Political Quotes

Teddy Roosevelt: “If with the serpent wisdom we unite the serpent guile, terrible will be the damage we do; and if, with the best of…”

On the recordJanuary 1, 1900
If with the serpent wisdom we unite the serpent guile, terrible will be the damage we do; and if, with the best of intentions, we can only manage to deserve the epithet of “harmless,” it is hardly worth while to have lived in the world at all.
Said by
Teddy Roosevelt
Republican · New York

Editor's note · Context

Expanding on the balance between wisdom and harmlessness, Roosevelt warns against combining wisdom with deceit and dismisses a life of mere ineffectual harmlessness.

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