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Theodore Roosevelt Quotes - Page 15

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We have become great because of the lavish use of our resources ... But the time has come to inquire seriously what will happen when our forests are gone, when the coal, the iron, the oil and the gas are exhausted.

We have become great because of the lavish use of our resources ... But the time has come to inquire seriously what will happen when our forests are gone, when the coal, the iron, the oil and the gas are exhausted.

Theodore Roosevelt
Nature, Iron, Oil
Theodore Roosevelt (2012). “In the Words of Theodore Roosevelt: Quotations from the Man in the Arena”, p.73, Cornell University Press

I wish very much that the wrong people could be prevented entirely from breeding

Theodore Roosevelt
Eugenics, People, Wish
Theodore Roosevelt (1926). “The Works of Theodore Roosevelt”

Personally I have never been able to understand why the head of a big business, whether it be the Nation, the State or the Army, or Navy should not desire to have very strong and positive people under him.

Theodore Roosevelt
Teamwork, Strong, Army
Theodore Roosevelt (1951). “1898-1903”

Don't foul, don't flinch-hit the line hard.

Theodore Roosevelt
Perseverance, Courage, Lines
Theodore Roosevelt (2015). “Theodore Roosevelt on Bravery: Lessons from the Most Courageous Leader of the Twentieth Century”, p.78, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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."

Theodore Roosevelt
Men, Doe, Rich
The Man with the Muck-rake, delivered 14 April 1906

It is a great mistake to think that the extremist is a better man than the moderate. Usually the difference is not that he is morally stronger, but that he is intellectually weaker. He is not more virtuous. He is simply more foolish.

Theodore Roosevelt
Mistake, Thinking, Men
Theodore Roosevelt (2012). “The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses”, p.64, Courier Corporation

[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.

Theodore Roosevelt
Philosophy, Book, Science
Theodore Roosevelt (2013). “Bully!”, p.257, Simon and Schuster

Every man owes a part of his time and money to the business or industry in which he is engaged. No man has the moral right to withhold his support from an organization that is striving to improve conditions within his sphere.

Theodore Roosevelt
Men, Organization, Support

Those who oppose all reform will do well to remember that ruin in its worst form is inevitable if our national life brings us nothing better than swollen fortunes for the few and the triumph in both politics and business of a sordid and selfish materialism.

Theodore Roosevelt
Business, Selfish, Ruins
Theodore Roosevelt (1926). “The Works of Theodore Roosevelt”

If I were a factory employee, a workman on the railroads or a wage-earner of any sort, I would undoubtedly join the union of my trade. If I disapproved of its policy, I would join in order to fight that policy; if the union leaders were dishonest, I would join in order to put them out. I believe in the union and I believe that all men who are benefited by the union are morally bound to help to the extent of their power in the common interests advanced by the union.

Theodore Roosevelt
Believe, Fighting, Men
Theodore Roosevelt (2013). “Bully!”, p.366, Simon and Schuster

Compromise" is so often used in a bad sense that it is difficult to remember that properly it merely describes the process of reaching an agreement. Naturally there are certain subjects on which no man can compromise. For instance, there must be no compromise under any circumstances with official corruption, and of course no man should hesitate to say as much.

Theodore Roosevelt
Men, Compromise, Remember
Theodore Roosevelt (2012). “The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses”, p.68, Courier Corporation

Do nothing to mar its grandeur ... keep it for your children, your children's children, and all who come after you, as the one great sight which every American should see.

Theodore Roosevelt
Children, Sight, Mars

Just as Lincoln got contradictory advice from the extremists of both sides . . . so now I have to guard myself against the extremists of both sides.

Theodore Roosevelt
Advice, Sides, Contradictory

Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us to restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations. The movement for the conservation of wildlife and the larger movement for the conservation of all our natural resources are essentially democratic in spirit, purpose, and method.

Theodore Roosevelt
Generations, Minorities, Purpose
Theodore Roosevelt (2010). “The Green Roosevelt: Theodore Roosevelt in Appreciation of Wilderness, Wildlife, and Wild Places”, p.359, Cambria Press

The farmer is a poor creature who skins the land and leaves it worthless to his children. The farmer is a good farmer who, having enabled the land to support himself and to provide for the education of his children, leaves it to them a little better than he found it himself.

Theodore Roosevelt
Children, Land, Support
Theodore Roosevelt (2004). “Letters and Speeches”

I can no more explain why I like "natural history" than why I like California canned peaches; nor why I do not care for that enormous brand of natural history which deals with invertebrates any more than why I do not care for brandied peaches. All I can say is that almost as soon as I began to read at all I began to like to read about the natural history of beasts and birds and the more formidable or interesting reptiles and fishes.

Theodore Roosevelt
Animal, California, Interesting
Theodore Roosevelt (1941). “Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia”

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

Theodore Roosevelt
War, People, Honor
Theodore Roosevelt (1910). “American ideals”

Gradually the true Mason gains experience in using these working tools and can observe subtler and subtler indications of personal flaws.

Theodore Roosevelt
Tools, Gains, Masonic

We of an older generation can get along with what we have, though with growing hardship; but in your full manhood and womanhood you will want what nature once so bountifully supplied and man so thoughtlessly destroyed; and because of that want you will reproach us, not for what we have used, but for what we have wasted...So any nation which in its youth lives only for the day, reaps without sowing, and consumes without husbanding, must expect the penalty of the prodigal whose labor could with difficulty find him the bare means of life.

Theodore Roosevelt
Mean, Men, Growing
Theodore Roosevelt (1941). “Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia”

I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible. I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot — but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.

Theodore Roosevelt
Badass, Bad Ass, Gentleman
"The Speech That Saved Teddy Roosevelt’s Life" by Patricia O’Toole, www.smithsonianmag.com. November 2012.

The Armenian massacre was the greatest crime of the war.

Theodore Roosevelt
War, Armenia, Crime
Theodore Roosevelt (1954). “Letters: The days of Armageddon, 1909-1914”

It is true of the Nation, as of the individual, that the greatest doer must also be a great dreamer.

Theodore Roosevelt
Ambition, Dreamer, Doers
Theodore Roosevelt (2015). “Theodore Roosevelt on Bravery: Lessons from the Most Courageous Leader of the Twentieth Century”, p.33, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

It is impossible to win the great prizes of life without running risks, and the greatest of all prizes are those connected with the home.

Theodore Roosevelt
Life, Happiness, Running
Theodore Roosevelt (2012). “In the Words of Theodore Roosevelt: Quotations from the Man in the Arena”, p.119, Cornell University Press

There is a delight in the hardy life of the open. There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness, that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy and its charm. The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased; and not impaired in value. Conservation means development as much as it does protection.

Theodore Roosevelt
Mean, Delight, Development
Theodore Roosevelt (1955). “Theodore Roosevelt's America: Selections from the Writings of the Oyster Bay Naturalist”

Of all the questions which can come before this nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us.

Theodore Roosevelt
War, Land, Presidential
Theodore Roosevelt (1941). “Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia”