That species of practicability eats into the moral sense of the people like a cancer, and he who practices it can no more be excused than an editor who debauches public decency in order to sell his paper.
In "The Strenuous Life," Roosevelt uses a strong metaphor to describe how corrupt political practicality erodes public morality, comparing it to an editor debauching decency for profit.
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The American people by a great plurality have conferred upon you the highest honor in their gift.
We are bound in honor to strive to bring ever nearer the day when, as far as is humanly possible, we shall be able to realize the ideal that each man shall have an equal opportunity to show the stuff that is in him by the way in which he…
The man who does nothing cuts the same sordid figure in the pages of history, whether he be cynic, or fop, or voluptuary.
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