Famous Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

Last modified: January 16, 2019

The 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, is widely regarded as one of the greatest leaders in American history.

Holding the distinction of being one of the most influential statesmen and writers of his generation, Roosevelt left behind many well-known words of wisdom and inspiration which have been collected below for your perusal!

Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.
In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.
Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.

If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.
Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children’s children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.
Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.

Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.

To educate a person in the mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society.
The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything.
People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care
It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.
The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first and love of soft living and the get-rich-quick theory of life.
I am an American; free born and free bred, where I acknowledge no man as my superior, except for his own worth, or as my inferior, except for his own demerit.

Far better it 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 gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.
Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength.
I am a part of everything that I have read.
No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.

In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.

Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country.
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, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; 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 fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Believe you can and you’re halfway there.
When you’re at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on.
Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.
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.
Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering. 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.

Believe you can and you’re halfway there.

Knowing what’s right doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.
Complaining about a problem without posing a solution is called whining.
Be practical as well as generous in your ideals. Keep your eyes on the stars, but remember to keep your feet on the ground.
No man needs sympathy because he has to work, because he has a burden to carry. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
A man who has never gone to school may steal a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.

This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.
When you play, play hard; when you work, don’t play at all.
The reason fat men are good natured is they can neither fight nor run.
No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency.
If there is not the war, you don’t get the great general; if there is not a great occasion, you don’t get a great statesman; if Lincoln had lived in a time of peace, no one would have known his name.