Background Image

...

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.

-Theodore Roosevelt

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

The True Friend Of

Theodore Roosevelt

...

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.

Views: 12

Topic

More From Theodore Roosevelt

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

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.

Everyone Loves Justice In The Affairs Of Another.

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.

I Hate A Man Who Skins The Land.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Kings And Such Are Just As Funny As Politicians.

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

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.

Short-sighted Men Who In Their Greed And Selfishness Will, If Permitted, Rob Our Country Of Half Its Charm By Their Reckless Extermination Of All Useful And Beautiful Wild Things.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Ruin Looks Us In The Face If We Judge A Man By His Position Instead Of Judging Him By His Conduct In That Position.

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.

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.

We Despise And Abhor The Bully, The Brawler, The Oppressor, Whether In Private Or Public Life, But We Despise No Less The Coward And The Voluptuary. No Man Is Worth Calling A Man Who Will Not Fight Rather Than Submit To Infamy Or See Those That Are Dear To Him Suffer Wrong.

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

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.

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

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.

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

I Have Often Thought That Unselfishness Combined In One Word More Of The Teachings Of The Bible Than Any Other In The Language.

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

We Cannot Do Great Deeds Unless We're Willing To Do The Small Things That Make Up The Sum Of Greatness.

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

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

Our Duty To The Whole, Including The Unborn Generations, Bids Us To Restrain An Unprincipled Present-day Minority From Wasting The Heritage Of These Unborn Generations. The Movement For The Conservation Of Wildlife And The Larger Movement For The Conservation Of All Our Natural Resources Are Essentially Democratic In Spirit, Purpose, And Method.

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.

No Man Is Above The Law, And No Man Is Below It.

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.

The Longer I Live The More I Think Of The Quality Of Fortitude... Men Who Fall, Pick Themselves Up And Stumble On, Fall Again, And Are Trying To Get Back Up When They Die.

Yes, My Friend, And If You Will Steal For Me Then You Will Steal From Me.

There Are Some Timid Souls That Will Never Know Victory Nor Defeat.

I Have Had A Great Time As President.

Had A Great Time

We Can No More And No Less Afford To Condone Evil In The Man Of Capital Than Evil In The Man Of No Capital.

The White House Is A Bully Pulpit.

The Lack Of Power To Take Joy In Outdoor Nature Is As Real A Misfortune As The Lack Of Power To Take Joy In Books

If We Would Have Our Citizens Contented And Law-abiding, We Must Not Sow The Seeds Of Discontent In Childhood By Denying Children Their Birthright Of Play.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

The Death-knell Of The Republic Had Rung As Soon As The Active Power Became Lodged In The Hands Of Those Who Sought, Not To Do Justice To All Citizens, Rich And Poor Alike, But To Stand For One Special Class And For Its Interests As Opposed To The Interests Of Others.

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

'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.

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

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

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

We Have Become Great Because Of The Lavish Use Of Our Resources ... But The Time Has Come To Inquire Seriously What Will Happen When Our Forests Are Gone, When The Coal, The Iron, The Oil And The Gas Are Exhausted.

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.

There Can Be No Greater Issue Than That Of Conservation In This Country.

If Given The Choice Between Righteousness And Peace, I Choose Righteousness.

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

The Bulk Of Government Is Not Legislation But Administration.

There Can Be Nothing In The World More Beautiful Than The Yosemite, The Groves Of The Giant Sequoias And Redwoods, The Canyon Of The Colorado, The Canyon Of The Yellowstone, The Three Tetons; And Our People Should See To It That They Are Preserved For Their Children And Their Children's Children Forever, With Their Majestic Beauty All Unmarred.

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.

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.

In The Western Hemisphere The Adherence Of The United States To The Monroe Doctrine May Force The United States, However Reluctantly, In Flagrant Cases Of Such Wrong Doing Or Impotence, To The Exercise Of An International Police Power.

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.

Let Us Remember That, As Much Has Been Given Us, Much Will Be Expected From Us, And That True Homage Comes From The Heart As Well As From The Lips, And Shows Itself In Deeds.

I Am Rather More Apt To Read Old Books Than New Ones.

