Political Quotes

Teddy Roosevelt

The Public Record

Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. A member of the Republican Party, he was born on October 27, 1858, in New York. Roosevelt was a prominent leader of the Progressive Movement, advocating for domestic policies that included trust-busting, regulation of corporations, and conservation of natural resources. His administration is noted for significant reforms and the establishment of national parks and forests.

Quotes by year · 190219122,141 total · peak 1905 (747)
1902: 355 quotes1903: 523 quotes1904: 180 quotes1905: 747 quotes1906: 136 quotes1907: 46 quotes1908: 56 quotes1909: 60 quotes1910: 20 quotes1912: 18 quotes
Oct 23, 1905

I believe in the future of America, because I believe that the average American man, and the average American woman, is sound at heart.

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Oct 23, 1905

Viewed from any angle, ignorance is the costliest crop that can be raised in any part of this Union.

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Oct 23, 1905

The one thing this nation cannot afford to neglect is the education of the nation of the future.

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Oct 23, 1905

It is a liberal education in itself just to come here and see this great focus of civilization.

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Oct 22, 1905

I will take advice about appointing men, but if I find them crooked I do not take any advice at all about removing them.

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Oct 22, 1905

The man who is decent in his home relations, who is kind to those dependent upon him, who is a good husband, father, and son; is a good citizen.

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Oct 22, 1905

The same spirit that made them valiant in battle made them, when they came home from battle, take up the strings of their lives where they had dropped them when the appeal to arms came, and do their best in walks of peace.

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Oct 22, 1905

Children of to-day are going to decide what our country shall be in the immediate future, and accordingly as they are brought up well or ill our country will go forward or backward in the years that are now open.

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Oct 22, 1905

Now, I hold that as a matter of public policy, whatever helps a part of our country helps the whole.

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Oct 22, 1905

In that regiment I had more men whose fathers had worn the gray than I had whose fathers had worn the blue; but they united in the generous rivalry to know no difference and in the emulation of seeing whether or not each could do all that…

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Oct 22, 1905

What we need is not genius, not brilliancy, but the ordinary commonplace virtues that every man or woman can have, if only he or she will.

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Oct 22, 1905

Think how fortunate we are as a people that, whereas, most great wars leave memories of rancor and bitterness, we now have the right of Americans all over this country to claim as part of the glory of all Americans all that was done alike…

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Oct 22, 1905

Uncle Sam has started to dig that canal, and it will be dug, and soon.

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Oct 22, 1905

I cannot sufficiently express my appreciation of the magnificent greeting that you have given me to-day.

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Oct 22, 1905

What we need in the average man in his relation to the State is that he shall have the three qualities—courage, honesty, and common sense.

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Oct 22, 1905

We cannot, any of us, afford to differ about the question of honesty in public life, decency and cleanliness in private life.

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Oct 22, 1905

The last time I came through your great and beautiful State I was with my regiment on the way to the Spanish War.

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Oct 20, 1905

If we treat the mighty heroes of the past merely as excuses for sitting lazily down in the present, or for standing aside from the rough work of the world, then these memories will prove a curse instead of a blessing.

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Oct 20, 1905

I do indeed appreciate the reception you have given me in this, the oldest historic city in the United States.

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Oct 20, 1905

And I do want to say one thing in conclusion; if I have ever been able to accomplish anything at all in regard to peace or whatever else it may be, it has been done only to this end, to give fit expression to the thoughts and aspirations…

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Oct 20, 1905

We do not wish another foot of territory; and I think our conduct toward Cuba is a guaranty that this is our genuine attitude toward all our sister republics.

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Oct 20, 1905

If you go to a man and he says that if the people want it he will do something that is wrong in their interests, you can make up your minds you have got a man who, if he takes up his own interests, will do something wrong to the people in…

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Oct 20, 1905

It is a matter of special pride to us that our nation, the American nation, should have undertaken the performance of this world duty.

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Oct 20, 1905

The minute that these republics develop rich men who will look down on the poor, and poor and envious men who hate and wish for the disposal of the rich; the minute that those classes develop in any republic, the day of that republic's…

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Oct 20, 1905

If he is a straight man we should be for him, and if he is a crooked man we should be against him.

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Politicians like Teddy Roosevelt