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Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

26th U.S. President

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Famous Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

“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.”

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Book:The Roosevelt Policy: Speeches, Letters and State Papers, Relating to Corporate Wealth and Closely Allied Topics, of Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States
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“When great nations fear to expand, shrink from expansion, it is because their greatness is coming to an end. Are we, still in the prime of our lusty youth, still at the beginning of our glorious manhood, to sit down among the outworn people, to take our place with the weak and the craven? A thousand times no!”

PeopleStillsEndsNationsYouthGreatnessThousandWeakGloriousPrimeExpansionManhoodShrinksGreat NationsComing To An End
Book:Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia
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“The public must retain control of the great waterways. It is essential that any permit to obstruct them for reasons and on conditions that seem good at the moment should be subject to revision when changed conditions demand.”

ShouldReasonMomentsSeemsConditionsSubjectsChangedDemandEssentialsPermitRevisionRafting
Book:Works: Presidential addresses and state papers, Dec. 3, 1901, June 1910, and European addresses. 8 v
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“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.”

RealizingViolenceColdCreaturesNormalPeacefulWildernessStarvationPeaceful Life
Book:African Game Trails: An Account of the African Wanderings of an American Hunter-naturalist
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“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.”

IfsMeanHas BeensLastsEvilSportsGrowthBoysGenerationsEffectsDangerSucceedDecadesTendenciesInstanceExcellentAlasAthleticNotableUnhealthyManlinessOne Sided
Book:The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses
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“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.”

MenKindBigsWishPracticeAdvantageWorkersProsperitySecureConsumersReasonableInvestorsSubmitUnfairInterfereWagesRivalsBig BusinessChargingWorkmenBusiness ManUnfair AdvantageSwindling
Author:Theodore Roosevelt
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“In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American.”

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Book:Letters of Theodore Roosevelt: The days of Armageddon, 1900-1914
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“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.”

PeopleMenWarStatesDoneWholeEyeRememberEvilNationsSidesDarkForgetUnitedUnited StatesStruggleRevolutionPridePeriodsTerribleFortuneInevitableCivil WarAccomplishedGood And EvilBitternessHeroicGood Fortune
Author:Theodore Roosevelt
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“... looked at from the standpoint of the ultimate result, there was little real difference to the Indian whether the land was taken by treaty or by war. ... No treaty could be satisfactory to the whites, no treaty served the needs of humanity and civilization, unless it gave the land to the Americans as unreservedly as any successful war.”

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Book:The war in the Northwest (cont'd). The Indian wars, 1784-1787. St. Clair and Wayne
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“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.”

MenHandsSchoolCan DoAcceptingPoliticianStriveBelieverPracticalsDecentSundayAbrahamPublic LifeSunday SchoolSturdyDecent Work
Book:Writings
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