When you're at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on. - Theodore Roosevelt
To befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business & corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day. - Theodore Roosevelt
Do what you can with what you have where you are. - Theodore Roosevelt
It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things. - Theodore Roosevelt
While my interest in natural history has added very little to my sum of achievement, it has added immeasurably to my sum of enjoyment in life. - Theodore Roosevelt
There is a homely old adage which runs: "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." If the American nation will speak softly, and yet build and keep at a pitch of the highest training a thoroughly efficient navy, the Monroe Doctrine will go far. - Theodore Roosevelt
A just war is in the long run far better for a nation's soul than the most prosperous peace obtained by acquiescence in wrong or injustice. - Theodore Roosevelt
I would rather go out of politics having the feeling that I had done what was right than stay in with the approval of all men, knowing in my heart that I have acted as I ought not to. - Theodore Roosevelt
No man needs sympathy because he has to work, because he has a burden to carry. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. - Theodore Roosevelt
Put out the light. - Theodore Roosevelt
Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong. - Theodore Roosevelt
We cannot afford merely to sit down and deplore the evils of city life as inevitable, when cities are constantly growing, both absolutely and relatively. We must set ourselves vigorously about the task of improving them; and this task is now well begun. - Theodore Roosevelt
I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life. - Theodore Roosevelt
The President and the Congress are all very well in their way. They can say what they think they think, but it rests with the Supreme Court to decide what they have really thought. - Theodore Roosevelt
Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don't have the strength. - Theodore Roosevelt
The government is us; WE are the government, you and I."- - Theodore Roosevelt
The existence of any method, standard, custom or practice is no reason for its continuance when a better is offered. - Theodore Roosevelt
To educate a person in the mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society. - Theodore Roosevelt
The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it. - Theodore Roosevelt
The joy of living is his who has the heart to demand it. - Theodore Roosevelt
The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything. - Theodore Roosevelt
To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. - Theodore Roosevelt
In a civilized and cultivated country, wild animals only continue to exist at all when preserved by sportsmen. - Theodore Roosevelt
Each time we face our fear, we gain strength, courage, and confidence in the doing. - Theodore Roosevelt
I represent the public, not public opinion. - Theodore Roosevelt
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. - Theodore Roosevelt
Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike. - Theodore Roosevelt
Do what you can with what you have, where you are. - Theodore Roosevelt
To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society. - Theodore Roosevelt
The conservation of our natural resources and their proper use constitute the fundamental problem which underlies almost every other problem of our national life. - Theodore Roosevelt
When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not Guilty'. - Theodore Roosevelt
Believe you can and you're halfway there. - Theodore Roosevelt
It is not often that a man can make opportunities for himself. But he can put himself in such shape that when or if the opportunities come he is ready. - Theodore Roosevelt
I am an American; free born and free bred, where I acknowledge no man as my superior, except for his own worth, or as my inferior, except for his own demerit. - Theodore Roosevelt
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. - Theodore Roosevelt
A man who has never gone to school may steal a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad. - Theodore Roosevelt
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, "Certainly I can!" - and get busy and find out how to do it. - Theodore Roosevelt
The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything. - Theodore Roosevelt
I am a part of everything that I have read. - Theodore Roosevelt
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft! - Theodore Roosevelt
Any man who tries to excite class hatred, sectional hate, hate of creeds, any kind of hatred in our community, though he may affect to do it in the interest of the class he is addressing, is in the long run with absolute certainly that class's own worst enemy. - Theodore Roosevelt
Aggressive fighting for the right is the greatest sport in the world. - Theodore Roosevelt
Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure , than to take rank with those poor spires who neither enjoy much nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory or defeat. - Theodore Roosevelt
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. - Theodore Roosevelt
I have only a second rate brain, but I think I have a capacity for action. - Theodore Roosevelt
When I say I believe in a square deal i do not mean ... to give every man the best hand. If the cards do not come to any man, or if they do come, and he has not got the power to play them, that is his affair. All I mean is that there shall be no crookedness in the dealing. - Theodore Roosevelt
If there is not the war, you don't get the great general; if there is not a great occasion, you don't get a great statesman; if Lincoln had lived in a time of peace, no one would have known his name. - Theodore Roosevelt
The most practical kind of politics is the politics of decency. - Theodore Roosevelt
Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country. - Theodore Roosevelt
Politeness [is] a sign of dignity, not subservience. - Theodore Roosevelt
