“More and more it seems to me that about the best thing in life is to have a piece of work worth doing and then to do it well.”

Letter to William Howard Taft,
March 12, 1901

“Let us speak courteously, deal fairly, and keep ourselves armed and ready.”

Speech in San Francisco, California
May 13, 1903

“One of our cardinal doctrines is freedom of speech, which means freedom of speech about foreigners as well as about ourselves.”

An Autobiography,
1913

“My course was to insist on absolute fitness, including honesty, as a prerequisite to every appointment.”

An Autobiography
1913

“No people on earth have more cause to be thankful than ours, and this is said reverently, in no spirit of boastfulness in our own strength, but with gratitude to the Giver of Good.”

Inaugural Address,
1905

“He among us who wishes to win honor in our life, and to play his part honestly and manfully, must be indeed an American in spirit and purpose, in heart and thought and deed.”

New York
1906

“I think that on the whole the future holds more for us than even the great past has held. But, assuredly, the dreams of golden glory in the future will not come true unless, high of heart and strong of hand, by our own mighty deeds we make them come true.”

History as Literature
1913

“Civic greatness is at an end when civic righteousness is no longer its foundation.”

The Strenuous Life
1900

“Reformers, if they are to do well, must look both backward and forward; must be bold and yet must exercise prudence and caution in all they do.”

Introduction to The Wisconsin Idea
1912

“The most practical kind of politics is the politics of decency.”

Remarks at Sagamore Hill
June 1901

“Without honesty, the brave and able man is merely a civic wild beast.”

Outlook Magazine, May 12, 1900