Quotessence
Home / Authors / Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

26th U.S. President

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenIfsNationsPeopleShouldPresidentCountryPoliticsHe ManWarWorldDutyDoeStatesMeanPoliticalGovernmentWellsBelievePresidential

Famous Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

“Conservation means development as much as it does protection. I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land; but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful use, the generations that come after us.”

MeanDoeUseNatureNaturalGenerationsLandDutyDevelopmentWasteResourcesProtectionConservationDinosaursNatural ResourcesThis GenerationNature ConservationLand ConservationSmart GrowthProtect Nature
Book:The Bully Pulpit: A Teddy Roosevelt Book of Quotations
Create image

“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.”

IfsFirstsChildrenImportantCountryNaturalTreeDutyElementsResourcesOur ChildrenForestsConservationNatural Resources
Book:Presidential addresses and state papers
Create image

“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.”

MenLoveHumansSelfNationsCausesSinPleasureRaceDutyPrimariesEaseHuman RaceSelf RespectPenaltiesStandpointAtonementProcreationLove RespectShirkDeath Race
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
Create image

“A soft, easy life is not worth living, if it impairs the fibre of brain and heart and muscle. We must dare to be great; and we must realize that greatness is the fruit of toil and sacrifice and high courage... 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.”

IfsHeartRunningActionLife IsEasyRealizingBrainRiskSacrificeGreatnessDutyPerformancesFruitStriveDareMusclesToilWorth LivingHarnessTeddyEasy LifeHeart And BrainLife Is Not Worth LivingLeadership CourageDare To Be Great
Book:The Works of Theodore Roosevelt
Create image

“The men and women who have the right ideals . . . are those who have the courage to strive for the happiness which comes only with labor and effort and self-sacrifice, and those whose joy in life springs in part from power of work and sense of duty.”

MenLifeSelfJoyEffortCourageSacrificeHe ManDutySpringMen And WomenIdealsLaborStrivePhilanthropySelf Sacrifice
Book:Theodore Roosevelt on Bravery: Lessons from the Most Courageous Leader of the Twentieth Century
Create image

“On the whole, we think that the greatest victories are yet to be won, the greatest deeds yet to be done, and that there are yet in store for our peoples, and for the causes that we uphold, grander triumphs than have ever yet been scored. But be this as it may, we gladly agree that the one plain duty of every man is to face the future as he faces the present, regardless of what it may have in store for him, turning toward the light as he sees the light, to play his part manfully, as a man among men.”

ThinkingMenMayDonePlayWholeLightFacesCausesDutyVictoryAgreeDeedsStoresEvery ManTriumphGreatest Victory
Book:The Works of Theodore Roosevelt: American ideals and other essays, social and political
Create image

“The true Christians are the true citizens, lofty of purpose, resolute in endeavor, ready for a hero's deeds, but never looking down on their task because it is cast in the day of small things; scornful of baseness, awake to their own duties as well as to their rights, following the higher law with reverence, and in this world doing all that in their power lies, so that when death comes they may feel that humanity is in some degree better because they lived.”

WorldFeelsWellsMayChristianLawLyingPurposeHumanityChristianityRightsThis WorldReadyDutyHeroHigherCitizensDegreesTasksCastsFollowingDeedsAwakeEndeavorReverenceSmall ThingsLoftyResoluteLooking DownBasenessHigher Law
Author:Theodore Roosevelt
Create image

“Every man among us is more fit to meet the duties and responsibilities of citizenship because of the perils over which, in the past, the nation has triumphed; because of the blood and sweat and tears, the labor and the anguish, through which, in the days that have gone, our forefathers moved on to triumph.”

MenPastNationsResponsibilityGoneBloodTearsDutyFitLaborMovedEvery ManTriumphSweatCitizenshipAnguishPerilForefathersMoved OnSweat And TearsBlood And Sweat
Author:Theodore Roosevelt
Create image

“Our loyalty is due entirely to the United States. It is due to the President only and exactly to the degree in which he efficiently serves the United States. It is our duty to support him when he serves the United States well. It is our duty to oppose him when he serves it badly. This is true about Mr. Wilson now and it has been true about all our Presidents in the past. It is our duty at all times to tell the truth about the President and about every one else, save in the cases where to tell the truth at the moment would benefit the public enemy.”

WellsHas BeensStatesMomentsPastPresidentUnitedEnemyCasesUnited StatesSupportDutyDegreesBenefitsDuesLoyaltyAll TimeTelling The TruthWilsonPublic Enemies
Book:Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia
Create image

“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.”

MenGovernmentFormBusinessRightsDutyHarmonyInstitutionsPropertyPrivilegeLimitationCorporateCorporationsContractsTruthfulRepresentationProperty Rights
Author:Theodore Roosevelt
Create image

“The supreme duty of the Nation is the conservation of human resources through an enlightened measure of social and industrial justice. We pledge ourselves to work unceasingly in State and Nation for ... the protection of home life against the hazards of sickness, irregular employment and old age through the adoption of a system of social insurance adapted to American use.”