The Bad Lands Grade All The Way From Those That Are Almost Rolling In Character To Those That Are So Fantastically Broken In Form And So Bizarre In Color As To Seem Hardly Properly To Belong To This Earth.

Big Jobs Usually Go To The Men Who Prove Their Ability To Outgrow Small Ones.

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.

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

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.

There Is No Good Reason Why We Should Fear The Future, But There Is Every Reason Why We Should Face It Seriously, Neither Hiding From Ourselves The Gravity Of The Problems Before Us Nor Fearing To Approach These Problems With The Unbending, Unflinching Purpose To Solve Them Aright.

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

I Am Simply Unable To Understand The Value Placed By So Many People Upon Great Wealth.

The Great Man Is Always The Man Of Mighty Effort.

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

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.

I Am A Part Of Everything That I Have Read.

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

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.

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.

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.

Love Of Peace Is Common Among Weak, Short-sighted, Timid, And Lazy Persons; And On The Other Hand Courage Is Found Among Many Men Of Evil Temper And Bad Character. Neither Quality Shall By Itself Avail. Justice Among The Nations Of Mankind, And The Uplifting Of Humanity, Can Be Brought About Only By Those Strong And Daring Men Who With Wisdom Love Peace, But Who Love Righteousness More Than Peace.

I Think There Is Only One Quality Worse Than Hardness Of Heart And That Is Softness Of Head.

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.

One Of Our Defects As A Nation Is A Tendency To Use What Have Been Called ''weasel Words.'' When A Weasel Sucks Eggs The Meat Is Sucked Out Of The Egg. If You Use A ''weasel Word'' After Another There Is Nothing Left Of The Other.

When She (my Mother) Passed Away, I Kind Of Understood The Commitment That She Made To Make Sure That I Could Stay In Skating. And I Wanted To Live Up To Whatever I Could. Not So Much Win Everything, But Just To Be The Best That I Could Possibly Be, To Honor Her Memory And Everything She Went Through To Make Sure That I Was Given The Opportunities To Be The Best That I Can Be. Not To Be A World Champion Or An Olympic Gold Medalist, But To Be The Best That I Could Be. And That Was The Most Important Thing That Ever Happened In My Career.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A Grove Of Giant Redwood Or Sequoias Should Be Kept Just As We Keep A Great And Beautiful Cathedral.

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

It Is Necessary For The Welfare Of The Nation That Men's Lives Be Based On The Principles Of The Bible. No Man, Educated Or Uneducated, Can Afford To Be Ignorant Of The Bible.

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

Freedom Means The Supremacy Of Human Rights Everywhere.

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

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.

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.

Rarely Has Any People Enjoyed Greater Prosperity Than We Are Now Enjoying. For This We Render Heartfelt And Solemn Thanks To The Giver Of Good; And We Seek To Praise Him -not By Words Only -but By Deeds, By The Way In Which We Do Our Duty To Ourselves And To Our Fellow Men.

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.

There Can Be No Life Without Change, And To Be Afraid Of What Is Different Or Unfamiliar Is To Be Afraid Of Life.

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.

With Self-discipline, All Things Are Possible

Formal Education

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

I Have A Perfect Horror Of Words That Are Not Backed Up By Deeds.

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

The Ordinary Air Fighter Is An Extraordinary Man And The Extraordinary Air Fighter Stands As One In A Million Among His Fellows.

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.

We Should Not Forget That It Will Be Just As Important To Our Descendants To Be Prosperous In Their Time As It Is To Us To Be Prosperous In Our Time.

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

The Man Who Holds That Every Human Right Is Secondary To His Profit Must Now Give Way To The Advocate Of Human Welfare.

Conservation And Rural-life Policies Are Really Two Sides Of The Same Policy; And Down At The Bottom This Policy Rests Upon The Fundamental Law That Neither Man Nor Nation Can Prosper Unless, In Dealing With The Present, Thought Is Steadily Given For The Future.

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

Your Ability Needs Responsibility To Expose Its Possibilities. Do What You Can With What You Have Where You Are.

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.

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

From Time To Time, Little Men Will Find Fault With What You Have Done...but They Will Go Down The Stream Like Bubbles, They Will Vanish. But The Work You Have Done Will Remain For The Ages.

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.

