Teddy Roosevelt

If he does, be for him, whether he is rich or poor, because if you do not you are recreant in the spirit of Americanism.

Does he do his duty fairly by himself, his family, his neighbor, and the State and the Nation?

I ask that we scorn alike the base arrogance of the rich man who would look down on his poorer brother and the equally base envy of the poor man who would hate his richer brother; and that you apply to every citizen of this Republic just…

I ask that the same lesson that you of the Civil War applied practically in your own persons during and since that war be applied by the rest of us in civil life.

That counts tremendously; but education in character counts more.

When I speak of education I do not mean only education in intelligence.

Honor to us if we treat your great deeds as spurring us onward; and shame to us if we treat your great deeds as excuses for our own idleness or folly.

If the children are not well educated, if they are not brought up as they should be, the State will go down.

Remember that we shall leave this country in the hands of the children of to-day, and that the American of to-morrow will be what we train the boy or girl to be.

Proud though I am of your extraordinary industrial prosperity, I am prouder yet of the men who have achieved it.

The vital deeds of life are those things which it lies within the reach of each of us to do, and the failure to perform which means the destruction of the State.

The vital things in life are the things that foolish people look upon as commonplace.

There never can be, there never will be a good government in which the average citizen is not a decent man in private life.

I would demand that on ethical grounds alone; I would demand it also on grounds of self-interest.

We must insist upon having fair treatment; and as a step toward getting it we must give fair treatment in return.

Our influence in the Orient must be kept at such a pitch as will ensure our being able to guarantee fair treatment to our merchants and manufacturers by China.

Poor indeed would be the soul of the man who did not leave Montgomery a better American than he came into it, after being received as I have been received to-day.

The future of the South now depends upon the people of both races living up to the spirit and letter of the laws of their several States and working out the destinies of both races, not as races, but as law-abiding American citizens.

Remember also that the white man who can be of most use to the colored man is that colored man’s neighbor.

It must learn to wait and bide its time; to prove itself worthy by showing its possession of perseverance, of thrift, of self-control.

Moral and industrial education is what is most needed, in order that this progress may continue.

What you have done in the past is an indication of what you will be able to accomplish in the future under wise leadership.

The colored people have many difficulties to pass through, but these difficulties will be surmounted if only the policy of reason and common-sense is pursued.

If you save money, secure homes, become taxpayers, and lead clean, decent, modest lives, you will win the respect of your neighbors of both races.

You must teach the people of your race that they must scrupulously observe any contract into which they in good faith enter, no matter whether it is hard to keep or not.