Quotes by Theodore Roosevelt

“Books are all very well in their way, and we love them at Sagamore Hill; but children are better than books.”

“I am a part of everything that I have read.”

“Nothing in this world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty. No kind of life is worth leading if it is always an easy life. I know that your life is hard; I know t...”

“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.”

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

“The death-knell of the republic had rung as soon as the active power became lodged in the hands of those who sought, not to do justice to all citizens, rich and poor alike, but to stand for one spe...”

“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.”

“There is quite enough sorrow and shame and suffering and baseness in real life and there is no need for meeting it unnecessarily in fiction. As Police Commissioner it was my duty to deal with all k...”

“The ordinary traveler, who never goes off the beaten route and who on this beaten route is carried by others, without himself doing anything or risking anything, does not need to show much more ini...”

“We should not take part in acting a lie any more than in telling a lie. Weshould not say that men are equal where they are not equal, nor proceed uponthe assumption that there is an equality where ...”

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

“Indeed, it is a sign of marked political weakness in anycommonwealth if the people tend to be carried away by mere oratory, if theytend to value words in and for themselves, as divorced from the de...”

“That is why I decline to recognize the meremultimillionaire, the man of mere wealth, as an asset of value to any country;and especially as not an asset to my own country. If he has earned or uses h...”

“Character must show itself in the man'sperformance both of the duty he owes himself and of the duty he owes the state.The man's foremast duty is owed to himself and his family; and he can do thisdu...”

“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.”

“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.”

“Aggressive fighting for the right is the noblest sport the world affords.”

“Be practical as well as generous in your ideals. Keep your eyes on the stars, but remember to keep your feet on the ground.”