The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (Theodore Roosevelt, #1)

by Edmund Morris

“If a man has a very decided character, has a strongly accentuated career, it is normally the case of course that he makes ardent friends and bitter enemies.”

“A just war is in the long run far better for a man’s soul than the most prosperous peace.”

“Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick” proceeds according to civilized priorities. Persuasion should come before force. In any case it is the availability of raw power, not the use of it, that makes for effective diplomacy.

We deem it narrow-minded to excel. We call the man fanatic who applies His life to one grand purpose till he dies. Enthusiasm sees one side, one fact, We try to see all sides, but do not act. … We long to sit with newspapers unfurled, Indifferent spectators of the world.6

I feel that if it were not for the certainty, that as he himself has so often said, “he is not dead but gone before,” I should almost perish.

They give the impression of a sensitivity so extreme it verges on mental imbalance.