169 Theodore Roosevelt Quotes: Courage, Leadership & The Strenuous Life

Courage & Bravery

1. 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
2. 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
3. The worst of all fears is the fear of living. — Theodore Roosevelt
4. There were all kinds of things I was afraid of at first, ranging from grizzly bears to 'mean' horses and gun-fighters; but by acting as if I was not afraid I gradually ceased to be afraid. — Theodore Roosevelt
5. 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
6. If I must choose between righteousness and peace, I choose righteousness. — Theodore Roosevelt
7. 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
8. Aggressive fighting for the right is the noblest sport the world affords. — Theodore Roosevelt
9. The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer. — Theodore Roosevelt
10. It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. — Theodore Roosevelt
11. I abhor injustice and bullying by the strong at the expense of the weak, whether among nations or individuals. — Theodore Roosevelt
12. Knowing what's right doesn't mean much unless you do what's right. — Theodore Roosevelt
13. Great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions speak to all mankind. — Theodore Roosevelt
14. The joy in life is his who has the heart to demand it. — Theodore Roosevelt
15. The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to humanity as is the most brutal wrongdoer. — Theodore Roosevelt

Leadership

1. I have always been fond of the West African proverb: 'Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.' — Theodore Roosevelt
2. The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it. — Theodore Roosevelt
3. People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives. — Theodore Roosevelt
4. The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people. — Theodore Roosevelt
5. The government is us; we are the government, you and I. — Theodore Roosevelt
6. 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
7. The object of government is the welfare of the people. — Theodore Roosevelt
8. A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy. — Theodore Roosevelt
9. Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong. — Theodore Roosevelt
10. It is not what we have that will make us a great nation; it is the way in which we use it. — Theodore Roosevelt
11. Let the watchwords of all our people be the old familiar watchwords of honesty, decency, fair-dealing, and common sense. — Theodore Roosevelt
12. In a republic, to be successful we must learn to combine intensity of conviction with a broad tolerance of difference of conviction. — Theodore Roosevelt
13. Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. — Theodore Roosevelt
14. Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, except exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. — Theodore Roosevelt
15. The more you know about the past, the better prepared you are for the future. — Theodore Roosevelt

Hard Work

1. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. — Theodore Roosevelt
2. I don't pity any man who does hard work worth doing. I admire him. I pity the creature who does not work, at whatever end of the social scale he may regard himself as being. — Theodore Roosevelt
3. No man needs sympathy because he has to work, because he has a burden to carry. — Theodore Roosevelt
4. Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty. — Theodore Roosevelt
5. There has never yet been a man in our history who led a life of ease whose name is worth remembering. — Theodore Roosevelt
6. 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
7. When you play, play hard; when you work, don't play at all. — Theodore Roosevelt
8. I put myself in the way of things happening, and they happened. — Theodore Roosevelt
9. I am only an average man, but, by George, I work harder at it than the average man. — Theodore Roosevelt
10. Get action. Seize the moment. Man was never intended to become an oyster. — Theodore Roosevelt
11. A man's usefulness depends upon his living up to his ideals insofar as he can. — Theodore Roosevelt
12. Rhetoric is a poor substitute for action, and we have trusted only to rhetoric. — Theodore Roosevelt
13. The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything. — Theodore Roosevelt
14. It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things. — Theodore Roosevelt
15. The nation that has trained itself to a career of unwarlike and isolated ease is bound, in the end, to go down before other nations which have not lost the manly and adventurous qualities. — Theodore Roosevelt
16. No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency. — Theodore Roosevelt
17. 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
18. I believe that the more you know about the past, the better you are prepared for the future. — Theodore Roosevelt
19. We do not admire the man of timid peace. — Theodore Roosevelt
20. We admire the man who embodies victorious effort; the man who never wrongs his neighbor, who is prompt to help a friend, but who has those virile qualities necessary to win in the stern strife of actual life. — Theodore Roosevelt
21. Obedience of the law is demanded; not asked as a favor. — Theodore Roosevelt

