“You cannot have honesty in public life unless the average citizen demands honesty in public life.”

Speech in Chicago, IL,
September 8, 1910

“Good weapons are necessary, but if you put the best weapon that can be invented into the hands of a coward, he will be beaten by a brave man with a club.”

Speech in Kansas City, MO,
May 1, 1903

“We cannot do great deeds as a nation unless we are willing to do the small things that make up the sum of greatness.”

Speech in New York City,
May 30, 1899

“The first requisite of a good citizen in this Republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his weight.”

Speech in New York,
November 11, 1902

“We abhor brutality and wrongdoing, whether exhibited by nations or by individuals.”

Outlook Magazine,
September 9, 1911

“A great free people owes it to itself and to all mankind not to sink into helplessness before the powers of evil.”

Fourth Annual Message to Congress,
December 6, 1904

“Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.”

Fear God and Take Your Own Part,
1916

“Diplomacy is utterly useless where there is no force behind it.”

Speech at the Naval War College,
June 2, 1897

“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,
1900

“Intelligent foresight in preparation and known capacity to stand well in battle are the surest safeguards against war.”

Preface to Hero Tales,
1895

“My whole foreign policy was based on the exercise of intelligent forethought and of decisive action sufficiently far in advance of any likely crisis to make it improbable that we would run into serious trouble.”

An Autobiography,
1913