“All journalists, all writers, for the very reason that they appreciate the vast possibilities of their profession, should bear testimony against those who deeply discredit it.”

Speech in Paris, France, April 23, 1910

“A man cannot act both without and within the party; he can do either, but he cannot possibly do both.”

Interview in Boston Herald, July 20, 1884

“Far more important than the candidate’s words is the estimate you are able to put upon the closeness with which his deeds will correspond to his words.”

New York City, October 19, 1898

“There is not a city on earth that deserves honest government more than New York, and no city in the Union lacks that kind of government more than our city.”

Speech to Friends of Honest Government, New York City, October 25, 1895

“No free people can afford to submit to government by theft.  If the will of the people is defeated by fraud, then the people do not rule.”

The Outlook, July 13, 1912

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

Speech in Chicago, Illinois, September 8, 1910

“Criminals always attack the helpless if possible. In exactly similar fashion aggressive and militarist nations attack weak nations where it is possible. Weakness always invites attack. Preparedness usually, but not always, averts it.”

Metropolitan, February 1916

“I am far from underestimating the importance of dividends; but I rank dividends below human character.”

Speech in Osawatomie, Kansas
August 31, 1910

“Be truthful; a lie implies fear, vanity, or malevolence.”

Speech at The Groton School, Groton, Massachusetts, May 24, 1904

“No man is fit to hold the position of President of the United States at all unless as President he feels that he represents no party but the people as a whole.”

Speech in Dallas, TX, April 5, 1905

“I ask in our civic life that we pay heed only to the man’s quality of citizenship, to repudiate as the worst enemy that we can have whoever tries to get us to discriminate for or against any man because of his creed or his birthplace.”