• “No public servant who is worth his salt should hesitate to stand by his conscience, and if necessary, to surrender his office rather than to yield his conscientious conviction in a case of any importance.”

    New York City
    October 20, 1911

    April 8, 2014

  • “No man can render the highest service unless he can act in combination with his fellows, which means a certain amount of give-and-take between him and them.”

    An Autobiography
    1913

    April 1, 2014

  • “I am not a college freshman… and therefore I am not concerned about my ‘popularity’ save in exactly so far as it is an instrument which will help me to achieve my purposes.”

    Letter to Sereno S. Pratt
    March 1, 1906

    March 25, 2014

  • “Performance of international duty to others means that in international affairs, in the commonwealth of nations, we shall not only refrain from wronging the weak, but shall, according to our capacity, and as opportunity offers, stand up for the weak when the weak are wronged by the strong.”

    Kansas City, Missouri
    May 30, 1916

    March 18, 2014

  • “We Americans have many grave problems to solve, many threatening evils to fight, and many deeds to do, if, as we hope and believe, we have the wisdom, the strength, and the courage and the virtue to do them. But we must face the facts as they are. We must neither surrender ourselves to foolish optimism, or succumb to a timid and ignoble pessimism.”

    Forum
    April 1894

    March 11, 2014

  • “There can be no higher international duty than to safeguard the existence and independence of industrious, orderly states, with a high personal and national standard of conduct, but without the military force of the great powers.”

    The Outlook
    September 23, 1914

    March 5, 2014

  • “Good weapons are necessary, but if you put the best weapon that can be invented into the hands of a coward, he will be beaten by a brave man with a club.”

    Kansas City, Missouri
    May 1, 1903

    February 25, 2014

  • “As a people we are indeed beyond measure fortunate in the characters of the two greatest of our public men, Washington and Lincoln. … Each had lofty ideas, but each in striving to attain these lofty ideas was guided by the soundest common sense.”

    Hodgenville, Kentucky
    February 12, 1909

    February 18, 2014

  • “The administration of the government, the enforcement of the laws, must be fair and honest. The laws are not to be administered either in the interest of the poor man or the interest of the rich man. They are simply to be administered justly.”

    Charleston, SC
    April 9, 1902

    February 11, 2014

  • “The only effective way to help any man is to help him to help himself.”

    Oxford University
    June 7, 1910

    February 4, 2014

  • “I have a very strong feeling that it is a president’s duty to get on with Congress if he possibly can, and that it is a reflection upon him if he and Congress come to a complete break.”

    Letter to Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
    January 31, 1909

    January 28, 2014

  • “In the long run, the man who makes a substantial contribution toward uplifting any part of the community has helped to uplift all of the community.”

    Preface to Booker T. Washington
    August 28, 1916

    January 21, 2014