The Strenuous Life

1. I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph. — Theodore Roosevelt
2. Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. — Theodore Roosevelt
3. We must dare to be great; and we must realize that greatness is the fruit of toil and sacrifice and high courage. — Theodore Roosevelt
4. Let us rather run the risk of wearing out than rusting out. — Theodore Roosevelt
5. There is little use for the being whose tepid soul knows nothing of great and generous emotion, of the high pride, the stern belief, the lofty enthusiasm, of the men who quell the storm and ride the thunder. — Theodore Roosevelt
6. Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike. — Theodore Roosevelt
7. A healthy state can exist only when the men and women who make it up lead clean, vigorous, healthy lives; when the children are so trained that they shall endeavor, not to shirk difficulties, but to overcome them; not to seek ease, but to know how to wrest triumph and satisfaction out of toil and risk. — Theodore Roosevelt
8. The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his own weight. — Theodore Roosevelt
9. Life is as if you were traveling a ridge crest. You have the gulf of inefficiency on one side and the gulf of wickedness on the other, and it helps not to have avoided one gulf if you fall into the other. — Theodore Roosevelt
10. There are many qualities which we need in order to gain success, but the three above all — for the lack of which no brilliancy and no genius can atone — are Courage, Honesty and Common-sense. — Theodore Roosevelt
11. 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. — Theodore Roosevelt
12. 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
13. 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
14. It is of far more importance that a man shall play something himself, even if he plays it badly, than that he shall go with hundreds of companions to see someone else play well. — Theodore Roosevelt

Short & Bold

1. Every reform movement has a lunatic fringe. — Theodore Roosevelt
2. There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. — Theodore Roosevelt
3. When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not Guilty'. — Theodore Roosevelt
4. The reason fat men are good natured is they can neither fight nor run. — Theodore Roosevelt
5. Don't foul, don't flinch. Hit the line hard. — Theodore Roosevelt
6. If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month. — Theodore Roosevelt
7. Nine-tenths of wisdom is being wise in time. — Theodore Roosevelt
8. A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user. — Theodore Roosevelt
9. Do not hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft. — Theodore Roosevelt
10. 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
11. It is better to be faithful than famous. — Theodore Roosevelt
12. A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them. — Theodore Roosevelt
13. Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you've got to start young. — Theodore Roosevelt
14. I want to see you shoot the way you shout. — Theodore Roosevelt
15. The unforgivable crime is soft hitting. — Theodore Roosevelt

Famous Lines

1. Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far. — Theodore Roosevelt
2. 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
3. To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society. — Theodore Roosevelt
4. 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. — Theodore Roosevelt
5. Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children's children. — Theodore Roosevelt
6. A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education. — Theodore Roosevelt
7. I am a part of everything that I have read. — Theodore Roosevelt
8. It is not the critic who counts. — Theodore Roosevelt

On Success & Failure

1. I am only an average man, but by George, I work harder at it than the average man. — Theodore Roosevelt
2. The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it. — Theodore Roosevelt
3. It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things. — Theodore Roosevelt
4. If we are to be a really great people, we must strive in good faith to play a great part in the world. — Theodore Roosevelt
5. With self-discipline most anything is possible. — Theodore Roosevelt
6. Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. — Theodore Roosevelt
7. The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything. — Theodore Roosevelt
8. We cannot avoid meeting great issues. All that we can determine for ourselves is whether we shall meet them well or ill. — Theodore Roosevelt
9. When you're at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on. — Theodore Roosevelt
10. Don't flinch, don't foul, and hit the line hard. — Theodore Roosevelt
11. The joy of living is his who has the heart to demand it. — Theodore Roosevelt
12. A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticize work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life's realities — all these are marks, not as the possessor would fain think, of superiority, but of weakness. — Theodore Roosevelt
13. 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
14. The best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. — Theodore Roosevelt
15. Success does not lie in the result but in the effort. — Theodore Roosevelt

