“I have studied history a good deal and it is a matter of rather grim amusement to me to listen to the praise bestowed on our national past at the expense of our national present.”

A Letter to Owen Wister, April 27, 1906

“I wonder if you know how much good you do when you go into this active, practical work. It is a help to every man in the country who is striving for decent politics.”

A Letter to G.S. Conway, May 22, 1902

“Good laws can do much. Good administration of the laws can do much. We must have both.”

Speech in Redlands, California, May 7, 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 4, 1903

“I believe in the rule of right and justice at home and between nations. I believe in international justice.”

Speech in Montevideo, Uruguay, November 5, 1913

“My own view has been that if I must choose between taking risks by not doing a thing or by doing it, I will take the risks of doing it.”

Speech in Dallas, Texas, April 5, 1905

“…a policy of words unbacked by deeds is considerably worse than useless.”

A Letter to J.W. Jenke, March 15, 1915

“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

“Stability of economic policy must always be the prime economic need of this country.”

The Message of the President of the U.S. to Congress

1902

“Nothing but the truth should be spoken about [the President] or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else.”

The Kansas City Star, May 7, 1918

“I have a very strong feeling that it is a President’s duty to get on with Congress if he possibly can, and that it is a reflection upon him if he and Congress come to a complete break.”

A Letter to His Son Theodore, January 31, 1909

“Alike for the nation and the individual, the one indispensable requisite is character.”

Outlook, March 31, 1900