Quotessence
Home / Authors / Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

26th U.S. President

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenIfsNationsPeopleShouldPresidentCountryPoliticsHe ManWarWorldDutyDoeStatesMeanPoliticalGovernmentWellsBelievePresidential

Famous Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

“There is something to be said for government by a great aristocracy which has furnished leaders to the nation in peace and war for generations; even a democrat like myself must admit this. But there is absolutely nothing to be said for government by a plutocracy, for government by men very powerful in certain lines and gifted with the money touch, but with ideals which in their essence are merely those of so many glorified pawnbrokers.”

MenSaidWarGovernmentCertainNationsPeaceLinesPowerfulLeaderGenerationsIdealsEssenceDemocratGiftedVery PowerfulAbsolutely NothingAristocracyPlutocracy
Book:The days of Armageddon, 1900-1914
Create image

“The most ultimately righteous of all wars is a war with savages, though it is apt to be also the most terrible and inhuman. The rude, fierce settler who drives the savage from the land lays all civilized mankind under a debt to him. ...[I]t is of incalculable importance that America, Australia, and Siberia should pass out of the hands of their red, black, and yellow aboriginal owners, and become the heritage of the dominant world races.”

WorldShouldWarHandsAmericaBlackRaceLandMankindTerribleRedImportanceLaysDebtAustraliaOwnersCivilizedHeritageYellowRighteousFierceSavagesDominantRudeInhumanAboriginalSettlersSiberia
Author:Theodore Roosevelt
Create image

“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
Create image

“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.”

MenShouldBelieveLongWarSelfOrderIndividualStrongI BelieveNationsViolenceMen And WomenWeakInjusticeAlternativesPreparationMotiveSelf RespectExpensesBullyingSanityUnjustBloodshedDishonorAvertUnjust War
Book:The Rough Riders: An Autobiography
Create image

“... the Armenian massacre was the greatest crime of the war, and the failure to act against Turkey is to condone it ... the failure to deal radically with the Turkish horror means that all talk of guaranteeing the future peace of the world is mischievous nonsense.”

WorldMeanWarDealsCrimeHorrorNonsenseGenocideTurkeysTurkishMassacresMischievousArmeniansArmeniaArmenian GenocideFailure To Act
Book:Letters: The days of Armageddon, 1909-1914
Create image

“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.”

PeopleMenWarStatesDoneWholeEyeRememberEvilNationsSidesDarkForgetUnitedUnited StatesStruggleRevolutionPridePeriodsTerribleFortuneInevitableCivil WarAccomplishedGood And EvilBitternessHeroicGood Fortune
Author:Theodore Roosevelt
Create image

“... looked at from the standpoint of the ultimate result, there was little real difference to the Indian whether the land was taken by treaty or by war. ... No treaty could be satisfactory to the whites, no treaty served the needs of humanity and civilization, unless it gave the land to the Americans as unreservedly as any successful war.”

NeedsLittlesWarRealHumanityDifferencesResultsSuccessfulTakenLandCivilizationUltimateIndianStandpointTreaties
Book:The war in the Northwest (cont'd). The Indian wars, 1784-1787. St. Clair and Wayne
Create image

“Germany has reduced savagery to a science, and this great war for the victorious peace of justice must go on until the German cancer is cut clean out of the world body.”

WorldWarBodyJusticeCuttingGoes OnCleanCancerGermanyGreat WarCancer SurvivorSavagery
Book:Newer Roosevelt messages: speeches, letters and magazine articles dealing with the war, before and after, and other vital topics
Create image

“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!”

IfsMenWorldShouldFirstsWellsMayMeanWarBodyAbleStepsClassTeachPracticeMilitaryGoes OnCitizensFitGunPreparationFirst StepsGun ControlMiscellaneousRiflesPro GunHandgunsAvertTime Goes OnMilitary ServiceAnti Gun
Author:Theodore Roosevelt
Create image

“Of all the questions which can come before this nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us.”

WarNationsExistenceLandTasksImportanceLeavingComparePresidentialConservationPreservationDescendantsGreat WarTeddyLand Conservation
Book:Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia
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