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Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

26th U.S. President

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Famous Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

“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.”

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Author:Theodore Roosevelt
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“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.”

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Book:Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia
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“I am delighted to have you play football. I believe in rough, manly sports. But I do not believe in them if they degenerate into the sole end of any one's existence. I don't want you to sacrifice standing well in your studies to any over-athleticism; and I need not tell you that character counts for a great deal more than either intellect or body in winning success in life. Athletic proficiency is a mighty good servant, and like so many other good servants, a mighty bad master.”

IfsWantNeedsBelieveWellsEndsPlayCharacterBodyWinningI BelieveSportsDealsExistenceStudySacrificeFootballMastersStandingI Believe InIntellectSoccerServantRoughSoleSuccess In LifeAthleticDelightedManlyDegeneratesProficiencyAthleticism
Book:Theodore Roosevelt's Letters to His Children
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“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.”

CountryStatesSchoolUsedPurposeReligionChurchAtheismParticularPresidentialCreedsPublic SchoolChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateAdvancingSeparation Between Church And StateFounding Fathers Atheist
Book:Fear God and Take Your Own Part
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“Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work must no longer be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits.”

HappinessJoyLyingEffortMoralCreativeAchievementMadMereForgottenProfitPossessionThrillStimulation
Book:Inaugural Speeches from the Presidents of the United States - Complete Edition
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“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.”

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Book:Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents Section 2 (of 2) of Supplemental Volume: Theodore Roosevelt, Supplement
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“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.”

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Author:Theodore Roosevelt
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“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.”

IfsWantNeedsBelieveSelfHardBigsAbleLastsSportsChanceQualityObjectsFootballTrainingMathematicsBoxingProportionFacultyLatinI Want YouContestsInspirational SportsAdequateAlways BelievePluckGo Hard
Book:A Bully Father: Theodore Roosevelt's Letters to His Children
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“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.”

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Book:Presidential addresses and state papers
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“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.”

IfsChildrenGovernmentFightingLibertySupportRightsGenerationsLandCitizensStandardsResourcesCapacityFunctionOur ChildrenPopulationPursuitContinentsPursuit Of HappinessHereafterLivelihoodDegradeStandards Of LivingThis GenerationLife Liberty And The Pursuit Of HappinessRights To Life
Author:Theodore Roosevelt
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“There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness, that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy and its charm. There is a delight in the hardy life of the open... Apart from this, yet mingled with it, is the strong attraction of the silent places, of the large tropic moons, and the splendor of the new stars; where the wanderer sees the awful glory of sunrise and sunset in the wide waste spaces of the earth, unworn of man, and changed only by the slow change of the ages through time everlasting.”

MenAgeEarthSpiritStrongStarsSpaceMysteryChangedMoonWasteGlorySilentDelightWideAttractionAwfulCharmSunsetWildernessMelancholySunriseEverlastingSplendorRough TimesHardyWanderersSunrise And Sunset
Author:Theodore Roosevelt
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“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.”

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Book:Roosevelt's Writings: Selections from the Writings of Theodore Roosevelt
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“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.”

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Author:Theodore Roosevelt
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“Willful sterility is, from the standpoint of the nation, from the standpoint of the human race, the one sin for which the penalty is national death, race death; a sin for which there is no atonement. No man, no woman, can shirk the primary duties of life, whether for love of ease and pleasure, or for any other cause, and retain his or her self-respect.”

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Book:Message of the President of the United States Communicated to the Two Houses of Congress at the Beginning of the Second Session of the Fifty-ninth Congress
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“There is something to be said for government by a great aristocracy which has furnished leaders to the nation in peace and war for generations; even a democrat like myself must admit this. But there is absolutely nothing to be said for government by a plutocracy, for government by men very powerful in certain lines and gifted with the money touch, but with ideals which in their essence are merely those of so many glorified pawnbrokers.”

MenSaidWarGovernmentCertainNationsPeaceLinesPowerfulLeaderGenerationsIdealsEssenceDemocratGiftedVery PowerfulAbsolutely NothingAristocracyPlutocracy
Book:The days of Armageddon, 1900-1914
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“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.”

I CanCareNaturalAnimalInterestingDealsBirdFishesEnormousBrandsCaliforniaBeastFormidablePeachesNatural HistoryReptilesInvertebrates
Book:Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia
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“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.”

IfsPurposeHumanityPowerEffectsChiefsUselessSpellsLackingCalamityUsefulnessCombining
Book:Theodore Roosevelt on Bravery: Lessons from the Most Courageous Leader of the Twentieth Century
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“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.”

IfsBelieveFactsProblemFacesFightingEvilVirtueBalanceOptimismDeedsSolveFoolishGravesSurrenderPessimismThreateningIgnoble
Book:Theodore Roosevelt on Bravery: Lessons from the Most Courageous Leader of the Twentieth Century
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“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.”

ShouldImportantPresidentCriticismPleasantTelling The TruthPublic ServantsNothing But The TruthUnpatrioticSpeak Softly
Book:1914-1919
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