Looking for inspirational words by Theodore Roosevelt? We have rounded up the best collection of Theodore Roosevelt quotes, sayings, writings, speeches, and lines (with images and pictures) to inspire you about life, nature, leadership, success, and more.
Theodore Roosevelt Jr., often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American statesman, author, explorer, soldier, naturalist, and reformer who served as the 26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909.
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As a leader of the Republican Party during this time, he became a driving force for the Progressive Era in the United States in the early 20th century.
Theodore Roosevelt was nicknamed Teddy, he was one of the most popular and important Presidents ever to serve in the Chief Executive Office.
The teddy bear is named after U.S. President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt. In 1902, President Roosevelt participated in a bear-hunting trip in Mississippi.
While hunting, Roosevelt declared the behavior of the other hunters “unsportsmanlike” after he refused to kill a bear they had captured.
Theodore Roosevelt received the Peace Prize for having negotiated peace in the Russo-Japanese war in 1904-1905.
Roosevelt’s famous quotes on courage, determination, and self-improvement are still widely quoted and studied, and serve as a reminder of the impact that one person can have on the world.
His legacy as a conservationist, trust-buster, and champion of the common man will always be remembered, and his words will continue to inspire future generations to strive for greatness and make a positive impact on the world.
Top 10 Theodore Roosevelt Quotes
- “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“When you’re at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… 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.” — Theodore Roosevelt
Famous Quotes By Theodore Roosevelt
- “The greatest doer must also be a great dreamer.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Let us rather run the risk of wearing out than rusting out.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Full knowledge of the past helps us in dealing with the future.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Knowing what’s right doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“But life is a great adventure, and the worst of all fears is the fear of living.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Complaining about a problem without proposing a solution is called whining.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Each time we face our fear, we gain strength, courage, and confidence in the doing.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“To educate a person in the mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Great thought speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions speak to all mankind.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Nothing in this world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it’s the choice that something else is greater than that fear.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! That is character!” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Men can never escape being governed. Either they must govern themselves or they must submit to being governed by others.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“We wish peace, but we wish the peace of justice, the peace of righteousness. We wish it because we think it is right and not because we are afraid.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“From the greatest to the smallest, happiness and usefulness are largely found in the same soul, and the joy of life is won in its deepest and truest sense only by those who have not shirked life’s burden.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” — Theodore Roosevelt
Best Theodore Roosevelt Quotes On Life
- “Comparison is the thief of joy.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Nothing worth having comes easy.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“I am a part of everything that I have read.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“With self-discipline, almost anything is possible.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“The joy of living is his who has the heart to demand it.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Courtesy is as much a mark of a gentleman as courage.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Life means change; where there is no change, death comes.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“When you play, play hard; when you work, don’t play at all.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“You can’t choose your potential, but you can choose to fulfill it.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Honesty first; then courage; then brains – and all are indispensable.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“In life, as in a football game, the principle to follow is: hit the line hard.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Don’t hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft!” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Get action. Seize the moment. Man was never intended to become an oyster.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“We are not building this country of ours for a day. It is to last through the ages.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Don’t hit a man at all if you can avoid it, but if you have to hit him, knock him out.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“It is out of the question for our people to rise by treading down any of their own number.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“But the joy of life is a very good thing, and while work is the essential in it, play also has its place.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has been effort stored up in the past.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“At sometime in our lives a devil dwells within us, causes heartbreaks, confusion and troubles, then dies.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell ’em, ‘Certainly I can!’ Then get busy and find out how to do it.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“No man is above the law and no man is below it: nor do we ask any man’s permission when we ask him to obey it.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“We want men who will fix their eyes on the stars, but who will not forget that their feet must walk on the ground.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his well-being, to risk his body, to risk his life, in a great cause.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“It is impossible to win the great prizes of life without running risks, and the greatest of all prizes are those connected with the home.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“It is often that a man can make opportunities for himself. But he can put himself in such shape that when or if the opportunities come he is ready.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“No man needs sympathy because he has to work, because he has a burden to carry. Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“We need the iron qualities that go with true manhood. We need the positive virtues of resolution, of courage, of indomitable will, of power to do without shrinking the rough work that must always be done.” — Theodore Roosevelt
Popular Teddy Roosevelt Quotes
