Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

The important thing is this: that, under such government recognition as we may give to that which is beneficent and wholesome in large business organizations, we shall be most vigilant never to allow them to crystallize into a condition which shall make private initiative difficult. It is of the utmost importance that in the future we shall keep the broad path of opportunity just as open and easy for our children as it was for our fathers during the period which has been the glory of America's industrial history.

I do not dislike but I certainly have no especial respect or admiration for and no trust in, the typical big moneyed men of my country. I do not regard them as furnishing sound opinion as respects either foreign or domestic business.

Great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions speak to all mankind.

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.

It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.

Oh, if only I could be President and Congress, too, just for ten minutes.

It is, of course, the merest truism to say a party is of use only so far as it serves the nation.

What counts in a man or in a nation is not what the man or the nation can do, but what he or it actually does.

This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.

We can have no '50-50' allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all.

Courtesy is as much a mark of a gentleman as courage.

Germany has reduced savagery to a science, and this great war for the victorious peace of justice must go on until the German cancer is cut clean out of the world body.

From its origin to the present hour, in all its vicissitudes, Masonry has been the steady unwearing friend of man.

I feel as fit as a bull moose.

In life, as in football, the principle to follow is to hit the line hard.

If we put corrupt men in public office and sneeringly acquiesce in their corruptions, then we are wrong ourselves.

I took the Canal Zone and let Congress debate; and while the debate goes on, the canal does also.

Never, never, you must never either of you remind a man at work on a political job that he may be President.

No ability, no strength and force, no power of intellect or power of wealth, shall avail us, if we have not the root of right living in us.

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.

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

The worst of all fears is the fear of living

The teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally impossible for us to figure to ourselves what that life would be if these teachings were removed.

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

There is more fine abstract design in Navajo rugs than in all these modern paintings.

Gradually the true Mason gains experience in using these working tools and can observe subtler and subtler indications of personal flaws.

Wide differences of opinion in matters of religious, political, and social belief must exist if conscience and intellect alike are not to be stunted, if there is to be room for healthy growth.

Profanity is the parlance of the fool. Why curse when there is such a magnificent language with which to discourse?

The decisions of the courts on economic and social questions depend on their economic and social philosophy.

I cannot consent to take the position that the door of hope - the door of opportunity - is to be shut upon any man, no matter how worthy, purely upon the grounds of race or color. Such an attitude would, according to my convictions, be fundamentally wrong.

The labor unions shall have a square deal, and the corporations shall have a square deal, and in addition, all private citizens shall have a square deal.

The great corporations which we have grown to speak of rather loosely as trusts are the creatures of the State, and the State not only has the right to control them, but it is duty bound to control them wherever the need of such control is shown.

To hell with the Constitution when people want coal!

With a great moral issue involved, neutrality does not serve righteousness; for to be neutral between right and wrong is to serve wrong.

The Constitution guarantees protection to property, and we must make that promise good. But it does not give the right of suffrage to any corporation. It is necessary that laws should be passed to prohibit the use of corporate funds directly or indirectly for political purposes; it is still more necessary that such laws should be thoroughly enforced.

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

In battle, the ONLY bullets that count are those that hit.

If given the choice between Righteousness and Peace, I choose Righteousness.

Burning fossil fuels is like breaking up the furniture to feed the fireplace because it's easier than going out to the woodpile.

We should not forget that it will be just as important to our descendants to be prosperous in their time as it is to us to be prosperous in our time.