“Politicians proverbially like a colorless candidate, and the very success of what I have done, the number of things I have accomplished, and the extent of my record, may prove to be against me.”

Letter to Henry White, April 4, 1904

“I regard the memories of Washington and Lincoln as priceless heritages for our people.”

Letter to Sir George Otto Trevelyan, June 19, 1908

“A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.”

An Autobiography, 1913

“It is not the man who sits by his fireside reading his evening paper, and saying how bad our politics and politicians are, who will ever do anything to save us; it is the man who goes out into the rough hurly-burly of the caucus, the primary, and the political meeting, and there faces his fellows on equal terms.”

Forum, July 1894

“The impractical visionary is far less often the guide and precursor than he is the embittered foe of the real reformer.”

Speech in Paris, France, April 23, 1910

“The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer.”

History as Literature, 1913

“The cost of doing government business should be regulated with the same rigid scrutiny as the cost of doing a private business.”

Annual Message to Congress, December 6, 1904

“I acted for the common well-being of all our people, whenever and in whatever manner was necessary, unless prevented by direct constitutional or legislative prohibition.”

An Autobiography, 1913

“No great success can ever be won save by accepting the fact that, normally, sacrifice of some kind must come in winning the success.”

Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA, March 22, 1911

“When there is a great unrest, partly reasoning and partly utterly unreasoning and unreasonable, it becomes extremely difficult to beat a loud-mouthed demagogue, especially if he is a demagogue of great wealth.”

Letter to Henry Cabot Lodge, November 9, 1911

“To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed.”

Message to Congress, December 3, 1907

“In thanking God for the mercies extended to us in the past, we beseech Him that He may not withhold them in the future, and that our hearts may be roused to war steadfastly for good and against all the forces of evil, public and private.”

Proclamation 508, Thanksgiving Day, October 31, 1903