“Any country whose people conduct themselves well can count upon our hearty friendship.”

Fourth Annual Message,
December 6, 1904

“The republic cannot stand if honesty and decency do not prevail alike in public and private life.”

Speech in Galena, IL
April 27, 1900

“Remember what a legislative body is. It is a body whose first duty is to act, not to talk.”

Speech in New York City
March 6, 1891

“If we are really to be a great nation, we must not merely talk big; we must act big.”

Editorial in the Metropolitan
September 1917

“No republic can last if corruption is allowed to eat into public life.”

Speech before the Hamilton Club, Chicago, IL
September 8, 1910

“We have fallen heirs to the most glorious heritage a people ever received, and each one must do his part if we wish to show that the nation is worthy of its good fortune.”

Speech in the Dakota Territory,
July 4, 1886

“Good legislation does not secure good government, which can come only through a good administration.”

Speech in New York,
May 25, 1900

“The first duty of the government is relentlessly to put a stop to the violence and then to deal firmly and wisely with all the conditions that led up to the violence.”

Letter to Victor A. Olander,
Illinois State Federation of Labor,
July 17, 1917

“The first requisite for the welfare of any community is justice.”

Outlook
February 25, 1911

“The business of a statesman is to try constantly to keep international relations better, to do away with causes of friction, and secure as nearly as ideal justice as actual conditions will permit.”

Letter to Baron Kentaro Kaneko,
May 23, 1907

“It is a good thing for all Americans, and it is an especially good thing for young Americans, to remember the men who have given their lives in war and peace to the service of their fellow countrymen.”

Preface to Hero Tales from American History,
1895

“We cannot sit huddled within our own borders and avow ourselves merely an assemblage of well-to-do hucksters who care nothing for what happens beyond. Such a policy would defeat even its own end.”

Speech before the Hamilton Club, Chicago,
April 10, 1899