Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

The country is the place for children, and if not the country, a city small enough so that one can get out into the country.

There has never yet been a person in our history who led a life of ease whose name is worth remembering.

the average cannot be kept high unless the standard of the leaders is very muchhigher.

A great democracy has got to be progressive or it will soon cease to be great or a democracy.

The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything.

No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care

When you're at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on.

Believe you can, and you're halfway there.

Believe that you can and you are halfway there

People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care

To educate a person in the mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society.

Theodore you have the mind but you have not the body, and without the help of the body the mind cannot go as far as it should. I am giving you the tools, but it is up to you to make your body.

Each time we face our fear, we gain strength, courage, and confidence in the doing.

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

To befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business & corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.

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.

It was not only that he was a great man, but, oh, there was such fun in being led by him.

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.

I was glad to hear that you were to be confirmed.

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

The joy of living is his who has the heart to demand it.

Most of the men had simple souls. They could relate facts, but they said very little about what they dimly felt.

We did everything possible to keep up the spirits of the men, but it was exceedingly difficult because there was nothing for them to do.

The citizen must have high ideals, and yet he must be able to achieve them inpractical fashion.

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

I have only a second rate brain, but I think I have a capacity for action.

A man who will steal for me will steal from me." Theodore Roosevelt, dismissing on the spot one of his best cowhands who was about to claim for his boss an unmarked animal.

The President and the Congress are all very well in their way. They can say what they think they think, but it rests with the Supreme Court to decide what they have really thought.

That was a good mark in Latin, and I am pleased with your steady improvement in it.

Every book of tactics in the regiment was in use from morning until night, and the officers and non-commissioned officers were always studying the problems presented at the schools.

I read them (articles TR wrote on his honeymoon) all over to Edith and her corrections and help were most valuable to me.

One journalist complemented another that his article on a dispute, "had made both sides see themselves as they are.

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

...the majority in a democracy has no more right to tyrannize over a minority than, under a different system, the latter would to oppress the former.

Wall Street billionaires are predicting that Roosevelt-style railroad rate regulation will sooner or later bring about financial catastrophe. [ca. 1906]

Of Teddy Roosevelt and his siblings, the author writes they were, "armed with an innate curiosity and discipline fostered by his remarkable father.

You would be much amused with the animals round the ranch.

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.

The existence of any method, standard, custom or practice is no reason for its continuance when a better is offered.

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

She was never satisfied with anything less than perfection, but she was no grind. She was too interested in people.

The Yale graduate who had refused to read outside the course curriculum (the future Pres. Taft) suddenly found himself inspired.

If he (Teddy Roosevelt) lacked Will Taft's immediate charisma, gradually his classmates could not resist the spell of his highly original personality.

(Theodore) Roosevelt confessed early fascination with "girls'stories" such as Little Man and Little Women and An Old-Fashioned Girl.

Edith (the future Mrs. Teddy Roosevelt) developed a lifelong devotion to drama and poetry. "I have gone back to Shakespeare, as I always do, " she would write seven decades later.

As ever, books remained a medium through which Theodore and Edith connected and interpreted larger world.

There is filth on the floor, and it must be scraped up with the muck-rake.

According to his habit, Theodore Roosevelt sought to harness anxiety through action.

As regards the extraordinary prizes, the element of luck is the determining factor.

Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official.