“It is of little use for us to pay lip-loyalty to the mighty men of the past unless we sincerely endeavor to apply to the problems of the present precisely the qualities which in other crises enabled the men of that day to meet those crises.”

 Osawatomie, Kansas, August 31, 1910

“To be successful, we must learn to combine intensity of conviction with a broad tolerance of difference of conviction.”

Address at the Sorbonne, April 23, 1910

“Each Congressman should be made to feel that it is his duty to support the law, and that he will be held to account if he fails to support it.”

 Scribner’s Magazine, August 1895

“The disloyal man, whether his disloyalty is open or disguised, is our worst foe; but close behind him comes the man who, whether from wickedness or foolishness, assails his loyal fellow citizens because of the blood that flows in their veins.”

 The Great Adventure, 1918

“Washington, alike statesman, soldier, and patriot, stands alone.  He was not only the greatest American; he was also one of the greatest men the world has ever known… Of Americans, Lincoln alone is worthy to stand even second.”

Gouverneur Morris, 1892

“The man who is content to let politics go from bad to worse, jesting at the corruption of politicians, the man who is content to see the maladministration of justice without an immediate and resolute effort to reform it, is shirking his duty and is preparing the way for infinite woe in the future.”

 Forum, February, 1895

“The best scheme of government can do little more than provide against injustice, and then let the individual rise or fall on his own merits.”

 The Outlook, July 28, 1900

“Corruption in any form, whether in the world of politics or in the world of business, represents an offense against the community of so grave a character that the offender should be hunted down as a criminal; and the greater his ability and success, the greater the wrong he has committed, and the heavier should be his punishment.”

Outlook, November 8, 1913

“Remember that every great speech that has come down through history has obtained and kept its place only because it represented either achievement in the past or a resolute purpose for achievement in the future.”

Speech at Trinity College
Hartford, Connecticut
June 16, 1918

“My whole foreign policy was based on the exercise of intelligent forethought and of decisive action sufficiently far in advance of any likely crisis to make it improbable that we would run into serious trouble.”

 An Autobiography, 1913

“I believe with all my heart that the American people are fit for complete self-government, and that, in spite of all our failings and shortcomings, we of this Republic have more nearly realized than any other people on earth the ideal of justice attained through genuine popular rule.”

 Columbus, Ohio, February 21, 1912

“The joy of living is his who has the heart to demand it.”

 Sagamore Hill, New York, January 1, 1916