“We have got but one life here and what comes after it we cannot certainly tell, but it pays, no matter what comes after it, to try and do things, to accomplish things in this life, and not merely to have a soft and pleasant time. It is the doing of things after all which really makes life worth living.“

Letter to Bellamy Storer
1899

“We are not building this country of ours for a day. It is to last through the ages.”

Address in Sacramento, California
May 19, 1903

“Reformers, if they are to do well, must look both backward and forward; must be bold and yet must exercise prudence and caution in all they do.”

Introduction to The Wisconsin Idea
1912

“The really valuable—the invaluable—reform is that which in actual practice works.”

Metropolitan
May 1917

“The world is getting better, but it has got a long way to travel before it becomes perfect.”

Address at Aberdeen, South Dakota
April 6, 1903

“For my fellow countrymen, you can never afford to forget at one moment that in the long run anything that is of benefit to one part of our republic is of necessity a benefit to all the Republic. . .”

Speech in Denver, Colorado
May, 1903

“The problems that confront us in this age are, after all, in their essence the same as those that have always confronted free people striving to secure and to keep free government.”

The Strenuous Life
1899

“In life as in a football game, the principle to follow is: Hit the line hard; don’t foul and don’t shirk, but hit the line hard.”

The Strenuous Life
April 10, 1899

“…the people who wish to work for decent politics must work practically, and yet must not swerve from their devotion to a high ideal. They must actually do things, and not merely confine themselves to criticizing those that do them.”

“True Americanism”

“No President ever enjoyed himself in the Presidency as much as I did; and no President after leaving the office took as much joy in life as I am taking.”

Letter to Lady Delamere
March 7, 1911