The average individual will not spend the hours in which he is not working in doing something that is unpleasant, and absolutely the only way permanently to draw average men or women from occupations and amusements that are unhealthy for soul or body is to furnish an alternative which they will accept.
This passage from "The Strenuous Life" discusses the necessity of providing appealing alternatives to unhealthy pastimes for the average person.
Share
More from Teddy Roosevelt
Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him work diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.
Character must show itself in the man's performance both of the duty he owes himself and of the duty he owes the State.
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…
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles.
Other voices in this conversation
