75 Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, is remembered not only for his dynamic leadership but also for his powerful words that continue to inspire generations. Known for his robust personality, adventurous spirit, and commitment to public service, Roosevelt’s quotes reflect his values of courage, perseverance, and optimism. From his call for a “strenuous life” to his belief in the importance of action over idle criticism, his words encourage individuals to embrace challenges and pursue greatness. This article explores some of the most memorable and impactful quotes from Teddy Roosevelt, offering timeless wisdom for today’s world.

Teddy Roosevelt Quotes

1. “Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President.” – Theodore Roosevelt

2. “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt

3. “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt

4. “This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.” – Theodore Roosevelt
5. “Knowing what’s right doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.” – Theodore Roosevelt
6. “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.” – Theodore Roosevelt
7. “What a man does for himself, dies with him. What a man does for his community lives long after he’s gone.” – Theodore Roosevelt
8. “Do something now. If not you, who? If not here, where? If not now, when?” – Theodore Roosevelt
9. “It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” – Theodore Roosevelt
10. “With self-discipline most anything is possible.” – Theodore Roosevelt
11. “It may be true that he travels farthest who travels alone, but the goal thus reached is not worth reaching.” – Theodore Roosevelt
12. “Each one must do his part if we wish to show that the nation is worthy of its good fortune.” – Theodore Roosevelt
13. “A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be great or a democracy.” – Theodore Roosevelt
14. “The greatest gift life has to offer is the opportunity to work hard at work worth doing.” – Theodore Roosevelt
15. “The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.” – Theodore Roosevelt
16. “There has never yet been a person in our history who led a life of ease whose name is worth remembering.” – Theodore Roosevelt
17. “Only those who live and sleep in the open fully realize the beauty of dawn and moonlight and starlight.” – Theodore Roosevelt
18. “If a man does not have an ideal and try to live up to it, then he becomes a mean, base and sordid creature, no matter how successful.” – Theodore Roosevelt
19. “We should not forget that it will be just as important to our descendants to be prosperous in their time, as it is to us, to be prosperous in our time.” – Theodore Roosevelt
20. “Women should have free access to every field of labor which they care to enter, and when their work is as valuable as that of a man, it should be paid as highly.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

21. “I can do one of two things. I can be President of the United States, or I can control Alice Roosevelt. [His 19-year-old daughter.] I cannot possibly do both.” – Theodore Roosevelt
22. “People ask the difference between a leader and a boss … The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives.” – Theodore Roosevelt
23. “It is true of the Nation, as of the individual, that the greatest doer must also be a great dreamer.” – Theodore Roosevelt
24. “The lack of power to take joy in outdoor nature is as real a misfortune as the lack of power to take joy in books.” – Theodore Roosevelt
25. “The greatest happiness is the happiness that comes as a by-product of striving to do what must be done, even though sorrow is met in the doing.” – Theodore Roosevelt
26. “Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips and shows itself in deeds.” – Theodore Roosevelt
27. “Love of peace is common among weak, short-sighted, timid, and lazy persons; and on the other hand, courage is found among many men of evil temper and bad character.” – Theodore Roosevelt
28. “A man’s first duty is to his own home, but he is not thereby excused from doing his duty to the State; for if he fails in this second duty it is under the penalty of ceasing to be a freeman.” – Theodore Roosevelt
29. “Our creed is one that bids us to be just to all, to feel sympathy for all, and to strive for an understanding of the needs of all. Our purpose is to smite down wrong.” – Theodore Roosevelt
30. “If you could kick the person in the pants most responsible for your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.” – Theodore Roosevelt
31. “Americans learn only from catastrophes and not from experience.” – Theodore Roosevelt
32. “If we are to be a really great people, we must strive in good faith to play a great part in the world. We cannot avoid meeting great issues. All that we can determine for ourselves is whether we shall meet them well or ill.” – Theodore Roosevelt
33. “The worst lesson that can be taught to a man is to rely upon others and to whine over his sufferings.” – Theodore Roosevelt
34. “Books are the ammunition of life.” – Theodore Roosevelt
35. “So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt
36. “I have only a second-rate brain, but I think I have a capacity for action.” – Theodore Roosevelt
37. “In any situation, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The second-best thing is the wrong thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.” – Theodore Roosevelt
38. “Get action. Do things; be sane; don’t fritter away your time; create, act, take a place wherever you are and be somebody; get action.” – Theodore Roosevelt
39. “We must dare to be great; and we must realize that greatness is the fruit of toil and sacrifice and high courage.” – Theodore Roosevelt
40. “I had always felt that if there were a serious war, I wished to be in a position to explain to my children why I did take part in it, and not why I did not take part in it.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Quotes by Theodore Roosevelt