On Nature

1. Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it. — Theodore Roosevelt
2. The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem it will avail us little to solve all others. — Theodore Roosevelt
3. We are prone to speak of the resources of this country as inexhaustible; this is not so. — Theodore Roosevelt
4. To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed. — Theodore Roosevelt
5. Conservation means development as much as it does protection. I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land; but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful use, the generations that come after us. — Theodore Roosevelt
6. Of all the questions which can come before this nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us. — Theodore Roosevelt
7. The farther one gets into the wilderness, the greater is the attraction of its lonely freedom. — Theodore Roosevelt
8. There is a delight in the hardy life of the open. — Theodore Roosevelt
9. It was here that the romance of my life began. — Theodore Roosevelt
10. The Bad Lands grade all the way from those that are almost rolling in character to those that are so fantastically broken in form and so bizarre in color as to seem hardly properly to belong to this earth. — Theodore Roosevelt
11. The movement for the conservation of wild life and the larger movement for the conservation of all our natural resources are essentially democratic in spirit, purpose, and method. — Theodore Roosevelt
12. Defenders of the short-sighted men who in their greed and selfishness will, if permitted, rob our country of half its charm by their reckless extermination of all useful and beautiful wild things, sometimes seek to champion them by saying 'the game belongs to the people.' — Theodore Roosevelt
13. Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations. — Theodore Roosevelt
14. In a civilized and cultivated country wild animals only continue to exist at all when preserved by sportsmen. — Theodore Roosevelt
15. I have always said I would not have been President had it not been for my experience in North Dakota. — Theodore Roosevelt
16. Nowhere, not even at sea, does a man feel more lonely than when riding over the far-reaching, seemingly never-ending plains. — Theodore Roosevelt

On Citizenship

1. Much has been given us, and much will rightfully be expected from us. We have duties to others and duties to ourselves; and we can shirk neither. — Theodore Roosevelt
2. Every man holds his property subject to the general right of the community to regulate its use to whatever degree the public welfare may require it. — Theodore Roosevelt
3. I stand for the square deal. But when I say that I am 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
4. This country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in. — Theodore Roosevelt
5. Our country calls not for the life of ease but for the life of strenuous endeavor. — Theodore Roosevelt
6. Americanism means the virtues of courage, honor, justice, truth, sincerity, and hardihood—the virtues that made America. — Theodore Roosevelt
7. 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. — Theodore Roosevelt
8. We cannot afford to differ on the question of honesty if we expect our republic permanently to endure. — Theodore Roosevelt
9. There is not a man of us who does not at times need a helping hand to be stretched out to him, and then shame upon him who will not stretch out the helping hand to his brother. — Theodore Roosevelt
10. Of course, in one sense, the first essential for a man's being a good citizen is his possession of the home virtues of which we think when we call a man by the emphatic adjective of manly. — Theodore Roosevelt
11. The first duty of an American citizen, then, is that he shall work in politics; his second duty is that he shall do that work in a practical manner; and his third is that it shall be done in accord with the highest principles of honor and justice. — Theodore Roosevelt
12. No man can be a good citizen who is not a good husband and a good father, who is not honest in his dealings with other men and women, faithful to his friends and fearless in the presence of his foes, who has not got a sound heart, a sound mind, and a sound body. — Theodore Roosevelt
13. No people is wholly civilized where a distinction is drawn between stealing an office and stealing a purse. — Theodore Roosevelt
14. In a free republic the ideal citizen must be one willing and able to take arms for the defense of the flag, exactly as the ideal citizen must be the father of many healthy children. — Theodore Roosevelt
15. Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul. — Theodore Roosevelt

Timeless Wisdom

1. Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care. — Theodore Roosevelt
2. Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don't have the strength. — Theodore Roosevelt
3. Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds. — Theodore Roosevelt
4. 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
5. Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are. — Theodore Roosevelt
6. One of our defects as a nation is a tendency to use what have been called 'weasel words.' — Theodore Roosevelt
7. Do not get into a fight if you can possibly avoid it. If you get in, see it through. — Theodore Roosevelt
8. It is not 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 to take advantage of them. — Theodore Roosevelt
9. Nine-tenths of wisdom consists in being wise in time. — Theodore Roosevelt
10. A nation's greatness lies in its possibility of achievement in the present, and nothing helps it more than the consciousness of achievement in the past. — Theodore Roosevelt
11. Obedience to the law is demanded as a right; not asked as a favor. — Theodore Roosevelt
12. I have a perfect horror of words that are not backed up by deeds. — Theodore Roosevelt
13. In short, in life, as in a football game, the principle to follow is: Hit the line hard; don't foul and don't shirk, but hit the line hard! — Theodore Roosevelt
14. A soft, easy life is not worth living, if it impairs the fibre of brain and heart and muscle. We must dare to be great; and we must realize that greatness is the fruit of toil and sacrifice and high courage. — Theodore Roosevelt
15. Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has been effort stored up in the past. — Theodore Roosevelt
16. The performance of duty, and not an indulgence in vapid ease and vapid pleasure, is all that makes life worth while. — Theodore Roosevelt
17. It is true of the Nation, as of the individual, that the greatest doer must also be a great dreamer. — Theodore Roosevelt
18. Life brings sorrows and joys alike. It is what a man does with them—not what they do to him—that is the true test of his mettle. — Theodore Roosevelt
19. The most successful politician is he who says what the people are thinking most often in the loudest voice. — Theodore Roosevelt
20. Each one must do his part if we wish to show that the nation is worthy of its good fortune. — Theodore Roosevelt

