“The loose tongue and the unready hand make a poor combination.”

Oyster Bay, New York
July 7, 1915

“The farmer is a good farmer who, having enabled the land to support himself and to provide for the education of his children, leaves it to them a little better than he found it himself. I believe the same thing of a nation.”

Osawatomie, Kansas
August 31, 1901

“If a public man tries to get your vote by saying that he will do something wrong in your interest, you can be absolutely that if ever it becomes worth his while he will do something wrong against your interest.”

Paris, France
April 23, 1910

“No American can overpay the debt of gratitude we all of us owe to the officers and enlisted men of the army and of the navy.”

An Autobiography, 1913

“It is always best to look facts squarely in the face, without blinking them, and to remember that, as has been well said, in the long run even the most uncomfortable truth is a safer companion than the pleasantest falsehood.”

The Sewanee Review
August 1884

“There is no good reason why we should fear the future, but there is every reason why we should face it seriously, neither hiding from ourselves the gravity of the problems before us nor fearing to approach those problems with the unbending, unflinching purpose to solve them aright.”

Inaugural Address
March 4, 1905

“Conservation is a great moral issue, for it involves the patriotic duty of insuring the safety and continuation of the nation.”

Osawatomie, Kansas
August 21, 1910

“I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life; I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.”

Des Moines, Iowa
November 4, 1910

“We should discourage driving property out of the State by unwise taxation, or levying a tax which is in effect largely a tax upon honesty.”

January 2, 1899
Annual Message to Legislature

“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

“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

“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