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Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

26th U.S. President

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Famous Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

“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.”

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Book:Theodore Roosevelt's Letters to His Children
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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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“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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“I do not believe there ever was any life more attractive to a vigorous young fellow than life on a cattle ranch in those days. It was a fine, healthy life, too; it taught a man self-reliance, hardihood, and the value of instant decision...I enjoyed the life to the full.”

MenBelieveSelfYoungValuesDecisionTaughtFineHealthyFellowsEnjoyedAttractiveInstantSelf RelianceRelianceVigorousCattleHealthy Life
Book:The Rough Riders: An Autobiography
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“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.”

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Author:Theodore Roosevelt
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“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.”

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Author:Theodore Roosevelt
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“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.”

IfsMenBelieveHelpingPoliticalOrderFightingPoliticsI BelieveInterestCommonLeaderPolicyTradeUnionsBoundsI Believe InEmployeeFactoriesRailroadsWorkmenCommon Interests
Book:Bully!
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“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.”

BelieveMeanMadeCountryStatesWholeGrowthUnitedUnited StatesReadyDemandDisasterForestsOur CountryInevitableHave Faith
Book:Presidential Addresses and State Papers of Theodore Roosevelt: With Portrait Frontispiece
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“I believe that this Republic will endure for many centuries. If so there will doubtless be among its Presidents Protestants and Catholics, and very probably at some time, Jews. I have consistently tried while President to act in relation to my fellow Americans of Catholic faith as I hope that any future President who happens to be Catholic will act towards his fellow Americans of Protestant faith. Had I followed any other course I should have felt that I was unfit to represent the American people.”

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Book:Letters of Theodore Roosevelt: The big stick, 1905-1909
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“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.”

MenShouldMindBelieveTwoSidesProgressTypeWideReactionsProgressiveIntensityModerationModeratesExtremistTwo SidesFervor
Book:The days of Armageddon, 1900-1914
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“The very reason why we object to state ownership, that it puts a stop to individual initiative and to the healthy development of personal responsibility, is the reason why we object to an unsupervised, unchecked monopolistic control in private hands. We urge control and supervision by the nation as an antidote to the movement for state socialism. Those who advocate total lack of regulation, those who advocate lawlessness in the business world, themselves give the strongest impulse to what I believe would be the deadening movement toward unadulterated state socialism.”

WorldGivingBelieveStatesReasonWisdomHandsWould BeIndividualI BelieveNationsResponsibilityMovementObjectsDevelopmentHealthySocialismImpulseReason WhyUrgesStrongestRegulationInitiativeOwnershipAntidotePersonal ResponsibilityBusiness WorldSupervisionLawlessness
Book:History as Literature and Other Essays
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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.”

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Book:The Rough Riders: An Autobiography
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“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.”

PeopleMenShouldBelieveStatesGovernmentCertainI BelieveInterestFailingSpecialHe ManFundamentalsCorporationsOfficersRepresentativesForbiddenCompensationProvisionSpecial InterestsDelegatesInterstateRepresentative Government
Book:Letters and Speeches
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“Believe you can and you're halfway there.”

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Book:Theodore Roosevelt on Bravery: Lessons from the Most Courageous Leader of the Twentieth Century
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