Quotes By Theodore Roosevelt

The government is us; we are the government, you and I.

The human body has two ends on it: one to create with and one to sit on. Sometimes people get their ends reversed. When this happens they need a kick in the seat of the pants.

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

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.

For unflagging interest and enjoyment, a household of children, if things go reasonably well, certainly all other forms of success and achievement lose their importance by comparison.

It is essential that there should be organization of labor. This is an era of organization. Capital organizes and therefore labor must organize.

Some men can live up to their loftiest ideals without ever going higher than a basement.

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.

The boy who is going to make a great man must not make up his mind merely to overcome a thousand obstacles, but to win in spite of a thousand repulses and defeats.

When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer "Present" or "Not guilty."

Believe you can and you're halfway there.

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

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.

Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has been effort stored up in the past.

Germany has reduced savagery to a science, and this great war for the victorious peace of justice must go on until the German cancer is cut clean out of the world body.

The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to humanity as is the most brutal wrongdoer.

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

Get action. Seize the moment. Man was never intended to become an oyster.

I think there is only one quality worse than hardness of heart and that is softness of head.

A typical vice of American politics is the avoidance of saying anything real on real issues.

No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his well-being, to risk his body, to risk his life, in a great cause.

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

No people is wholly civilized where a distinction is drawn between stealing an office and stealing a purse.

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

Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.

Appraisals are where you get together with your team leader and agree what an outstanding member of the team you are, how much your contribution has been valued, what massive potential you have and, in recognition of all this, would you mind having your salary halved.

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

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

No great intellectual thing was ever done by great effort.

Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.