“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

“Fellow-feeling, sympathy in the broadest sense, is the most important factor in producing a healthy political and social life.”

In Century,
January 1900

“It is the doer of deeds who actually counts in the battle for life, and not the man who looks on and says how the fight ought to be fought.”

Atlantic Monthly
August 1894

“Our relations with the other powers of the world are important; but still more important are our relations among ourselves.”

Inaugural Address
March 4, 1905

“The poorest of all emotions for any American citizen to feel is the emotion of hatred toward his fellows.”

Speech in Oyster Bay, NY
July 4, 1906

“Service is the true test by which a man’s worth should be judged.”

Outlook,
March 20, 1909

“Indignation is useless if it exhausts itself in words instead of taking shape in deeds.”

Letter to Samuel T. Dutton
November 24, 1915

“Public welfare depends upon general public prosperity, and the reformer whose reforms interfere with the general prosperity will accomplish little.”

The Outlook,
November 18, 1914

“My fellow-citizens, no people on earth have more cause to be thankful than ours.”

Second Inaugural Address,
March 4, 1905