Our standard of public and private conduct will never be raised to the proper level until we make the scoundrel who succeeds feel the weight of a hostile public opinion even more strongly than the scoundrel who fails.
From his essay "The Strenuous Life," this passage emphasizes the role of public opinion in upholding ethical standards in society.
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More from Teddy Roosevelt
A broken promise is bad enough in private life. It is worse in the field of politics.
No man is worth his salt in public life who makes on the stump a pledge which he does not keep after election; and, if he makes such a pledge and does not keep it, hunt him out of public life.
I speak of the men of the past partly that they may be honored by our praise of them, but more that they may serve as examples for the future.
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