Presidential Quotes: Theodore Roosevelt

 Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US President

“Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.”

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else.”

“There is but one answer to terrorism and it is best delivered with a Winchester rifle.”

“Knowing what's right doesn't mean much unless you do what's right.”

“If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month.”

“Do Something Now. If not you, who? If not here, where? If not now, when?”

“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”

“We can have no '50-50' allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all.”

“Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children's children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.”

“Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.”

“Most of us tiptoe through life in order to make it safely to death.”

“This country has nothing to fear from the crooked man who fails. We put him in jail. It is the crooked man who succeeds who is a threat to this country.”

“A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.”

“To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”

“No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his well-being, to risk his body, to risk his life, in a great cause.”

“Honesty first; then courage; then brains - and all are indispensable.”

“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”

“The only man who makes no mistakes is the man who never does anything. Do not be afraid to make mistakes providing you do not make the same one twice.”

“Nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort.”

“A typical vice of American politics is the avoidance of saying anything real on real issues.”

“Comparison is the thief of joy.”