“Not only should there be complete liberty in matters of religion and opinion, but complete liberty for each man to lead his life as he desires, provided only that in so he does not wrong his neighbor.”

– Paris, France, April 23, 1910

“Power always brings with it responsibility. You cannot have power to work well without having so much power as to be able to work ill, if you turn yourselves that way.”

– Milwaukee, Wisconsin, September 7, 1910

“On this day, the 30th of May, we call to mind the deaths of those who died that the nation might live, who wagered all that life holds dear
for the great prize of death in battle, who poured out their blood
like water in order that the mighty national structure raised by
the fair-seeing genius of Washington, Franklin, Marshall,
Hamilton and the other great leaders of the Revolution,
great framers of the Constitution, should not
crumble into meaningless ruins.”

– Arlington, VA, May 30, 1902

“We are not to be excused if we fail to hold our public men to a rigid accountability if they fail, in their turn, to see that we have proper legislation and proper administration. No public man
worth his salt will be other than glad to be held
accountable in that fashion.”

– San Francisco, California, May 14, 1903

“We can as little afford to tolerate a dishonest man in the
public service as a coward in the army.”

– Washington, DC, October 15, 1903

“The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty first, the love of soft living and the get-rich-quick theory of life.”

– Letter to the Proceedings of the Congress
of Constructive Patriotism, January 10, 1917

“There are good men and bad men of all nationalities, creeds and colors; and if this world of ours is ever to become what we hope some day it may become, it must be by the general recognition that the man’s heart and soul, the man’s worth and actions, determine his standing.”

– Letter to Baron d’Estournelles De Constant,
Oyster Bay, New York, September 1, 1903

“I have a perfect horror of words that are not backed up by deeds.”

– Oyster Bay, New York, July 7, 1915

“To sit home, read one’s favorite paper, and scoff at the misdeeds of the men who do things is easy, but it is markedly ineffective. It is
what evil men count upon the good men’s doing.”

– The Outlook, December 21, 1895

“Men can never escape being governed. Either they must govern themselves or they must submit to being governed by others.”

– Jamestown, Virginia, April 26, 1907

“Reform is always held back by hypocrisy.”

– The Outlook, November 11, 1911

“The corner-stone of the Republic lies in our treating each man on his worth as a man, paying no heed to his creed, his birthplace, or his occupation … asking only whether he acts decently and honorably
in the various relations of his life, whether he behaves well
to his family, to his neighbors, to the state.”

– Jamestown, Virginia, April 26, 1907