In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing. After all, if we do the wrong thing, at least we can learn.


Theodore Roosevelt

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More Theodore Roosevelt

No man is above the law and no man is below it: nor do we ask any man's permission when we ask h...
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Germany has reduced savagery to a science, and this great war for the victorious peace of justice mu...
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For unflagging interest and enjoyment, a household of children, if things go reasonably well, certai...
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Get action. Seize the moment. Man was never intended to become an oyster.
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If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit...
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The boy who is going to make a great man must not make up his mind merely to overcome a thousand obs...
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I am a strong individualist by personal habit, inheritance, and conviction; but it is a mere matter ...
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The weakling and the coward are out of place in a strong and free community. In a republic like ours...
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The need for collecting large campaign funds would vanish if Congress provided an appropriation for ...
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Yes, Haven, most of us enjoy preaching, and Ive got such a bully pulpit!
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Our loyalty is due entirely to the United States. It is due to the President only and exactly to the...
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My view was that every executive officer, and above all every executive officer in high position, wa...
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He has been called a mediocre man; but this is unwarranted flattery. He was a politician of monument...
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After the war, and until the day of his death, his position on almost every public question was eith...
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The plea of good intentions is not one that can be allowed to have much weight in passing historical...
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No man who is not willing to bear arms and to fight for his rights can give a good reason why he sho...
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Only those are fit to live who do not fear to die; and none are fit to die who have shrunk from the ...
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We are face to face with our destiny and we must meet it with a high and resolute courage. For us is...
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It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where th...
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Of all the officers of the Government, those of the Department of Justice should be kept most free f...
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Every man has a right to one country. He has a right to love and serve that country and to feel that...
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My position as regards the monied interests can be put in a few words. In every civilized society pr...
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If we are to be a really great people, we must strive in good faith to play a great part in the worl...
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A man must first care for his own household before he can be of use to the state. But no matter how ...
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Americanism means the virtues of courage, honor, justice, truth, sincerity, and hardihoodthe virtues...
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Every man among us is more fit to meet the duties and responsibilities of citizenship because of the...
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Here in the United States we turn our rivers and streams into sewers and dumping-grounds, we pollute...
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Conservation and rural-life policies are really two sides of the same policy; and down at bottom thi...
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The idea that our natural resources were inexhaustible still obtained, and there was as yet no real ...
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If we lose the virile, manly qualities, and sink into a nation of mere hucksters, putting gain over ...
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Aggressive fighting for the right is the noblest sport the world affords.
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The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with peop...
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I took the Canal Zone and let Congress debate; and while the debate goes on, the canal does also.
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A man who has never gone to school may steal a freight car; but if he has a university education, he...
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There is something to be said for government by a great aristocracy which has furnished leaders to t...
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People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader works in the open, and the boss in...
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The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything
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I don't pity any man who does hard work worth doing. I admire him. I pity the creature who does not ...
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We need the iron qualities that go with true manhood. We need the positive virtues of resolution, of...
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Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell em, Certainly I can! -- and get busy and find out h...
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The old parties are husks, with no real soul within either, divided on artificial lines, boss-ridden...
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When they call the roll in the Senate, the senators do not know whether to answer present or not gui...
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The most successful politician is he who says what everybody is thinking most often and in the loude...
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No people is wholly civilized where a distinction is drawn between stealing an office and stealing a...
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The one being abhorrent to the powers above the earth and under them is the hyphenated American
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There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I...
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The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants them to do, a...
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Don't foul, don't flinch. Hit the line hard.
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Our fight is a fundamental fight against both of the old corrupt party machines, for both are under ...
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If this country is really to go forward along the path of social and economic justice, there must be...
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Far-seeing patriots should turn scornfully from men who seek power on a platform which with exquisit...
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A great democracy has got to be progressive or it will soon cease to be great or a democracy.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft!
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The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be sup...
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It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where th...
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No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care
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Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
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The credit belongs to those who are actually in the arena, who strive valiantly; who know the great ...
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No man needs sympathy because he has to work, because he has a burden to carry. Far and away the bes...
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Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I ha...
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In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do ...
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I want to see you shoot the way you shout.
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The men with the muck-rake are often indispensable to the well-being of society, but only if they kn...
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All the resources we need are in the mind
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I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! Tha...
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The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to humanity as is the most brutal wrongdoer.
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Peace is normally a great good, and normally it coincides with righteousness, but it is righteousnes...
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Some reformers may urge that in the ages distant future, patriotism, like the habit of monogamous ma...
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A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal ...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Some men can live up to their loftiest ideals without ever going higher than a basement.
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A man who never graduated from school might steal from a freight car. But a man who attends college ...
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It is difficult to make our material condition better by the best law, but it is easy enough to ruin...
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The Roman Republic fell, not because of the ambition of Caesar or Augustus, but because it had alrea...
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We must remember not to judge any public servant by any one act, and especially should we beware of ...
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Willful sterility is, from the standpoint of the nation, from the standpoint of the human race, the ...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
My hat's in the ring. The fight is on and I'm stripped to the buff.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
And now, first and foremost, you can never afford to forget for a moment what is the object of our f...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
We of an older generation can get along with what we have, though with growing hardship; but in your...
