quotes by Theodore Roosevelt

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if 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

"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."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"Believe you can and you're halfway there."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."
— 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

"To educate a person in the mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first and love of soft living and the get-rich-quick theory of life."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month."
— Theodore Roosevelt

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

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

"In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"I am a part of everything that I have read."
— 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

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

"Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"When you play, play hard; when you work, don't play at all."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"If given the choice between Righteousness and Peace, I choose Righteousness."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"Only those are fit to live who do not fear to die; and none are fit to die who have shrunk from the joy of life and the duty of life. Both life and death are parts of the same Great Adventure."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"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!"
— 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

"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

"I am only an average man, but by George, I work harder at it than the average man."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"The joy in life is his who has the heart to demand it."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"All we have to fear is fear itself."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"Knowing what's right doesn't mean much unless you do what's right."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"To waste, to destroy our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care"
— Theodore Roosevelt

"For better it is to do mighty things, to dream of glorious triumph, even though checked by defeats, than to take part with those poor souls who neither do much, nor suffer much because they live in the grey twilight that knows neither victory or defeat."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"A good many of you are probably acquainted with the old proverb, “Speak softly and carry a big stick — you will go far.” If a man continually blusters, if he lacks civility, a big stick will not save him from trouble, and neither will speaking softly avail, if back of the softness there does not lie strength, power."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"In life, as in football, the principle to follow is to hit the line hard."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"Our aim is not to do away with corporations; on the contrary, these big aggregations are an inevitable development of modern industrialism, and the effort to destroy them would be futile unless accomplished in ways that would work the utmost mischief to the entire body politic. We can do nothing of good in the way of regulating and supervising these corporations until we fix clearly in our minds that we are not attacking the corporations, but endeavoring to do away with any evil in them. We are not hostile to them; we are merely determined that they shall be so handled as to subserve the public good. We draw the line against misconduct, not against wealth."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"There is not a man of us who does not at times need a helping hand to be stretched out to him, and then shame upon him who will not stretch out the helping hand to his brother."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"The reason fat men are good natured is they can neither fight nor run."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"Order without liberty and liberty without order are equally destructive."
— 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

"In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"Each one must do his part if we wish to show that the nation is worthy of its good fortune."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"In this country we have no place for hyphenated Americans."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"Far better is it to dare mighty things than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much."
— Theodore Roosevelt

"Bully"
— Theodore Roosevelt