HumansStatesUseHomeAgeNationsSocialJusticeDutyResourcesProtectionSupremeOld AgeEmploymentSicknessEnlightenedAdoptionConservationPledgeAdaptedHazardsHuman ResourcesHome Life
Author:Theodore Roosevelt
Create image

“Great corporations exist only because they are created and safeguarded by our institutions; and it is therefore our right and duty to see that they work in harmony with these institutions.”

DutyHarmonyInstitutionsCorporations
Book:Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents Section 2 (of 2) of Supplemental Volume: Theodore Roosevelt, Supplement
Create image

“When the time of danger comes, all Americans, whatever their social standing, whatever their creed, whatever the training they have received, no matter from what section of the country they have come, stand together as men, as Americans, and are content to face the same fate and do the same duties because fundamentally they all alike have the common purpose to serve the glorious flag of their common country.”

MenCountryMatterTogetherFacesPurposeSocialCommonFateDangerDutyTrainingStandingGloriousFlagsCreedsSectionsCommon Purpose
Author:Theodore Roosevelt
Create image

“A man's usefulness depends on his living up to his ideals insofar as he can. It is hard to fail but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. All daring and courage, all iron endurance of misfortune, make for a finer, nobler type of manhood. Only those are fit to live who do not fear to die; and none are fit to die who have shrunk from the joy of life and the duty of life.”

MenHardJoyDiesFailingDutyTypeDependsFitSucceedIdealsIronEnduranceMisfortunesDaringManhoodUsefulnessJoy Of LifeDo Not Fear
Book:Theodore Roosevelt's America: Selections from the Writings of the Oyster Bay Naturalist
Create image

“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.”

IfsMenNeedsWellsSoulEndsDoneLife IsJoyFoundEnjoyPleasureConditionsDutyCapableBurdenHonestlyPursuitTraitsSmallestTrue HappinessTruestUsefulnessLife HappinessJoy Of LifeSequelsEnd Of Life
Author:Theodore Roosevelt
Create image

“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.”

MenFirstsGovernmentAmericaLinesWealthRichHonestDutyTheorySafetyPrivilegeProsperityWealthyDividesCreedsSectionsGet RichHonest ManEnmityCastesPlutocracyGet Rich QuickTheory Of LifeSafety First
Author:Theodore Roosevelt
Create image

“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.”

PeopleHas BeensFactsEarthGivenNationsResponsibilityGreatnessDutyRelationExpectedBehaveGreat NationsShirk
Book:The Complete Works of Theodore Roosevelt
Create image

“The immigrant must not be allowed to drift or to be put at the mercy of the exploiter. Our object is not to imitate one of the older racial types, but to maintain a new American type and then to secure loyalty to this type. We cannot secure such loyalty unless we make this a country where men shall feel that they have justice and also where they shall feel that they are required to perform the duties imposed upon them.”

MenFeelsCountryJusticeObjectsDutyTypeMercyLoyaltySecureImmigrants
Book:Fear God and Take Your Own Part
Create image

“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.”

ThinkingMenDoeAmericaFacesFightingLevelsViewsWifeHe ManDutySakeGermanyQuarrelsInfamous
Book:Newer Roosevelt messages: speeches, letters and magazine articles dealing with the war, before and after, and other vital topics
Create image

“Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.”

MeanDoeCountryTruthPresidentSupportFailingEventsDutyDegreesOfficialsTelling The TruthPatriotismPatrioticDissentInefficiencyPublic OfficialsUnpatriotic
Book:Theodore Roosevelt on Bravery: Lessons from the Most Courageous Leader of the Twentieth Century
Create image

“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.”

RunningActionRiskDutyPerformancesArmyStriveHarnessTeddyLeadership CourageDare To Be Great
Book:Theodore Roosevelt on Bravery: Lessons from the Most Courageous Leader of the Twentieth Century
Create image

“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.”

WholeSpiritPurposeNaturalEnvironmentGenerationsMovementDutyResourcesMethodDemocraticIncludingMinoritiesHeritageConservationWildlifeUnbornNatural ResourcesPresent DayWildlife Conservation
Book:The Green Roosevelt: Theodore Roosevelt in Appreciation of Wilderness, Wildlife, and Wild Places
Create image

“I ask of each Mason, of each member, of each brother, that he shall remember ever that there is upon him a peculiar obligation to show himself in every respect a good citizen; for after all, the way he can best do his duty by the ancient order to which he belongs is by reflecting credit upon that order by way in which he performs his duty as a citizen of the United States.”

WayStatesShowsRememberOrderAsksUnitedUnited StatesBrotherDutyCitizensMembersAncientCreditObligationPeculiarReflectingGood CitizenMasonsMasonic
Author:Theodore Roosevelt
Create image