41. “When you’re at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” – Theodore Roosevelt
42. “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” – Theodore Roosevelt
43. “Americanism is a question of principle, of idealism, of character. It is not a matter of birthplace, or creed or line of descent.” – Theodore Roosevelt
44. “To educate a person in the mind, but not in morals, is to educate a menace to society.” – Theodore Roosevelt
45. “Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground.” – Theodore Roosevelt
46. “Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength.” – Theodore Roosevelt
47. “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.” – Theodore Roosevelt
48. “Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country.” – Theodore Roosevelt
49. “A vote is like a rifle. Its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.” – Theodore Roosevelt
50. “It is better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.” – Theodore Roosevelt
51. “It is better for the Government to help a poor man to make a living for his family than to help a rich man make more profit for his company.” – Theodore Roosevelt
52. “The government is us; we are the government, you and I.” – Theodore Roosevelt
53. “The problems differ from generation to generation, but the qualities needed to solve them remain unchanged from world’s end to world’s end.” – Theodore Roosevelt
54. “In advocating any measure, we must consider not only its justice but its practicability.” – Theodore Roosevelt
55. “The most practical kind of politics is the politics of decency.” – Theodore Roosevelt
56. “I was not going to earn money, I must even things up by not spending it.” – Theodore Roosevelt
57. “Courtesy is as much a mark of a gentleman as courage.” – Theodore Roosevelt
58. “It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.” – Theodore Roosevelt
59. “Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it’s the choice that something else is greater than that fear.” – Theodore Roosevelt
60. “Nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Famous Teddy Roosevelt Quotes

61. “When you play, play hard; when you work, don’t play at all.” – Theodore Roosevelt
62. “Life means change; where there is no change, death comes.” – Theodore Roosevelt
63. “I grew into manhood thoroughly imbued with the feeling that a man must be respected for what he made of himself.” – Theodore Roosevelt
64. “Great thought speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions speak to all mankind.” – Theodore Roosevelt
65. “If a nation shows that it knows how to act with reasonable efficiency and decency in social and political matters, if it keeps order and pays its obligations, it need fear no interference from the United States.” – Theodore Roosevelt
66. “Most of the men had simple souls. They could relate facts, but they said very little about what they dimly felt.” – Theodore Roosevelt
67. “No amount of charity in spending such fortunes can compensate in any way for the misconduct in acquiring them.” – Theodore Roosevelt
68. “There must be the keenest sense of duty, and with it must go the joy of living; there must be shame at the thought of shirking the hard work of the world, and at the same time delight in the many-sided beauty of life.” – Theodore Roosevelt
69. “I am old-fashioned, or sentimental, or something, about books! Whenever I read one, I want in the first place, to enjoy myself, and, in the next place, to feel that I am a little better and not a little worse for having read it.” – Theodore Roosevelt
70. “The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his weight.” – Theodore Roosevelt
71. “No man is above the law, and no man is below it.” – Theodore Roosevelt
72. “I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! That is character!” – Theodore Roosevelt
73. “The unforgivable crime is soft hitting. Do not hit at all if it can be avoided, but NEVER hit softly.” – Theodore Roosevelt
74. “There is a delight in the hardy life of the open. There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness, that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy and its charm…Conservation means development as much as it does protection.” – Theodore Roosevelt
75. “Complaining about a problem without posing a solution is called whining.” – Theodore Roosevelt