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

In Speaking To You Men Of The Greatest City Of The West, Men Of The State Which Gave To The Country Lincoln And Grant, Men Who Preeminently And Distinctly Embody All That Is Most American In The American Character, I Wish To Preach Not The Doctrine Of Ignoble Ease, But The Doctrine Of The Strenuous Life.

After The War, And Until The Day Of His Death, His Position On Almost Every Public Question Was Either Mischievous Or Ridiculous, And Usually Both.

Behind The Ostensible Government Sits Enthroned An Invisible Government Owing No Allegiance And Acknowledging No Responsibility To The People.

There Is No Effort Without Error Or Shortcoming.

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

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

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.

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.

The Lunatic Fringe In All Reform Movements.

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.

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

I Took The Canal Zone And Let Congress Debate; And While The Debate Goes On, The Canal Does Also.

At Sometime In Our Lives A Devil Dwells Within Us, Causes Heartbreaks, Confusion And Troubles, Then Dies.

Wild Beasts And Birds Are By Right Not The Property Merely Of The People Today, But The Property Of The Unborn Generations, Whose Belongings We Have No Right To Squander.

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.

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 Man Of Great Wealth Owes A Peculiar Obligation To The State Because He Derives Special Advantages From The Mere Existence Of Government.

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.

Our Country, We Have Faith To Believe, Is Only At The Beginning Of Its Growth. Unless The Forests Of The United States Can Be Made Ready To Meet The Vast Demands Which This Growth Will Inevitably Bring, Commercial Disaster, That Means Disaster To The Whole Country, Is Inevitable.

The Decisions Of The Courts On Economic And Social Questions Depend On Their Economic And Social Philosophy.

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.

It Is Always Better To Be An Original Than An Imitation.

If I Have To Choose Between Peace And Righteousness, I'll Choose Righteousness.

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.

There Are No Words That Can Tell The Hidden Spirit Of The Wilderness, That Can Reveal Its Mystery, Its Melancholy And Its Charm.

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

Hardness Of Heart Is A Dreadful Quality, But It Is Doubtful Whether In The Long Run It Works More Damage Than Softness Of Head.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

No People Is Wholly Civilized Where A Distinction Is Drawn Between Stealing An Office And Stealing A Purse.

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.

We Are The Heirs Of The Ages

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

Honesty First; Then Courage; Then Brains - And All Are Indispensable.

The World Wants The Kind Of Men Who Do Not Shrink From Temporary Defeats In Life; But Come Again And Wrestle Triumph From Defeat.

Temporary Defeat

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

There Should Be At Least Ten Times The Number Of Rifles In The Country As There Are Now.

Profanity Is The Parlance Of The Fool. Why Curse When There Is Such A Magnificent Language With Which To Discourse?

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.

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

No President Has Ever Enjoyed Himself As Much As I?

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

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.

Let Us Live In The Harness, Striving Mightily.

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.

The Civilized People Of Today Look Back With Horror At Their Medieval Ancestors Who Wantonly Destroyed Great Works Of Art Or Sat Slothfully By While They Destroyed. We Have Passed This Stage.... Here In The U.s. We Turn Our Rivers And Streams Into Sewers And Dumping Grounds, We Pollute The Air, We Destroy Our Forests And Exterminate Fishes, Birds And Mammals - Not To Speak Of Vulgarizing Charming Landscapes With Hideous Advertisements. But At Best It Looks As If Our People Were Awakening.

Of All The Questions Which Can Come Before This Nation, Short Of The Actual Preservation Of Its Existence In A Great War, There Is None Which Compares In Importance With The Great Central Task Of Leaving This Land Even A Better Land For Our Descendants Than It Is For Us.

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.

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

Do What You Can, With What You Have, Where You Are.

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.

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 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.

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

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

Courage, Hard Work, Self-mastery, And Intelligent Effort Are All Essential To Successful Life.

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.

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

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.

My Power Vanishes Into Thin Air The Instant That My Fellow Citizens, Who Are Straight And Honest, Cease To Believe That I Represent Them And Fight For What Is Straight And Honest. That Is All The Strength That I Have.

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

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

[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.

Politeness [is] A Sign Of Dignity, Not Subservience.

Trending Author

William Beveridge

Bashar Al-Assad

Category