The mean and cringing admiration which such a career commands among those who think crookedly or not at all makes this kind of success perhaps the most dangerous of all the influences that threaten our national life.
In an essay on national character, this passage warns that public admiration for unethical success poses a grave threat to the nation's integrity.
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More from Teddy Roosevelt
Our country—this great Republic—means nothing unless it means the triumph of a real democracy, the triumph of popular government, and, in the long run, of an economic system under which each man shall be guaranteed the opportunity to show…
Therefore I hope that so far as possible the people may be given the chance, through direct primaries, to express their preference as to who shall be the nominee of the Republican Presidential Convention.
Like all other good citizens, I accept the result with entire good humor and contentment.
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