Roosevelt, Theodore (Theodore Roosevelt)

Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
-- Theodore Roosevelt

Do what you can with what you have where you are.
-- Theodore Roosevelt

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

Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.
-- Theodore Roosevelt

Practical efficiency is common, and lofty idealism not uncommon; it is the combination which is necessary, and the combination is rare.
-- Theodore Roosevelt

Far better 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 grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.
-- Theodore Roosevelt

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.
-- Theodore Roosevelt

The individual whose idea of developing the country is to cut every stick of timber off it and then leave a barren desert for the homemaker who comes in after him...that man is a curse and not a blessing to this country.
-- Theodore Roosevelt

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
-- Theodore Roosevelt

People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. . . . The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives.
-- Theodore Roosevelt

A life of ignoble ease, a life of that peace which springs merely from lack either of desire or of power to strive after great things, is as little worthy of a nation as of an individual...

-- Theodore Roosevelt

At the many stages in the advance of humanity, conflict between the men who possess more than they have earned and the men who have earned more than they possess is the central condition of progress.

-- Theodore Roosevelt

The object of government is the welfare of the people. The material progress and prosperity of a nation are desirable chiefly so far as they lead to the moral and material welfare of all citizens. Just in proportion as the average man and woman are honest, capable of sound judgement and high ideals, active in public affairs - but first of all, sound in their home life, and the father and mother of healthy children whom they bring up well - just so far, and no further, we may count our civilization a success.

-- Theodore Roosevelt

What we need is more people who specialize in the impossible.
-- Theodore Roosevelt

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