We do not intend to discourage individual excellence by improperly diminishing the reward for that individual excellence; on the contrary, our desire is to see that the fullest reward is given to the men of exceptional abilities, up to the point when the abilities are used to the detriment of the people as a whole.
Roosevelt discusses the balance between rewarding individual excellence and ensuring it does not harm the public good.
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The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood.
I deeply appreciate your letter, and I realize to the full the heavy responsibility it puts upon me.
Every special interest is entitled to justice—full, fair, and complete—and, now, mind you, if there were any attempt by mob-violence to plunder and work harm to the special interest, whatever it may be, that I most dislike, and the wealthy…
the fate of the leader for the time being is of little consequence, but the cause itself must in the end triumph, for its triumph is essential to the well-being of the American people.
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