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I am delighted to have you play football. I believe in rough, manly sports. But I do not believe in ...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing ...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the w...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. In this life we get nothing save...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
There is not a man of us who does not at times need a helping hand to be stretched out to him, and t...
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I think there is only one quality worse than hardness of heart and that is softness of head.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
At sometime in our lives a devil dwells within us, causes heartbreaks, confusion and troubles, then ...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
No man is above the law, and no man is below it.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has been effort stored up in the past.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
There has never yet been a man in our history who led a life of ease whose name is worth remembering...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, ...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where th...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
It is essential that there should be organization of labor. This is an era of organization. Capital ...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
It is better to be faithful than famous.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the co...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an Am...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
I am among those Americans whose ancestors include men and women from many different European countr...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
There can be no fifty-fifty Americanism in this country. There is room here for only 100 % Americani...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The men and women who have the right ideals... are those who have the courage to strive for the happ...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
It is impossible to win the great prizes of life without running risks, and the greatest of all priz...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Aggressive fighting for the right is the greatest sport in the world.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Our chief usefulness to humanity rests on our combining power with high purpose. Power undirected by...
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In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an A...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where th...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the ...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing ...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The spirit of brotherhood recognizes of necessity both the need of self-help and also the need of he...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
My hat is in the ring.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he should be able and willing...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft!
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The unforgivable crime is soft hitting. Do not hit at all if it can be avoided; but never hit softly...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The men with the muck-rake are often indispensable to the well-being of society, but only if they k...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Americanism means the virtues of courage, honor, justice, truth, sincerity, and hardihood—the virt...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting, but never hit soft.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square dea...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure,...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Every man owes a part of his time and money to the business or industry in which he is engaged. No ...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure t...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
We can have no "50-50" allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
I think there is only one quality worse than hardness of heart, and that is softness of head.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to humanity as is the most brutal wrongdoer
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
I am an American; free born and free bred, where I acknowledge no man as my superior, except for his...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
To educate a person in the mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the hist...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
No man needs sympathy because he has to work. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the ch...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Politeness [is] a sign of dignity, not subservience.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants them to do, a...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man's permission when we ask him t...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Why do we kill people who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong?
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upho...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
If I have erred, I err in company with Abraham Lincoln.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Knowing what's right doesn't mean much unless you do what's right.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other pu...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the Preside...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first i...
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Appraisals are where you get together with your team leader and agree what an outstanding member of ...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and ackn...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
We can have no '50-50' allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing e...
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To announce that there must be no criticism of the president... is morally treasonable to the Americ...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions speak to all mankind.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance,...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The most practical kind of politics is the politics of decency.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university educatio...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you've got to start young.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Courtesy is as much a mark of a gentleman as courage.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
A man who is good enough to shed his blood for the country is good enough to be given a square deal ...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his well-being, to risk his body, to ...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure.....
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It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The only time you really live fully is from thirty to sixty. The young are slaves to dreams; the old...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Believe you can and you're halfway there.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Rhetoric is a poor substitute for action, and we have trusted only to rhetoric. If we are really to ...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Probably the greatest harm done by vast wealth is the harm that we of moderate means do ourselves wh...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The government is us; we are the government, you and I.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
If there is not the war, you don't get the great general; if there is not a great occasion, you ...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expedience.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' ...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The human body has two ends on it: one to create with and one to sit on. Sometimes people get their ...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
I am a part of everything that I have read.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Nine-tenths of wisdom is being wise in time.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The one thing I want to leave my children is an honorable name.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first i...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The man who loves other countries as much as his own stands on a level with the man who loves other ...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The most successful politician is he who says what the people are thinking most often in the loudest...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
When you play, play hard; when you work, don't play at all.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Absence and death are the same - only that in death there is no suffering.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and sel...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
We despise and abhor the bully, the brawler, the oppressor, whether in private or public life, but w...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Believe you can and you're halfway there.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
When you're at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Wars are, of course, as a rule to be avoided; but they are far better than certain kinds of peace.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
A typical vice of American politics is the avoidance of saying anything real on real issues.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
I am only an average man but, by George, I work harder at it than the average man.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
When you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly I can!' Then get busy and f...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Obedience of the law is demanded; not asked as a favor.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
With self-discipline most anything is possible.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Every reform movement has a lunatic fringe.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
In this country we have no place for hyphenated Americans.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
If you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the ...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The reason fat men are good natured is they can neither fight nor run.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The only tyrannies from which men, women and children are suffering in real life are the tyrannies o...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
If there is not the war, you don't get the great general; if there is not a great occasion, you don'...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Nine-tenths of wisdom consists in being wise in time.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, "Certainly I can!" - and get busy and find out...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Put out the light.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer "Present" or "Not ...
THEODORE ROOSEVELT