The Man in the Arena

1. Whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly. — Theodore Roosevelt
2. Who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming. — Theodore Roosevelt
3. Who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions. — Theodore Roosevelt
4. Who spends himself in a worthy cause. — Theodore Roosevelt
5. Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement. — Theodore Roosevelt
6. Who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. — Theodore Roosevelt
7. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. — Theodore Roosevelt
8. Let the man of learning, the man of lettered leisure, beware of that queer and cheap temptation to pose to himself and to others as a cynic, as the man who has outgrown emotions and beliefs, the man to whom good and evil are as one. — Theodore Roosevelt
9. There are many men who feel a kind of twisted pride in cynicism; there are many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt. — Theodore Roosevelt
10. There is no more unhealthy being, no man less worthy of respect, than he who either really holds, or feigns to hold, an attitude of sneering disbelief toward all that is great and lofty. — Theodore Roosevelt
11. Criticism is necessary and useful; it is often indispensable; but it can never take the place of action, or be even a poor substitute for it. The function of the mere critic is of very subordinate usefulness. It is the doer of deeds who actually counts in the battle for life, and not the man who looks on and says how the fight ought to be fought, without himself sharing the stress and the danger. — Theodore Roosevelt
12. It is well if a large proportion of the leaders in any republic, in any democracy, are, as a matter of course, drawn from the classes represented in this audience to-day; but only provided that those classes possess the gifts of sympathy with plain people and of devotion to great ideals. — Theodore Roosevelt
13. Let those who have, keep, let those who have not, strive to attain, a high standard of cultivation and scholarship. — Theodore Roosevelt
14. The rôle is easy; there is none easier, save only the rôle of the man who sneers alike at both criticism and performance. — Theodore Roosevelt
15. Such ordinary, every-day qualities include the will and the power to work, to fight at need, and to have plenty of healthy children. — Theodore Roosevelt

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Theodore Roosevelt's most famous quote?

His most famous quote is the "Man in the Arena" passage from his speech "Citizenship in a Republic," delivered at the Sorbonne in Paris on April 23, 1910: "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…" His other world-famous line is "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far," which he first used in a letter in 1900 and then in a speech at the Minnesota State Fair in 1901.

What did Theodore Roosevelt say about courage and doing hard things?

Roosevelt preached "the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife" rather than "the doctrine of ignoble ease." On courage he wrote, "It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed," and "Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty." He also said, "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," and urged, "We cannot avoid meeting great issues. All that we can determine for ourselves is whether we shall meet them well or ill."

What is "The Man in the Arena" about?

"The Man in the Arena" is the famous passage from Theodore Roosevelt's speech "Citizenship in a Republic," delivered at the Sorbonne in Paris on April 23, 1910, about a year after he left the presidency. The speech is about citizenship, courage, and action: Roosevelt argues that the credit belongs not to the critic who points out how the strong man stumbles, but to the person actually striving in the arena — who errs and comes short again and again, yet dares greatly. It has become one of the most quoted speeches in American history — Richard Nixon quoted it in his resignation address, and Brené Brown titled her book "Daring Greatly" after its most famous line.

What are Theodore Roosevelt's best leadership quotes?

Among his most quoted leadership lines: "Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are" (from his Autobiography, where he credits the saying to Squire Bill Widener); "In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing"; "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far"; and "The real leader shows his leadership less by what he himself does than by what he gets the men under and with him to do." On preparation he wrote, "It is not 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 to take advantage of them."

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