The great virtue of my radicalism lies in the fact that I am perfectly ready, if necessary, to be radical on the conservative side.

Theodore Roosevelt

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.

Theodore Roosevelt

Optimism is a good characteristic, but if carried to an excess, it becomes foolishness. We are prone to speak of the resources of this country as inexhaustible; this is not so.

Theodore Roosevelt

I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! That is character!

Theodore Roosevelt

We are face to face with our destiny and we must meet it with a high and resolute courage.

Theodore Roosevelt

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

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.

Theodore Roosevelt

When I say I believe in a square deal i do not mean ... to give every man the best hand. If the cards do not come to any man, or if they do come, and he has not got the power to play them, that is his affair. All I mean is that there shall be no crookedness in the dealing.

Theodore Roosevelt

No President has ever enjoyed himself as much as I?

Theodore Roosevelt

The one thing I want to leave my children is an honorable name.

Theodore Roosevelt

The farther one gets into the wilderness, the greater is the attraction of its lonely freedom.

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 to obey it.

Theodore Roosevelt

Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president.

Theodore Roosevelt

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

Theodore Roosevelt

I took the Canal Zone and let Congress debate; and while the debate goes on, the canal does also.

Theodore Roosevelt

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

Theodore Roosevelt

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

Theodore Roosevelt

Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you’ve got to start young.

Theodore Roosevelt

Alone of human beings the good and wise mother stands on a plane of equal honor with the bravest soldier; for she has gladly gone down to the brink of the chasm of darkness to bring back the children in whose hands rests the future of the years.

Theodore Roosevelt

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt

In doing your work in the great world, it is a safe plan to follow a rule I once heard on the football field: Don’t flinch, don’t fall; hit the line hard.

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

Order without liberty and liberty without order are equally destructive.

Theodore Roosevelt

The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem it will avail us little to solve all others.

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

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