“In the long run the one vital factor in the permanent prosperity of the country is the high individual character of the average American worker.”

Fifth Annual Message
December 5, 1905

“Be practical as well as generous in your ideals. Keep your eyes on the stars but remember to keep your feet on the ground.”

Address at Groton School
May 24, 1904

“It is always easy for an individual or a party to make promises; the strain comes when the party or individual has to make them good.”

Before Civil Service Reform Association, Baltimore
February 23, 1889

“Government by the people means that the people have the right to do their own thinking and to do their own speaking about their public servants.”

The Kansas City Star
April 6, 1918

“I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life; I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.”

Speech in Des Moines, Iowa
November 4, 1910

“If the man does his duty as a man, if he is fearless and honorable, upright in his dealings with his fellows, if he does his duty to his family, to the state, that is all that we have the right to ask about him.”

Speech at the Exposition Building, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
April 3, 1903

“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.”

Speech in Chicago, Illinois
April 10, 1899

“We are in honor bound each to strive according to his or her strength to bring ever nearer the day when justice and wisdom shall obtain in public life as in private life.”

Remarks at Colorado Springs, Colorado
August 2, 1901

“After all the very highest and most fundamental work of good citizenship is to leave the next generation in right shape.”

Letter to Charles J. Frisch
July 24, 1911

“A nation’s greatness lies in its possibility of achievement in the present, and nothing helps it more than the consciousness of achievement in the past.”

American Ideals
1897