Teddy Roosevelt

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 not victory nor defeat.

Speech before the Hamilton Club, Chicago, April 10, 1899


It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, 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; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.


No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency.

The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses


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


There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities.

Speech before the Knights of Columbus





I am as strong as a bull moose. You may use me as you will.
 
a good navy is not the provocative of war. It is the surest guaranty of peace.

A really good people, proud and high-spirited, would face all the disasters of war rather than purchase the base prosperity which is bought at the price of national honor.

The belief that public optinion or international public opinion, unbacked by force, has the slightest effect in restraining a powerful military nation in any course of action...has been shown to be pathetic fallacy.
 
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