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Over-sentimentality, over-softness, in fact washiness and mushiness are the great dangers of this age and of this people. Unless we keep the barbarian virtues, gaining the civilized ones will be of little avail.

Theodore Roosevelt

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Theodore Roosevelt
Age: 60 †
Born: 1858
Born: October 27
Died: 1919
Died: January 6
26Th U.S. President
Autobiographer
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Teddy
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[Among the books he chooses, a statesman] ought to read interesting books on history and government, and books of science and philosophy and really good books on these subjects are as enthralling as any fiction ever written in prose or verse.
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The great corporations which we have grown to speak of rather loosely as trusts are the creatures of the State, and the State not only has the right to control them, but it is duty bound to control them wherever the need of such control is shown.
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When you play, play hard when you work, don't play at all.
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Much has been given us, and much will rightfully be expected from us. We have duties to others and duties to ourselves and we can shirk neither. We have become a great nation, forced by the fact of its greatness into relations with other nations of the earth, and we must behave as beseems a people with such responsibilities.
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The eighth commandment reads, Thou shalt not steal. It does not read, Thou shalt not steal from the rich man. It does not read, Thou shalt not steal from the poor man. It reads simply and plainly, Thou shalt not steal.
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If given the choice between Righteousness and Peace, I choose Righteousness.
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We despise and abhor the bully, the brawler, the oppressor, whether in private or public life, but we despise no less the coward and the voluptuary. No man is worth calling a man who will not fight rather than submit to infamy or see those that are dear to him suffer wrong.
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It's not having been in the Dark House, but having left it that counts.
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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.
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The worst of all fears is the fear of living
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The worst thing I can do is nothing.
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If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month.
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We cannot afford to differ on the question of honesty if we expect our republic permanently to endure. Honesty is not so much a credit as an absolute prerequisite to efficient service to the public. Unless a man is honest, we have no right to keep him in public life it matters not how brilliant his capacity.
Theodore Roosevelt
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I do. That is character!
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I have no business to feel downcast or querulous merely because when so much as been given me I have not had even more.
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In foreign affairs we must make up our minds that whether we wish it or not, we are a great people and must play a great part in the world. It is not open to us to choose whether we will play that great part or not.
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Short-sighted men who in their greed and selfishness will, if permitted, rob our country of half its charm by their reckless extermination of all useful and beautiful wild things.
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An Airedale can do anything any other dog can do and then whip the other dog if he has to.
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When I hear of the destruction of a species, I feel just as if all the works of some great writer have perished.
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Nothing could be more lonely and nothing more beautiful than the view at nightfall across the prairies to these huge hill masses, when the lengthening shadows had at last merged into one and the faint after-glow of the red sunset filled the west.
Theodore Roosevelt