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Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

26th U.S. President

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Famous Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

“The men of wealth who today are trying to prevent the regulation and control of their business in the interest of the public by the proper government authorities will not succeed, in my judgment, in checking the progress of the movement. But if they did succeed they would find that they had sown the wind and would surely reap the whirlwind, for they would ultimately provoke the violent excesses which accompany a reform coming by convulsion instead of by steady and natural growth.”

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Author:Theodore Roosevelt
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“Unjust war is to be abhorred; but woe to the nation that does not make ready to hold its own in time of need against all who would harm it! And woe thrice over to the nation in which the average man loses the fighting edge, loses the power to serve as a soldier if the day of need should arise!”

IfsMenNeedsShouldDoeWarFightingNationsLosesReadySoldierAverageEdgesHarmAriseUnjustWoeAverage ManTime Of NeedThriceUnjust War
Book:History as Literature and Other Essays
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“Life is as if you were traveling a ridge crest. You have the gulf of inefficiency on one side and the gulf of wickedness on the other, and it helps not to have avoided one gulf if you fall into the other.”

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

PeopleIfsShouldBelieveHappensCoursesI BelieveFeltPresidentAtheismCenturyShould HaveRelationCatholicFellowsEndureJewPositive AtheismRepublicConsistentlyProtestantsCatholic Faith
Book:Letters of Theodore Roosevelt: The big stick, 1905-1909
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“In other words, character is far more important than intellect to the race as to the individual. We need intellect, and there is no reason why we should not have it together with character; but if we must choose between the two we choose character without a moment's hesitation.”

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Book:The Works of Theodore Roosevelt: American ideals, with a biographical sketch by F. V. Greene. Administration
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“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
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“If, in any individual, university training produces a taste for refined idleness, a distaste for sustained effort, a barren intellectual arrogance, or a sense of superfluous aloofness from the world of real men who do the world's real work, then it has harmed that individual.”

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Author:Theodore Roosevelt
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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.”

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Book:The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses
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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.”

IfsMenShouldFirstsFactsHe ManBecomingImmigrationTreatedImmigrantsIllegalCreedsPatriotUnited States Of AmericaOutrageMigrantsIllegal ImmigrantsIllegal ImmigrationGood FaithAmerican FlagAmerican PatriotismAmerican PatriotAmericanismIllegal AliensBirthplaceUsa PatrioticImmigration PolicyInspirational PatrioticLegal ImmigrationComing To America
Book:Letters of Theodore Roosevelt: The days of Armageddon, 1900-1914
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“If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month.”

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Book:Theodore Roosevelt on Bravery: Lessons from the Most Courageous Leader of the Twentieth Century
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“A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.”

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Author:Theodore Roosevelt
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“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.”

IfsLifeI CanWisdomMotivationalJobsSuccessPoliticalPoliticsCan DoBusinessLearningOptimismManagementEntrepreneurBusyProductivityOptimisticEntrepreneurshipEmsTime ManagementSeekersSelf EducationRecruitmentBusiness OpportunityBeing BusyInspirational CareerPlacementMotivational JobJob Opportunities
Book:Theodore Roosevelt on Bravery: Lessons from the Most Courageous Leader of the Twentieth Century
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“The great body of our citizens shoot less as times goes on. We should encourage rifle practice among schoolboys, and indeed among all classes, as well as in the military services by every means in our power. Thus, and not otherwise, may we be able to assist in preserving peace in the world... The first step – in the direction of preparation to avert war if possible, and to be fit for war if it should come – is to teach men to shoot!”

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Author:Theodore Roosevelt
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