Quotessence
Home / Authors / Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

26th U.S. President

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenIfsNationsPeopleShouldPresidentCountryPoliticsHe ManWarWorldDutyDoeStatesMeanPoliticalGovernmentWellsBelievePresidential

Famous Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

“The old parties are husks, with no real soul within either, divided on artificial lines, boss-ridden and privilege-controlled, each a jumble of incongruous elements, and neither daring to speak out wisely and fearlessly on what should be said on the vital issues of the day.”

ShouldSaidRealSoulPoliticalSpeakLinesPartyLibertyIssuesElementsPrivilegeLibertarianBossControlledDividedArtificialDaringLibertarianismSpeaks Out
Book:Theodore Roosevelt on Bravery: Lessons from the Most Courageous Leader of the Twentieth Century
Create image

“The weakling and the coward are out of place in a strong and free community. In a republic like ours the governing class is composed of the strong men who take the trouble to do the work of government; and if you are too timid or too fastidious or too careless to do your part in this work, then you forfeit your right to be considered one of the governing and you become one of the governed insteadone of the driven cattle of the political arena.”

IfsMenGovernmentPoliticalStrongCommunityClassTroubleDrivenCowardRepublicArenaGoverningCarelessCattleStrong ManForfeitFastidious
Book:Works
Create image

“The plea of good intentions is not one that can be allowed to have much weight in passing historical judgment upon a man whose wrong-headedness and distorted way of looking at things produced, or helped to produce, such incalculable evil; there is a wide political applicability in the remark attributed to a famous Texan, to the effect that he might, in the end, pardon a man who shot him on purpose, but that he would surely never forgive one who did so accidentally.”

MenWayEndsMightPoliticalPurposeEvilEffectsProduceJudgmentShotsWeightForgivingHistoricalIntentionWidePassingPassingsRemarksPardonGood IntentionsTexanNever Forgive
Book:Thomas H. Benton
Create image

“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!
Create image

“Any political movement directed against any body of our fellow-citizens because of their religious creed is a grave offense against American principles and American institutions. It is a wicked thing either to support or oppose a man because of the creed he possesses. . . . Such a movement directly contravenes the spirit of the Constitution itself.”

MenStatesBodyPoliticalSpiritChurchReligiousPrinciplesSupportMovementCitizensConstitutionFellowsInstitutionsGravesWickedCreedsOffensePolitical MovementsWicked Things
Book:Fear God and Take Your Own Part
Create image

“A party should not contain utterly incongruous elements, radically divided on the real issues, and acting together only on false and dead issues insincerely painted as real and vital. It should not in the several States as well as in the Nation be prostituted to the service of the baser type of political boss. It should be so composed that there should be a reasonable agreement in the actions taken by it both in the Nation and in the several States. Judged by these standards, both of the old parties break down.”

ShouldWellsRealStatesActionTogetherPoliticalNationsPartyActingBreakIssuesTakenTypeElementsStandardsReasonableAgreementBossDividedJudgedBreaking DownActing Together
Author:Theodore Roosevelt
Create image

“The bosses of the Democratic party and the bosses of the Republican party alike have a closer grip than ever before on the party machines in the States and in the Nation. This crooked control of both the old parties by the beneficiaries of political and business privilege renders it hopeless to expect any far-reaching and fundamental service from either.”

StatesPoliticalNationsPartyRepublicanMachinesFundamentalsDemocraticPrivilegeReachingBossHopelessRepublican PartyDemocratic PartyCrookedBeneficiaries
Author:Theodore Roosevelt
Create image

“The true friend of property, the true conservative, is he who insists that property shall be the servant and not the master of the commonwealth; who insists that the creature of man’s making shall be the servant and not the master of the man who made it. The citizens of the United States must effectively control the mighty commercial forces which they have called into being. There can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains. To put an end to it will be neither a short nor an easy task, but it can be done.”

MenMadeEndsStatesDonePoliticalForceEasyUnitedUnited StatesHe ManMastersCitizensActivityCreaturesTasksRemainsPropertyConservativeMade ItCorporationsServantTrue FriendBeing ThereCommonwealthEasy Tasks
Book:Letters and Speeches
Create image

“The Constitution guarantees protection to property, and we must make that promise good. But it does not give the right of suffrage to any corporation. It is necessary that laws should be passed to prohibit the use of corporate funds directly or indirectly for political purposes; it is still more necessary that such laws should be thoroughly enforced.”

GivingShouldDoeStillsUseLawPoliticalPurposePromiseConstitutionPropertyProtectionCorporateCorporationsGuaranteesFundSuffrage
Book:Letters and Speeches
Create image

“The effort to make financial or political profit out of the destruction of character can only result in public calamity. Gross and reckless assaults on character, whether on the stump or in newspaper, magazine, or book, create a morbid and vicious public sentiment, and at the same time act as a profound deterrent to able men of normal sensitiveness and tend to prevent them from entering the public service at any price.”

MenBookCharacterAblePoliticalResultsEffortNormalDestructionProfoundFinancialProfitNewspapersMagazinesSentimentsAssaultEnteringViciousGrossCalamityRecklessPublic ServiceMorbidDeterrentStumps
Author:Theodore Roosevelt
Create image

“There can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains. To put an end to it will be neither a short nor an easy task, but it can be done ... Corporate expenditures for political purposes, and especially such expenditures by public-service corporations, have supplied one of the principal sources of corruption in our political affairs.”

EndsDonePoliticalPurposeEasySourceActivityTasksRemainsAffairCorruptionCorporateCorporationsPrincipalPublic ServiceExpendituresEasy Tasks
Book:Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia
Create image

“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”

KnowsLoveLifeInspirationalWisdomMotivationalSuccessPoliticalSpiritSufferingHopeWinningEnjoyPoorCourageRiskFailureConfidenceVictoryDefeatDareTriumphGloriousMotivational SportsPatrioticGrayDaringTwilightDefeatedFear Of FailureSuccess And FailureProject ManagementSuccess FailureBe InspiredRankingSource Of LifeCourage StrengthDaring GreatlyEvil SpiritsPast FailuresVictory And DefeatSuccess Is Not MeasuredLift You UpVictory DefeatKnowing ThingsLight Of My LifeDefeated YouVictory And SuccessKnowing BetterCheckered
Author:Theodore Roosevelt
Create image

“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
Create image

“Our government, National and State, must be freed from the sinister influence or control of special interests. Exactly as the special interests of cotton and slavery threatened our political integrity before the Civil War, so now the great special business interests too often control and corrupt the men and methods of government for their own profit. We must drive the special interests out of politics.”

MenWarStatesGovernmentPoliticalInterestInfluenceSpecialIntegrityMethodSlaveryProfitCivil WarThreatenedCottonSpecial InterestsSinister
Book:The Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt: Condensed from the Original Ed., Supplemented by Letters, Speeches, and Other Writings, and Edited with an Introd. by Wayne Andrews
Create image

“Freemasonry must stand upon the Rock of Truth, religion, political, social, and economic. Nothing is so worthy of its care as freedom in all its aspects. "Free" is the most vital part of Freemasonry. It means freedom of thought and expression, freedom of spiritual and religious ideals, freedom from oppression, freedom from ignorance, superstition, vice and bigotry, freedom to acquire and possess property, to go and come at pleasure, and to rise or fall according to will of ability.”

MeanCareSpiritualPoliticalFallSocialReligiousAbilityPleasureEconomicRocksIgnoranceExpressionAspectIdealsPropertyVicesWorthyOppressionAcquireBigotrySuperstitionsFreedom Of ThoughtMasonicFreemasonry
Author:Theodore Roosevelt
Create image