"It is absolutely essential, if we are to have the proper standard of public life, that promise shall be square with performance."
"I do not ask of you, men and women here today, good citizenship as a favor to the State."
"No worthier object can be striven after than the creation of a building such as this for the benefit of those to whom every American owes so much—the enlisted men of the United States navy."
"it is even a greater thing to be what all of us are—Americans."
"Remember that after the war has begun it is too late to improvise a navy."
"Envy is merely the meanest form of admiration, and a man who envies another admits thereby his own inferiority."
"I wish to take this opportunity of thanking the men who work in the Navy Yard for the quality of the work that they do."
"I have enjoyed to the utmost my stay in California, my visits to its greatest cities."
"We have a right to expect from the college bred man, the college bred woman, a proper sense of proportion, a proper sense of perspective."
"There is nothing more foolish, nothing less dignified than to indulge in boastfulness, in self-glorification as to the capacity of our soldiers and sailors while denying them the material which we are..."
"The one indispensable thing for us to keep is a high standard of character for the average American citizen."
"That is the spirit of devotion to the flag and the country, and to one's fellows which the United States navy develops."
"Great is your State, men and women of California, and a great thing it is to be a Californian."
"No one can too strongly insist upon the elementary fact that you cannot build the superstructure of public virtue save on private virtue."
"I ask of you the straightforward, earnest performance of duty in all the little things that come up day by day in business, in domestic life, in every way."
"Applaud the navy and what it has done. That is first-class. But make your applause count by seeing that the good work goes on."
"In the last analysis it is the man's own character which is and must ever be the determining factor in his success or failure in life"
"I am sure that the others will not mind my saying a special word of greeting to two sets of men."
