“The only effective way to help any man is to help him to help himself; and the worst lesson to teach him is that he can be permanently helped at the expense of someone else.”

– Oxford University, June 7, 1910

“When we undertake the impossible, we often fail
to do anything at all.”

– Chicago, Illinois, September 3, 1900

“An epidemic of indiscriminate assault upon character
does not good, but very great harm.”

– Washington, DC, April 14, 1906

“Viewed from any angle, ignorance is the costliest crop
that can be raised in any part of this Union.”

– Tuskegee, Alabama, October 24, 1905

“We cannot do great deeds unless we are willing to do the small things that make up the sum of greatness.”

– New York, New York, May 30, 1899

“The point to be aimed at is the protection of the individual against wrong, not the attempt to limit and hamper the
acquisition and output of wealth.”

– Annual Message as Governor, Albany, New York, January 3, 1900

“If a party raises an issue which it knows is a false issue, merely for the hope of carrying an election, then that party shows in the most striking way that it is the enemy of the country and unfit
to be entrusted with its government.”

– Akron, Ohio, September 23, 1899

“A war is primarily won by soldiers; the work of the non-soldiers, however valuable, is merely accessory to the
primary work of the fighting men.”

– Metropolitan, September 1917

“The distinguishing feature of our American governmental system is the freedom of the individual; it is quite as important to prevent
his being oppressed by many men as it is to save
him from the tyranny of one.”

– Thomas H. Benton, 1887

“Such a body as the Secret Service … is by far the most efficient
instrument possible to use against crime. Of course
the more efficient an instrument is, the more
dangerous it is if misused.”

– Message to House of Representatives, January 4, 1909

“Our country has been populated by pioneers, and therefore it has more energy, more enterprise, more expansive power
than any other in the wide world.”

– St. Paul, Minnesota, September 2, 1901

“If you have an ideal only good while you sit at home, an ideal that nobody can live up to in outside life, examine it
closely, and then cast it away.”

– Groton Massachusetts, May 24, 1904