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About this quote

What does it mean?
Roosevelt advises that when supporting any policy, one must weigh both fairness and how realistic it is to implement.
In plain terms
Make sure a plan is fair but also possible to actually do.
What can you take from it?
Policy must balance justice with practical feasibility.

Where it applies

  • policy making
  • decision making
  • reform

Putting it to work

  • evaluating proposals
  • balancing ideals and reality
  • implementing laws

Questions to consider

  • Is justice achievable without practicality?
  • When should we abandon a just but hard goal?

Another view

Focusing on practicality can sometimes lead to accepting unjust situations.

More from Theodore Roosevelt

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  3. If there is not the war, you don't get the great general; if there is not a great occasion, you don't get a great statesman; if Lincoln had lived in a time of …

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