- “All the resources we need are in the mind.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“A stream cannot rise larger than its source.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Nine-tenths of wisdom is being wise in time.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Every reform movement has a lunatic fringe.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Politeness is a sign of dignity, not subservience.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“The government is us; we are the government, you and I.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of justified.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“If you’ve got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“To anger conservative, lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“The reason fat men are good-natured is they can neither fight nor run.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Order without liberty and liberty without order are equally destructive.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“If I must choose between peace and righteousness, I choose righteousness.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Thrice happy is the nation that has a glorious history..” — Theodore Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life
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“There is only one quality worse than hardness of heart and that is softness of head.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“I am only an average man, but by George, I work harder at it than the average man.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“In the long run, the most unpleasant truth is a safer companion than a pleasant falsehood.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Risk is like fire: If controlled it will help you; if uncontrolled it will rise up and destroy you.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“I don’t always get shot during the middle of a speech, But when I do, I finish the damn speech.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“I took the Canal Zone and let Congress debate; and while the debate goes on, the canal does also.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“I do not intend that our natural resources shall be exploited by the few against the interests of the many.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“There can be no life without change, and to be afraid of what is different or unfamiliar is to be afraid of life.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“I grew into manhood thoroughly imbued with the feeling that a man must be respected for what he made of himself.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Conservation is a great moral issue, for it involves the patriotic duty of insuring the safety and continuance of the nation.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“A man who is good enough to shed his blood for the country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“A man who has never gone to school may steal a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.”— Theodore Roosevelt
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“The world would have halted had it not been for the Teutonic conquests in alien lands.” — Theodore Roosevelt, The Winning Of The West (1894)
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“War with evil; but show no spirit of malignity toward the man who may be responsible for the evil. Put it out of his power to do wrong.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“We should not forget that it will be just as important to our descendants to be prosperous in their time as it is to us to be prosperous in our time.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“This country has nothing to fear from the crooked man who fails. We put him in jail. It is the crooked man who succeeds who is a threat to this country.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“The dreams of golden glory in the future will not come true unless, high of heart and strong of hand, by our own mighty deeds we make them come true.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“I am an American; free born and free bred, where I acknowledge no man as my superior, except for his own worth, or as my inferior, except for his own demerit.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first and love of soft living and the get-rich-quick theory of life.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“From its very nature, the life of the hunter in most places evanescent; and when it has vanished there can be no real substitute in old settled countries.” — Theodore Roosevelt, The Wilderness Hunter
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“We must remember not to judge any public servant by any one act, and especially should we beware of attacking the men who are merely the occasions and not the cause of disaster.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Great corporations exist only because they are created and safeguarded by our institutions; and it is therefore our right and our duty to see that they work in harmony with these institutions.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Our chief usefulness to humanity rests on our combining power with high purpose. Power undirected by high purpose spells calamity, and high purpose by itself is utterly useless if the power to put it into effect is lacking.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“The men and women who have the right ideals… are those who have the courage to strive for the happiness which comes only with labor and effort and self-sacrifice, and those whose joy in life springs in part from power of work and sense of duty.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“I stand for the square deal. I mean not merely that I stand for fair play under the present rules of the game, but that I stand for having those rules changed so as to work for a more substantial equality of opportunity and of reward for equally good service.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Peace is normally a great good, and normally it coincides with righteousness, but it is righteousness and not peace which should bind the conscience of a nation as it should bind the conscience of an individual; and neither a nation nor an individual can surrender conscience to another’s keeping.” — Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Quotes On Leadership & Success
These Teddy Roosevelt qutoes are inspirational, wise, and powerful and give you a deep insight into leadership, life, and success.
- “Dreams are a dime a dozen. it’s their execution that counts.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you’ve got to start young.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“Courage, hard work, self-mastery, and intelligent effort are all essential to a successful life.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“The boy who is going to make a great man must not make up his mind merely to overcome a thousand obstacles, but to win in spite of a thousand repulses and defeats.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“The only time you really live fully is from thirty to sixty. The young are slaves to dreams; the old servants of regrets. Only the middle-aged have all their five senses in the keeping of their wits.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” — Theodore Roosevelt, The Man In The Arena
Books by Theodore Roosevelt
Roosevelt was a prolific writer. Aided by his excellent memory and his always-high energy level, TR wrote about 35 books in his lifetime and an estimated 150,000 letters.
- The Rough Riders
- The Naval War of 1812
- Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail
- Hunting Trips of a Ranchman
- Citizenship in a Republic
- Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography
- The Winning of the West Complete
- Through the Brazilian Wilderness
- Hero Tales from American History
In conclusion, Theodore Roosevelt’s words continue to inspire people to this day with his teachings on leadership, conservation, and personal growth.
His speeches and writings reflect his bold and unyielding spirit and his commitment to using his power and influence for the greater good.
If you like these inspirational compassion quotes, then also check our collection of vegan quotes and kill them with kindness quotes to inspire you to be kind and positive in all situations.
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