Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of American Leadership Quotes

“feel sorry for the country, however, as it shows the power of partisan politicians who think of nothing higher than their own interests, and I feel for your future. We cannot stand so corrupt a government for any great length of time.”
― Jon Knokey, Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of American Leadership

“You will also notice a profound pattern of character traits that take hold early in his life, but later these traits get tempered by tragedy and introspection as Roosevelt learned how to shape events, interpret people, and humble himself. It is clear that Roosevelt was not born the right person for the times but assiduously cultivated the opportunity to become its spokesman. He learned how to lead the individual, which allowed him to lead the country.”
― Jon Knokey, Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of American Leadership

“Like most young men in politics, I went through various oscillations of feeling before I “found myself.” [Roosevelt later wrote] At one period I became so impressed with the virtue of complete independence that I proceeded to act on each case purely as I personally viewed it, without paying any heed to the principles and prejudices of others. The result was that I speedily and deservedly lost all power of accomplishing anything at all; and I thereby learned the invaluable lesson that in the practical activities of life no man can render the highest service unless he can act in combination with his fellows, which means a certain amount of give-and-take between him and them.108”
― Jon Knokey, Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of American Leadership

“Years later Theodore would admit to his failure. He learned, rather spectacularly, that an adaptive leader can only lead others by listening, truly listening, to understand what the followers believed at that moment in time. It cannot be done by charging ahead alone, simply espousing virtues. Once a leader knew what his followers believed—as well as their prejudices—he could empathize with them. Only then could he lead them.”
― Jon Knokey, Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of American Leadership

“But no man can lead a public career really worth leading, no man can act with rugged independence in serious crises, nor strike at great abuses, nor afford to make powerful and unscrupulous foes, if he is himself vulnerable in his private character,” Roosevelt claimed as belief. “He must be clean of life, so that he can laugh when his public or his private record is searched.”85”
― Jon Knokey, Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of American Leadership

“I] believe in waging relentless war on rank-growing evils of all kinds.”
― Jon Knokey, Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of American Leadership

“knew that judges had no idea what they were deciding upon. They had not actually spent any time in the tenement housing looking the poor in the eye, smelling the stench of rotting tobacco and foul bedding. Almost a century later, in the 1970s, the business leadership saying “management by wandering around” became popular, a style of managing whereby executives walked through the workforce in an unstructured manner, just listening and interpreting. Several historians believe that it was Abraham Lincoln who first implemented the informal management style when he visited Union Army camps to inspect the troops in the early part of the Civil War. For Roosevelt, the Cigar Bill incident was a learning experience: leaders learn best by interpreting a situation firsthand.”
― Jon Knokey, Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of American Leadership

“righteousness of justice. “The caveat emptor side of the law, like the caveat emptor side of business, seemed to me repellent”, he claimed, “it did not make for social fair dealing.”
― Jon Knokey, Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of American Leadership

“At Harvard, Teedie obviously did not feel it necessary to temper his odd idiosyncrasies. He made no effort to comply with the culture of indifference prevalent in Harvard society. Instead he chose to act as he wanted to—odd, verbose, energetic, and active—regardless of the deeply rooted cultural norms that surrounded him. This trend would carry throughout his entire life.”
― Jon Knokey, Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of American Leadership

“What people describe as impulsive,” a classmate clarified after seeing Roosevelt operate over time, was nothing more than “a keen power of drawing information from all sorts of questions quickly and making deductions with such rapidity as to appear to be merely acting on his impulse.”54 The odd freshman was not so much challenging professors and students, as much as he was trying to obtain information quickly and vigorously, the only way he knew how. Never forced to refine his social skills in elementary school, his bombastic and brash manners seemed accusatory. Evidently, his family members never sought to curb his overbearing ways.”
― Jon Knokey, Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of American Leadership

“Theodore would follow the maxim that the leader that really mattered was the doer. In a letter regarding Ulysses S. Grant, Roosevelt stated that it was the duty of future generations to embrace “the great memory” of previous leaders “to serve forever as an example and inspiration.” But Theodore warned that “[M]ere lip-loyalty is not loyalty at all . . . the only homage that counts is the homage of deeds, not of words.”26”
― Jon Knokey, Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of American Leadership

“Theodore Roosevelt considered the charge up San Juan Heights his “crowded hour,” referring to Sir Walter Scott’s maxim, “one crowded hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name.”19 Within six months of the charge, Theodore would be the governor of New York. Within thirty-two months, vice president of the United States. Within thirty-eight months, president. But it was not the charge up the hill that put him in the White House. It was his ability to lead those from different backgrounds that made him president of the United States.”
― Jon Knokey, Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of American Leadership

“The united men at the bottom of San Juan Heights now represented all of America: “Aristocrats from the east, cowboys from the west, millionaires, paupers, shyster lawyers, quack doctors, farmers, college professors, miners, adventurers, preachers, prospectors, socialists, journalists, clerks, Mormons, musicians, publicists, Jews, politicians, Gentiles, Mexicans, professed Christians, Indians, West Point graduates, wild men, Ivy League athletes, and thinkers.”12 They were from the North and they were from the South. They were from every part of the Union. They had one leader, Theodore Roosevelt.”
― Jon Knokey, Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of American Leadership

“Theodore Roosevelt jumped on his horse and rode to the front. One trooper remembers a great distinction. “He didn’t say ‘Go on’; he said, ‘Come on!’”9 The spirit of the moment seized those still alive. A wild animalistic cheer erupted. One Rough Rider called it “patriotic insanity.”10 A Pawnee Indian, the son of Chief Big Eagle, let out a native war cry.11”
― Jon Knokey, Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of American Leadership