Most of the great material works by which the entire country benefits have been due to the action of individual men, or of aggregates of men, who made money for themselves by doing that which was in the interest of the people as a whole.
Roosevelt emphasizes the importance of individual initiative in creating public benefits through private enterprise.
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More from Teddy Roosevelt
I care for the great deeds of the past chiefly as spurs to drive us onward in the present.
Like all other good citizens, I accept the result with entire good humor and contentment.
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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