Citate din Theodore Roosevelt

Death is always and under all circumstances a tragedy, for if it is not, then it means that life itself has become one. Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man's permission when we require him to obey it. Obedience to the law is demanded as a right; not asked as a favor. The government is us; we are the government, you and I. A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards. More than that no man is entitled to, and less than that no man shall have. When you play, play hard; when you work, don't play at all. 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. I have a perfect horror of words that are not backed up by deeds. [A] physician of wealth and high standing had seduced a girl and then induced her to commit abortion-I rather lost my temper, and wrote to the individuals who had asked for the pardon, saying that I extremely regretted that it was not in my power to increase the sentence. Order without liberty and liberty without order are equally destructive. Get action. Seize the moment. Man was never intended to become an oyster. To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society. A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user. Great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions speak to all mankind. A typical vice of American politics is the avoidance of saying anything real on real issues. Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has been effort stored up in the past. Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike. The unforgivable crime is soft hitting. Do not hit at all if it can be avoided; but never hit softly. The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people. Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country. When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not guilty'. The most successful politician is he who says what everybody is thinking most often and in the loudest voice. There is but one answer to be made to the dynamite bomb, and that can best be made with the Winchester rifle. 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!