From Hudson Bay to the Straits of Magellan, we, the men of the two Americas, have been conquering the wilderness, carving it into state and province, and seeking to build up in state and province governments which shall combine industrial…

Let us ever most vividly remember the falsity of the belief that any one of us is to be permanently benefited by the hurt of another.

More and more we are learning that to love one’s country above all others is in no way incompatible with respecting and wishing well to all others, and that, as between man and man, so between nation and nation, there should live the great…

Nor is there the least chance of its being broken, provided only that all of us alike act with full recognition of the vital need that each should realize that his own interests can best be served by serving the interests of others.

There are certain truths which are so commonplace as to be axiomatic, and yet so important that we can not keep them too vividly before our minds.

We can not retain the full measure of our self-respect if we can not retain pride in our citizenship.

If rowing or foot-ball or base-ball is treated as the end of life by any considerable section of a community, then that community shows itself to be in an unhealthy condition.

There is no place among us for the mere pessimist; no man who looks at life with a vision that sees all things black or gray can do aught healthful in molding the destiny of a mighty and vigorous people.

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…

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.

It is very much easier to carry out the former part of the order than the latter; while, on the other hand, it is of much more importance for the good of mankind that our goodness should be accompanied by wisdom than that we should merely…

During the last century we have on the whole made long strides in the right direction, but we have very much yet to learn.

The century upon which we have just entered must inevitably be one of tremendous triumph or of tremendous failure for the whole human race, because, to an infinitely greater extent than ever before, humanity is knit together in all its…

In order to act wisely we must first see clearly.

Character is shown in peace no less than in war.

We all look forward to the day when there shall be a nearer approximation than there has ever yet been to the brotherhood of man and the peace of the world.

Our greatest statesmen have always been those who believed in the nation—who had faith in the power of our people to spread until they should become the mightiest among the peoples of the world.

We have got to see the work through, because we are not a nation of weaklings.

We are strong men, and we intend to do our duty.

We have got to stay there, establish order, and then give the inhabitants as much self-government as they show they can use to advantage.

To do our duty—that is the sum and substance of the whole matter.

As we perform those duties well or ill, so will we, in large part, determine our right to a place among the great nations of the earth.

Unless a man is honest we have no right to keep him in public life, it matters not how brilliant his capacity, it hardly matters how great his power of doing good service on certain lines may be.

If we are frightened at the task, above all, if we are cowed or disheartened by any check, or by the clamor of the sensation-monger, we shall show ourselves weaklings unfit to invoke the memories of the stalwart men who fought to a finish…

If we do not rule wisely, and if our rule is not in the interest of the peoples who have come under our guardianship, then we had best never to have begun the effort at all.