“The prime national need is for honesty, honesty in public life and in private life, honesty in business and in politics, honesty in the broadest and deepest significance of the word.”

Speech in New York City,
October 30, 1912

“Americans do make splendid soldiers.”

Speech at the Lotos Club in New York City, March 11, 1899

“Character is far more important than intellect in making a man a good citizen or successful at his calling.”

North American Review, August 1890

“Example is the most potent of all things.”

Speech in Oyster Bay, NY, August 16, 1903

“No nation can claim rights without acknowledging the duties that go with the rights.”

An Autobiography,
1913

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

Letter to Samuel T. Dutton
November 24, 1915

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

Outlook,
March 31, 1900

“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

“We must so conduct ourselves that every big nation and every little nation that behaves itself shall never have to think of us with fear.”

Outlook

September 23, 1914

“Much has been given us, and much will rightfully be expected from us.”

Inaugural Address, Washington, DC,

March 4, 1905

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

Annual Message, Washington, DC

December 5, 1905

“Our constant aim is to do justice to every man, and to treat each man as by his own actions he shows that he deserves to be treated.”

Speech in Oyster Bay, NY,
August 18, 1906