Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.

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.

Americanism means the virtues of courage, honor, justice, truth, sincerity, and hardihood - the virtues that made America.

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.

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.

No greater wrong can ever be done than to put a good man at the mercy of a bad, while telling him not to defend himself or his fellows; in no way can the success of evil be made surer or quicker.

The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.

No man who is corrupt, no man who condones corruption in others, can possibly do his duty by the community.

I took the Canal Zone and let Congress debate; and while the debate goes on, the canal does also.

All contributions by corporations to any political committee or for any political purpose should be forbidden by law

The worst lesson that can be taught to a man is to rely upon others and to whine over his sufferings

A good Navy is not a provocation to war. It is the surest guaranty of peace.

A grove of giant redwood or sequoias should be kept just as we keep a great and beautiful cathedral.

The one thing I want to leave my children is an honorable name.

No man is above the law, and no man is below it.

The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.

The mother is the one supreme asset of national life; she is more important by far than the successful statesman, or business man, or artist, or scientist.

There is not a man of us who does not at times need a helping hand to be stretched out to him, and then shame upon him who will not stretch out the helping hand to his brother.

Rhetoric is a poor substitute for action, and we have trusted only to rhetoric. If we are really to be a great nation, we must not merely talk; we must act big.

The wildlife and its habitat cannot speak, so we must and we will.

It is not the critic who counts...The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.

Honesty first; then courage; then brains - and all are indispensable.

With a great moral issue involved, neutrality does not serve righteousness; for to be neutral between right and wrong is to serve wrong.

It tires me to talk to rich men. You expect a man of millions, the head of a great industry, to be a man worthhearing; but as a rule they don't know anything outside their own business.

So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.

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.

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.

Your attitude about who you are and what you have is a very little thing that makes a very big difference.

When you play, play hard; when you work, don't play at all.

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.

The most practical kind of politics is the politics of decency.

I believe in corporations. They are indispensable instruments of our modern civilization. But I believe they should be so regulated that they shall act for the interests of the community as a whole.

Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.

Make preparations in advance ... you never have trouble if you are prepared for it.

Nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort.

Get action. Do things; be sane; don't fritter away your time; create, act, take a place wherever you are and be somebody; get action.

Of all forms of tyranny the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth.

With self-discipline most anything is possible.

Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.

No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expedience.

He who makes no mistakes makes no progress.

We will send ships and Marines as soon as possible for the protection of American life and property.

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.

It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.

You can't choose your potential, but you can choose to fulfill it.

I'm as strong as a bull moose and you can use me to the limit.

To announce that there must be no criticism of the president... is morally treasonable to the American public.

When I hear of the destruction of a species, I feel just as if all the works of some great writer have perished.

Let us rather run the risk of wearing out than rusting out.

No educated man can afford to be ignorant of the Bible.