Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

"No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expedience." — Theodore Roosevelt
The Century: Volume 60 (1900) pg. 215 From a piece titled "Latitude and Longitude among reformers," Roosevelt continues, "He is bound to do all the good possible. Yet he must consider the question of expediency, in order that he may do all the good possible, for otherwise he will do none." Add Category or Author

"The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it." — Theodore Roosevelt
As quoted in Six sigma (2006) pg. 188 Add Category or Author

"Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." — Theodore Roosevelt
Letter to Henry L. Sprague (26 January 1900) Roosevelt himself said he was quoting a "West African proverb," but this is the earliest recorded use of this phrase. Add Category or Author

"When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer "Present" or "Not Guilty."" — Theodore Roosevelt
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"The credit belongs to those people who are actually in the arena...who know the great enthusiasms, the great devotions to a worthy cause; who, at best, know the triumph of high achievement; and who,at worst, fail while daring greatly, so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." — Theodore Roosevelt
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"If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month." — Theodore Roosevelt
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"Rhetoric is a poor substitute for action, and we have trusted only to rhetoric. If we are really to be a great nation, we must not merely talk; we must act big." — Theodore Roosevelt
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"Courtesy is as much a mark of a gentleman as courage." — Theodore Roosevelt
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"Speak softly and carry a big stick, and you will go far." — Theodore Roosevelt
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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." — Theodore Roosevelt
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"The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his own weight." — Theodore Roosevelt
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"It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things" — Theodore Roosevelt
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"Absence and death are the same - only that in death there is no suffering." — Theodore Roosevelt
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"Believe you can and you're halfway there." — Theodore Roosevelt
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"The Winchester is by all odds the best weapon I ever had and I now use it almost exclusively. The Winchester is the best gun for any game to be found in the United States, for it is as deadly, accurate and handy as any, stands very rough usage, and is unapproachable for the rapidity of its fire and the facility with which it is loaded." — Theodore Roosevelt
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"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." — Theodore Roosevelt
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"Every man among us is more fit to meet the duties and responsibilities of citizenship because of the perils over which, in the past, the nation has triumphed; because of the blood and sweat and tears, the labor and the anguish, through which, in the" — Theodore Roosevelt
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"When you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it." — Theodore Roosevelt
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"In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing" — Theodore Roosevelt
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"The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first and love of soft living and the get-rich-quick theory of life." — Theodore Roosevelt
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"The conservation of our natural resources and their proper use constitute the fundamental problem which underlies almost every other problem of our national life" — Theodore Roosevelt
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