Theodore Roosevelt

“If there is one tendency of the day which more than any other is unhealthy and undesirable, it is the tendency to deify mere "smartness," unaccompanied by a sense of moral accountability. We shall never make our republic what it should be until as a people we thoroughly understand and put in practice the doctrine that success is abhorrent if attained by the sacrifice of the fundamental principles of morality.”

“Knowing what's right doesn't mean much unless you do what's right.”

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

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

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

“Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike.”

“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.”

“It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things.”

“Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country.”

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

“When you play, play hard; when you work, don't play at all.”

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”

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

“Each one must do his part if we wish to show that the nation is worthy of its good fortune.”

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

“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.”

“A man who has never gone to school may steal a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.”

“I am only an average man, but by George, I work harder at it than the average man.”

“There is not a man of us who does not at times need a helping hand to be stretched out to him, and then shame upon him who will not stretch out the helping hand to his brother.”

“To waste, to destroy our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed.”

“The great body of our citizens shoot less as times goes on. We should encourage rifle practice among schoolboys, and indeed among all classes, as well as in the military services by every means in our power. Thus, and not otherwise, may we be able to assist in preserving peace in the world... The first step – in the direction of preparation to avert war if possible, and to be fit for war if it should come – is to teach men to shoot!”

“Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft!”

“We demand that big business give the people a square deal; in return we must insist that when any one engaged in big business honestly endeavors to do right he shall himself be given a square deal.”

“Our aim is not to do away with corporations; on the contrary, these big aggregations are an inevitable development of modern industrialism, and the effort to destroy them would be futile unless accomplished in ways that would work the utmost mischief to the entire body politic. We can do nothing of good in the way of regulating and supervising these corporations until we fix clearly in our minds that we are not attacking the corporations, but endeavoring to do away with any evil in them. We are not hostile to them; we are merely determined that they shall be so handled as to subserve the public good. We draw the line against misconduct, not against wealth.”

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

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

“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.”

“Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.”

“The joy in life is his who has the heart to demand it.”

“If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month.”

“In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”

“If you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.”

“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.”

“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. Both life and death are parts of the same Great Adventure.”

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

“Believe you can and you're halfway there.”

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”

“Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”

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

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

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

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

“Bully”

“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, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; 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 fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”