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Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

26th U.S. President

Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. A progressive leader, he is known for his advocacy of the conservation movement, expansion of federal government regulation, and efforts to improve the lives of American citizens.

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Famous Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

“The man of great wealth owes a peculiar obligation to the state because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government.”

Men States Government Wealth Existence Special He Man Advantage Economics Mere Obligation Inequality Peculiar

Book:In the Words of Theodore Roosevelt: Quotations from the Man in the Arena

Source: In the Words of Theodore Roosevelt: Quotations from the Man in the Arena

“To exist as a nation, to prosper as a state, and to live as a people, we must have trees.”

People States Nations Tree Garden

Author:Theodore Roosevelt

“We have room for but one loyalty, loyalty to the United States.”

States United Rooms United States Military Loyalty

Author:Theodore Roosevelt

“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.”

“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.”

Country States School Used Purpose Religion Church Atheism Particular Presidential Creeds Public School Church And State Separation Of Church And State Advancing Separation Between Church And State Founding Fathers Atheist

Book:Fear God and Take Your Own Part

Source: Fear God and Take Your Own Part

“If an American is to amount to anything he must rely upon himself, and not upon the State; he must take pride in his own work, instead of sitting idle to envy the luck of others. He must face life with resolute courage, win victory if he can, and accept defeat if he must, without seeking to place on his fellow man a responsibility which is not theirs.”

Source: The Bully Pulpit: A Teddy Roosevelt Book of Quotations

“To discriminate against a thoroughly upright citizen because he belongs to some particular church, or because, like Abraham Lincoln, he has not avowed his allegiance to any church, is an outrage against the liberty of conscience, which is one of the foundations of American life.”

States Church Liberty Particular Citizens Conscience Foundation Separation Presidential Church And State Allegiance Outrage Abraham Separation Of Church And State American Life Separation Between Church And State

Book:Americanism in Religion

Source: Americanism in Religion

“In the history of mankind many republics have risen, have flourished for a less or greater time, and then have fallen because their citizens lost the power of governing themselves and thereby of governing their state; and in no way has this loss of power been so often and so clearly shown as in the tendency to turn the government into a government primarily for the benefit of one class instead of a government for the benefit of the people as a whole.”

Source: Addresses and Presidential Messages of Theodore Roosevelt, 1902-1904

“In the Western Hemisphere the adherence of the United States to the Monroe Doctrine may force the United States, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of such wrong doing or impotence, to the exercise of an international police power.”

May States Force United Cases Power United States Exercise Police Western International Doctrine Impotence Hemisphere Adherence Police Power Monroe Doctrine

Author:Theodore Roosevelt

“Personally I have never been able to understand why the head of a big business, whether it be the Nation, the State or the Army, or Navy should not desire to have very strong and positive people under him.”

People Should States Bigs Able Desire Strong Nations Army Teamwork Very Strong Navy Big Business Positive People

Book:1898-1903

Source: 1898-1903

“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.”

Should Believe Ends States Law Nations Industry Ought Standards Bases Paid Determine Various Minimum Wages Sanctions Minimum Wage Massachusetts Living Wage

Author:Theodore Roosevelt

“A man must first care for his own household before he can be of use to the state. But no matter how well he cares for his household, he is not a good citizen unless he also takes thought of the state. In the same way, a great nation must think of its own internal affairs; and yet it cannot substantiate its claim to be a great nation unless it also thinks of its position in the world at large.”

Thinking Men World Way Firsts Wells Matter States Use Care Nations Position Citizens Claims Affair Internals Household Great Nations Good Citizen Internal Affairs

Author:Theodore Roosevelt

“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.”

Wells Has Beens States Moments Past President United Enemy Cases United States Support Duty Degrees Benefits Dues Loyalty All Time Telling The Truth Wilson Public Enemies

Book:Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia

Source: Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia

“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.”

Source: Fear God and Take Your Own Part

“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.”

“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.”

Believe Mean Made Country States Whole Growth United United States Ready Demand Disaster Forests Our Country Inevitable Have Faith

Book:Presidential Addresses and State Papers of Theodore Roosevelt: With Portrait Frontispiece

Source: Presidential Addresses and State Papers of Theodore Roosevelt: With Portrait Frontispiece

“All constitutions, those of the States no less than that of the nation, are designed, and must be interpreted and administered so as to fit human rights.”

Humans States Nations Rights Fit Constitution Human Rights

Book:In the Words of Theodore Roosevelt: Quotations from the Man in the Arena

Source: In the Words of Theodore Roosevelt: Quotations from the Man in the Arena

“The general tendency towards an eight-hour working day has undoubtedly been healthful, and it is wise for the State to set a good example as an employer of labor, both as to the number of hours of labor exacted and as to paying a just and reasonable wage.”

States Hours Numbers Wise Example Labor Eight Tendencies Reasonable Employers Good Examples

Author:Theodore Roosevelt

“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.”

Should Wells Real States Action Together Political Nations Party Acting Break Issues Taken Type Elements Standards Reasonable Agreement Boss Divided Judged Breaking Down Acting Together

Author:Theodore Roosevelt

“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.”

