12 Theodore Roosevelt Quotes on Character

Theodore Roosevelt quotes on character

4. I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life.

40. Right here let me make as vigorous a plea as I know how in favor of saying nothing that we do not mean, and of acting without hesitation up to whatever we say. A good many of you are probably acquainted with the old proverb, 'Speak softly and carry a big stick - you will go far.' If a man continually blusters, if he lacks civility, a big stick will not save him from trouble, and neither will speaking softly avail, if back of the softness there does not lie strength, power. In private life there are few beings more obnoxious than the man who is always loudly boasting, and if the boaster is not prepared to back up his words, his position becomes absolutely contemptible. So it is with the nation. It is both foolish and undignified to indulge in undue self-glorification, and, above all, in loose-tongued denunciation of other peoples. Whenever on any point we come in contact with a foreign power, I hope that we shall always strive to speak courteously and respectfully of that foreign power.

64. A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.

69. Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike.

70. Courtesy is as much a mark of a gentleman as courage.

79. 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!

80. I don't pity any man who does hard work worth doing. I admire him. I pity the creature who does not work, at whichever end of the social scale he may regard himself as being.

82. 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.

84. I think there is only one quality worse than hardness of heart and that is softness of head.

128. 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.

132. There is not one among us in whom a devil does not dwell; at sometime, on some point, that devil masters each of us; he who has never failed has never been tempted; but the man who does in the end conquer, who does painfully retrace the steps of his slipping, why he shows that he has been tried in the fire and not found wanting. It is not having been in the Dark House, but having left it, that counts.

142. Death had to take him in his sleep, for if he was awake there'd have been a fight.