Let us in return try to shape our deeds so that the America of the future shall justify by her career the lives of the great men of her past.

We have difficulties and dangers enough in the present, and it is the way we face them which it to determine whether or not we are fit descendants of the men of the mighty past.

It is character that counts in a nation as in a man.

Loyalty to the flag is taught by precept and practice in all these public schools, and loyalty to the principles of good citizenship is also taught in no merely perfunctory manner.

We must not flinch from our duties abroad merely because we have even more important duties at home.

We must work out our own destiny by our own strength.

But there is just as little use for the foolish optimist who refuses to face the many and real evils that exist, and who fails to see that the only way to ensure the triumph of righteousness in the future is to war against all that is…

If managed in a spirit of patronizing condescension, or with ignorance of the desires, needs, and passions of those round about, little good indeed will come from them.

It shows a thoroughly unhealthy state of mind when the public pardons with a laugh failure to keep a distinct pledge, on the ground that a politician can not be expected to confine himself to the truth when on the stump or the platform.

He saw that lawlessness in all its forms was the handmaiden of tyranny.

No nation ever yet retained its freedom for any length of time after losing its respect for the law, after losing the law-abiding spirit, the spirit that really makes orderly liberty.

Grant, in short, stood for the great elementary virtues, for justice, for freedom, for order, for unyielding resolution, for manliness in its broadest and highest sense.

The people who trust to or exact promises that, if a certain political leader is followed or a certain public policy adopted, this great truth will cease to operate, are not merely leaning on a broken reed, but are working for their own…

The other side is that no man should be held excusable if he does not perform what he promises, unless for the best and most sufficient reason.

His greatness was not so much greatness of intellect as greatness of character, including in the word “character” all the strong, virile virtues.

This twentieth century is big with the fate of the nations of mankind, because the fate of each is now interwoven with the fate of all to a degree never even approached in any previous stage of history.

People really fit for self-government will not be misled by over-effusiveness in promise, and, on the other hand, they will demand that every proper promise shall be made good.

Wise legislation and upright administration can undoubtedly work very great good to a community, and, above all, can give to each individual the chance to do the best work for himself.

It is a good thing to combine a warm heart with a cool head.

The greatest possible good can be done by the extension of a helping hand at the right moment, but the attempt to carry any one permanently can end in nothing but harm.

But ultimately the individual’s own faculties must form the chief factor in working out his own salvation.

The man who is taken in by, or demands, impossible promises is not much less culpable than the politician who deliberately makes such promises and then breaks faith.

For instance, there must be no compromise under any circumstances with official corruption, and of course no man should hesitate to say as much.

On the contrary, it means that both should be developed, and that not the least of the benefits of developing both comes from the indirect effect which this development itself has upon the character.

Softness of heart is an admirable quality, but when it extends its area until it also becomes softness of head, its results are anything but admirable.