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Quotes by Theodore Roosevelt

26th president of US (1858 - 1919)

A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

The great virtue of my radicalism lies in the fact that I am perfectly ready, if necessary, to be radical on the conservative side.

CP When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not guilty.'

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.

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.

Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

Put out the light.

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.

Do what you can with what you have, where you are.

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.

Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft!

Practical efficiency is common, and lofty idealism not uncommon; it is the combination which is necessary, and the combination is rare

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.

Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.

When you play, play hard; when you work, don't play at all.

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.

Of all forms of tyranny the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of plutocracy.

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.

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.

If I must choose between righteousness and peace, I choose righteousness.

No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency.

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.

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.

Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.

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.

A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.

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.

Spend and be spent.

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.

Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president.

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.

Do what you can with what you have where you are.

The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.

CP When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer "Present" or "Not Guilty."

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.

Nine-tenths of wisdom consists in being wise in time.

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.