“Under our form of government, no man can accomplish anything by himself. He must work in combination with others.”

Century Magazine
January 1885

“The war we wage must be waged against misconduct, against wrongdoing wherever it is found; and we must stand heartily for the rights of every decent man, whether he be a man of great wealth or a man who earns his livelihood as a wage-worker or a tiller of the soil.”

Eighth Annual Message to Congress
December 9, 1908

“Courtesy among individuals is a good thing, but international courtesy is quite as good a thing.”

Before the Periodical Publishers’ Association, Washington, D.C.
April 7, 1904

“Societies that cultivate patriotism in the present by keeping alive the memory of what we owe to the patriotism of the past, fill an indispensable function in this Republic.”

Speech in Washington, D.C.
May 2, 1902

“While I am President I wish the labor man to feel that he has the same right of access to me that the capitalist has; that the doors swing open as easily to the wage-worker as to the head of a big corporation—and no easier.“

Letter to a Critic
November 26, 1903

“Our prime need as a nation is that every American should understand and work with his fellow-citizens, getting into touch with them, so that by actual contact he may learn that fundamentally he and they have the same interests, needs, and aspirations.“

Chicago Labor Day Picnic
1900

“I believe in realizable ideals and in realizing them, in preaching what can be practiced and then in practicing it.”

An Autobiography
1913

“The first requisite of statesmanship is honesty. ”

Letter to Mrs. Nicholson
July 18, 1916

“Any effort is to be welcomed that brings people closer together, so as to secure a better understanding among those whose walks of life are in ordinary circumstances far apart.“

Social Settlement speech
1902

“…and I ask two things in connection with our foreign policy – that we never wrong the weak and that we never flinch from the strong.”

Address in Portland, Oregon
May 21, 1903

“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

“A strong and wise people will study its own failures no less than its triumphs, for there is wisdom to be learned from the study of both, of the mistake as well as of the success.”

Sixth Annual Address to Congress
December 6, 1906