It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things. - Theodore Roosevelt
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. - Theodore Roosevelt
No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency. - Theodore Roosevelt
Nine-tenths of wisdom consists in being wise in time. - Theodore Roosevelt
The great virtue of my radicalism lies in the fact that I am perfectly ready, if necessary, to be radical on the conservative side. - Theodore Roosevelt
Far better is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. - Theodore Roosevelt
It's not the critic who counts. Not the man who points out how the doer of deeds might have done them better. Instead, the credit belongs to the man in the arena whose face is marred by sweat and blood and tears. - Theodore Roosevelt
The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased, and not impaired, in value. - Theodore Roosevelt
Let us speak courteously, deal fairly, and keep ourselves armed and ready. - Theodore Roosevelt
Although not a very old man, I have yet lived a great deal in my life, and I have known sorrow too bitter and joy too keen to allow me to become either cast down or elated for more than a very brief period over any success or defeat. - Theodore Roosevelt
Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering. - Theodore Roosevelt
Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground. - Theodore Roosevelt
No man is above the law, and no man is below it. - Theodore Roosevelt
The decisions of the courts on economic and social questions depend on their economic and social philosophy. - Theodore Roosevelt
In this country we have no place for hyphenated Americans. - Theodore Roosevelt
People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care - Theodore Roosevelt
Comparison is the thief of joy. - Theodore Roosevelt
Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president. - Theodore Roosevelt
To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, right or wrong - is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. - Theodore Roosevelt
We are face to face with our destiny and we must meet it with high and resolute 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. - Theodore Roosevelt
The wild life of today is not ours to do with as we please. The original stock was given to us in trust for the benefit both of the present and the future. We must render an accounting of this trust to those who come after us. - Theodore Roosevelt
No man should receive a dollar unless that dollar has been fairly earned. - Theodore Roosevelt
Peace is normally a great good, and normally it coincides with righteousness, but it is righteousness and not peace which should bind the conscience of a nation as it should bind the conscience of an individual; and neither a nation nor an individual can surrender conscience to another's keeping. - Theodore Roosevelt
A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user. - Theodore Roosevelt
When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not guilty.' - Theodore Roosevelt
Wars are, of course, as a rule to be avoided; but they are far better than certain kinds of peace. - Theodore Roosevelt
The lack of power to take joy in outdoor nature is as real a misfortune as the lack of power to take joy in books - Theodore Roosevelt
A people without children would face a hopeless future; a country without trees is almost as helpless. - Theodore Roosevelt
Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well. - Theodore Roosevelt
Aggressive fighting for the right is the noblest sport the world affords. - Theodore Roosevelt
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. - Theodore Roosevelt
No foreign policy-no matter how ingenious-has any chance of success if it is born in the minds of few and carried in the hearts of many. - Theodore Roosevelt
Far better it is 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 the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat. - Theodore Roosevelt
Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. - Theodore Roosevelt
A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education. - Theodore Roosevelt
The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it. - Theodore Roosevelt
Practical efficiency is common, and lofty idealism not uncommon; it is the combination which is necessary, and the combination is rare - Theodore Roosevelt
Spend and be spent. - Theodore Roosevelt
This was my first real lesson in politics… If you are cast on a desert island with only a screwdriver, hatchet, and the chisel to make a boat with, why, go and make the best one you can. It would be better if you had a saw, but you haven't, so with men. - Theodore Roosevelt
It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. - Theodore Roosevelt
I f he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. - Theodore Roosevelt
No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care - Theodore Roosevelt
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it. - Theodore Roosevelt
Of all forms of tyranny the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of plutocracy. - Theodore Roosevelt
No, I'm not a good shot, but I shoot often. - Theodore Roosevelt
Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children's children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance. - Theodore Roosevelt
When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer "Present" or "Not Guilty." - Theodore Roosevelt
If I must choose between righteousness and peace, I choose righteousness. - Theodore Roosevelt
The death-knell of the republic had rung as soon as the active power became lodged in the hands of those who sought, not to do justice to all citizens, rich and poor alike, but to stand for one special class and for its interests as opposed to the interests of others. - Theodore Roosevelt
When you play, play hard; when you work, don't play at all. - Theodore Roosevelt
Be practical as well as generous in your ideals. Keep your eyes on the stars, but remember to keep your feet on the ground. - Theodore Roosevelt
Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far. - Theodore Roosevelt