enforced.

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

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.

In Name We Had The Declaration Of Independence In 1776; But We Gave The Lie By Our Acts To The Words Of The Declaration Of Independence Until 1865; And Words Count For Nothing Except In So Far As They Represent Acts.

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

We Sincerely And Earnestly Believe In Peace; But If Peace And Justice Conflict, We Scorn The Man Who Would Not Stand For Justice Though The Whole World Came In Arms Against Him.

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

When They Call The Roll In The Senate, The Senators Do Not Know Whether To Answer 'present' Or 'not Guilty.'

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

It Is Not The Critic Who Counts; Not The Man Who Points Out How The Strong Man Stumbles, Or Where The Doer Of Deeds Could Have Done Them Better. The Credit Belongs To The Man Who Is Actually In The Arena, Whose Face Is Marred By Dust And Sweat And Blood; Who Strives Valiantly; . . . Who At Best Knows In The End The Triumph Of High Achievement, And Who At Worst, If He Fails, At Least Fails While Daring Greatly.

Silent Strength Is The Quality Of All Good Men And Most Mummies.

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.

If There Is One Thing For Which We Stand In This Country, It Is For Complete Religious Freedom, And It Is An Emphatic Negation Of This Right To Cross-examine A Man On His Religion Before Being Willing To Support Him For Office.

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.

Our Surest Protection Against Assault From Abroad Has Been Not All Our Guards, Gates And Guns, Or Even Our Two Oceans, But Our Essential Goodness As A People. Our Richest Asset Has Been Not Our Material Wealth But Our Values.

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.

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.

Order Without Liberty And Liberty Without Order Are Equally Destructive.

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

The Boy Who Is Going To Make A Great Man Must Not Make Up His Mind Merely To Overcome A Thousand Obstacles, But To Win In Spite Of A Thousand Repulses And Defeats.

With Self-discipline Most Anything Is Possible.

If, In Any Individual, University Training Produces A Taste For Refined Idleness, A Distaste For Sustained Effort, A Barren Intellectual Arrogance, Or A Sense Of Superfluous Aloofness From The World Of Real Men Who Do The World's Real Work, Then It Has Harmed That Individual.

Intellectual Arrogance

The One Absolute Certain Way To Bring This Nation To Ruin ... Would Be To Permit It To Become A Tangle Of Squabbling Nationalities.

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.

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.

Nothing Worth Having Was Ever Achieved Without Effort.

Fitness Motivational

The Vice Of Envy Is Not Only A Dangerous, But A Mean Vice; For It Is Always A Confession Of Inferiority. It May Promote Conduct Which Will Be Fruitful Of Wrong To Others, And It Must Cause Misery To The Man Who Feels It.

I Can No More Explain Why I Like "natural History" Than Why I Like California Canned Peaches; Nor Why I Do Not Care For That Enormous Brand Of Natural History Which Deals With Invertebrates Any More Than Why I Do Not Care For Brandied Peaches. All I Can Say Is That Almost As Soon As I Began To Read At All I Began To Like To Read About The Natural History Of Beasts And Birds And The More Formidable Or Interesting Reptiles And Fishes.

Death By Violence, Death By Cold, Death By Starvation - They Are The Normal Endings Of The Stately Creatures Of The Wilderness. The Sentimentalists Who Prattle About The Peaceful Life Of Nature Do Not Realize Its Utter Mercilessness.

It [the Civil War] Was A Heroic Struggle; And, As Is Inevitable With All Such Struggles, It Had Also A Dark And Terrible Side. Very Much Was Done Of Good, And Much Also Of Evil; And, As Was Inevitable In Such A Period Of Revolution, Often The Same Man Did Both Good And Evil. For Our Great Good Fortune As A Nation, We, The People Of The United States As A Whole, Can Now Afford To Forget The Evil, Or, At Least, To Remember It Without Bitterness, And To Fix Our Eyes With Pride Only On The Good That Was Accomplished.

The Immigrant Must Not Be Allowed To Drift Or To Be Put At The Mercy Of The Exploiter. Our Object Is Not To Imitate One Of The Older Racial Types, But To Maintain A New American Type And Then To Secure Loyalty To This Type. We Cannot Secure Such Loyalty Unless We Make This A Country Where Men Shall Feel That They Have Justice And Also Where They Shall Feel That They Are Required To Perform The Duties Imposed Upon Them.

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