States Political Nations Party Republican Machines Fundamentals Democratic Privilege Reaching Boss Hopeless Republican Party Democratic Party Crooked Beneficiaries

Author:Theodore Roosevelt

“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.”

World Giving Believe States Would Be Politics I Believe Economy Movement Socialism Impulse Liberalism Strongest Regulation Business World Lawlessness

Book:History as Literature and Other Essays

Source: History as Literature and Other Essays

“Because we are unqualifiedly and without reservation against any system of denominational schools, maintained by the adherents of any creed with the help of state aid, therefore, we as strenuously insist that the public schools shall be free from sectarian influences, and above all, free from any attitude of hostility to the adherents of any particular creed.”

States Helping School Attitude Atheism Influence Particular Positive Atheism Aids Creeds Public School Hostility Reservations

Book:Writings

Source: Writings

“The United States does not have a choice as to whether or not is will or will not play a great part in the world. Fate has made that choice for us. The only question is whether we will play the part well or badly.”

World Wells Doe Made States Play Choices United United States Fate

Author:Theodore Roosevelt

“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.”

Source: History as Literature and Other Essays

“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.”

Source: Letters and Speeches

“To have acted otherwise ... would have been the betrayal of the interests of the United States.”

Has Beens States Interest United United States Betrayal

Author:Theodore Roosevelt

“Where a trust becomes a monopoly the state has an immediate right to interfere.”

States Interfere Monopoly

Book:In the Words of Theodore Roosevelt: Quotations from the Man in the Arena

Source: In the Words of Theodore Roosevelt: Quotations from the Man in the Arena

“It [the Civil War] was a heroic struggle; and, as is inevitable with all such struggles, it had also a dark and terrible side. Very much was done of good, and much also of evil; and, as was inevitable in such a period of revolution, often the same man did both good and evil. For our great good fortune as a nation, we, the people of the United States as a whole, can now afford to forget the evil, or, at least, to remember it without bitterness, and to fix our eyes with pride only on the good that was accomplished.”

“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.”

Source: Letters and Speeches

“The absence of effective State, and, especially, national, restraint upon unfair money-getting has tended to create a small class of enormously wealthy and economically powerful men, whose chief object is to hold and increase their power. The prime need is to change the conditions which enable these men to accumulate power which is not for the general welfare that they should hold or exercise. We grudge no man a fortune which represents his own power and sagacity, when exercised with entire regard to the welfare of his fellows.”

Source: The Complete Works of Theodore Roosevelt

“The Americans of other blood must remember that the man who in good faith and without reservations gives up another country for this must in return receive exactly the same rights, not merely legal, but social and spiritual, that other Americans proudly possess. We of the United States belong to a new and separate nationality. We are all Americans and nothing else, and each, without regard to his birthplace, creed, or national origin, is entitled to exactly the same rights as all other Americans.”

Source: Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star: War-time Editorials

“Perhaps the most incapable Executive that ever filled the presidential chair...it would be difficult to imagine a man less fit to guide the state with honor and safety through the stormy times that marked the opening of the present century.”

Men States Would Be Difficult Imagine Century Honor Fit Safety Filled Guides Opening Presidential Chairs Executives Incapable Stormy

Book:The Naval War of 1812, Or, The History of the United States Navy During the Last War with Great Britain: To which is Appended an Account of the Battle of New Orleans

Source: The Naval War of 1812, Or, The History of the United States Navy During the Last War with Great Britain: To which is Appended an Account of the Battle of New Orleans

“A healthy state can exist only when the men and women who make it up lead clean, vigorous, healthy lives; when the children are so trained that they shall endeavor, not to shirk difficulties, but to overcome them; not to seek ease, but to know how to wrest triumph from toil and risk.”

Knows Men Children States Know How Risk He Man Healthy Men And Women Overcoming Difficulty Clean Triumph Ease Endeavor Toil Vigorous Healthy Life Shirk

Book:The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses

Source: The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses

“The great corporations which we have grown to speak of rather loosely as trusts are the creatures of the State, and the State not only has the right to control them, but it is duty bound to control them wherever the need of such control is shown.”

Needs States Speak Duty Creatures Bounds Corporations

Book:Presidential Addresses and State Papers of Theodore Roosevelt

Source: Presidential Addresses and State Papers of Theodore Roosevelt

“I am a strong individualist by personal habit, inheritance, and conviction; but it is a mere matter of common sense to recognize that the State, the community, the citizens acting together, can do a number of things better than if they were left to individual action.”

Ifs Matter States Action Together Individual Left Strong Can Do Community Common Numbers Acting Habit Citizens Unity Mere Conviction Common Sense Inheritance Acting Together

Author:Theodore Roosevelt

“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.”

Men War States Government Political Interest Influence Special Integrity Method Slavery Profit Civil War Threatened Cotton Special Interests Sinister

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

Source: 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

“In speaking to you men of the greatest city of the West, men of the state which gave to the country Lincoln and Grant, men who preeminently and distinctly embody all that is most American in the American character, I wish to preach not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life.”

Men Life Country States Character Wish Cities West Doctrine Ease Grants Ignoble American Character

Author:Theodore Roosevelt

“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.”