Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

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. Theodore Roosevelt

We need the iron qualities that go with true manhood. We need the positive virtues of resolution, of courage, of indomitable will, of power to do without shrinking the rough work that must always be done. Theodore Roosevelt

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it. Theodore Roosevelt

In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing to do. The worst thing you can do is nothing. Theodore Roosevelt

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena. Theodore Roosevelt

The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life. Theodore Roosevelt

Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. Theodore Roosevelt

No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expedience. Theodore Roosevelt

Obedience of the law is demanded; not asked as a favor. Theodore Roosevelt

With self-discipline most anything is possible. Theodore Roosevelt

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

There is something to be said for government by a great aristocracy which has furnished leaders to the nation in peace and war for generations; even a Democrat like myself must admit this. Theodore Roosevelt

The reactionary is always willing to take a progressive attitude on any issue that is dead. Theodore Roosevelt

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

It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. Theodore Roosevelt

It is better to be faithful than famous. Theodore Roosevelt

The man who loves other countries as much as his own stands on a level with the man who loves other women as much as he loves his own wife. Theodore Roosevelt

Speak softly, and carry a big stick; you will go far. Theodore Roosevelt

A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user. Theodore Roosevelt

Courtesy is as much a mark of a gentleman as courage. Theodore Roosevelt

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. Theodore Roosevelt

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

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