Your TR Source
The following is a list of quotations attributed to Theodore Roosevelt. Where a source can be verified, it is noted below along with a brief explanation of the setting or the context for that quote. This list includes a number of quotations for which a source has not been verified in Theodore Roosevelt's writings. The context for many of the quotes included here reflects research that has been conducted throughout the years by curators of the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Harvard University, which is presented here through a cooperation between Harvard College Library and the Theodore Roosevelt Center. Quotations will be added to this list as staff at both institutions continue their research.
Theodore Roosevelt delivered the speech entitled “Citizenship in a Republic” at the Sorbonne in Paris on April 23, 1910. The speech is popularly known as “The Man in the Arena.” His statements at the Sorbonne were part of a larger trip to Europe that also included visits to Vienna, Budapest, and Oslo.
President Roosevelt describes an eventful Christmas in the White House.
Roosevelt wrote this passage in a running letter to his sister Corinne from Cuba. This section was dated June 25, 1898. The day before Roosevelt saw his first war action. This was not what TR later called “my crowded hour.” That adventure, on July 1, 1898, involved the famous charge up Kettle and then San Juan hills.
Roosevelt describes the long nights in the Badlands in his book, Ranch Life, on page 182.
These words were written in a presidential proclamation for a day of thanksgiving and praise, issued in November of 1906.
TR wrote these words to Benjamin Franklin Daniels on February 1, 1902 when he confirmed Daniels’ appointment as U.S. Marshal for Arizona Territory despite strong opposition. Within weeks, TR was forced to ask Daniels for his resignation because of a long-past felony conviction Daniels had neglected to disclose.
Roosevelt wrote these words to his friend Henry Cabot Lodge on March 25, 1889. Lodge’s loyalty would continue throughout the lives.
Theodore Roosevelt thanks members of the Armed Forces for their service during World War I and praises men willing to fight for their country. He condemns the actions of Germany and says that the war is being fought for the greater good of America and for humanity.
Theodore Roosevelt wrote these words to Victor Grant Smith on April 22, 1913. He thanked Smith for the gift of a moose horn on which a scene of a bull moose battling with dogs is painted.
In a letter to author Frederic Mistral, Theodore Roosevelt pointed out what he felt was really important in life.
President Roosevelt addresses citizens of Ventura and marvels at the unity of the American people. He discusses his travels through the country and the agriculture of California, a state he describes as “west of the west.” He also thanks the teachers for “what they have done” and speaks of character building and citizenship.
Roosevelt spoke these words to assemblymen gathered in at the Spring of 1882 in regards to reported collusion between Jay Gould and Judge Westbrook.
President Roosevelt spoke these words on July 4, 1906 at Oyster Bay, his home town on Long Island. By now, well into his second term as president, after a lifetime of public service, Roosevelt was under no illusions about human character and political motives. Although he thought of himself as a righteous man, TR knew that righteousness and politics were seldom perfect bedfellows.
A young Theodore Roosevelt writes to his mother Martha Bulloch Roosevelt in 1871, expressing that the family misses her while they are away.
Theodore Roosevelt defines the standards of good citizenship. He also emphasizes that the worst enemy of this country is the man “who tries to excite section against section.”
Theodore Roosevelt defines the standards of good citizenship. He also emphasizes that the worst enemy of this country is the man “who tries to excite section against section.”
Roosevelt wrote these words to a man named J. Edward Myers who criticized the U.S. Navy in the wake of the sinking of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898. Roosevelt told Myers he was “heartily ashamed that there are any Americans who should feel as you do.” TR was at the time the Assistant Secretary of the Navy.
In 1909, the Great White Fleet returned home after sailing around the world to demonstrate the nation’s naval strength. Theodore Roosevelt celebrated the accomplishment with one of the last speeches he gave as the President of the United States.
Post Labor Day speech at Worcester, Mass. On Sept. 2, 1902.
Draft of a speech with handwritten corrections. Vice President Roosevelt praises Vermont and its people for the services they rendered during the American Civil War. He views the war as bringing together a diverse range of people to fight for a “lofty ideal.” At the war’s conclusion, the soldiers returned to civilian life with a sense of duty well done and a feeling of community interest that would eventually extend even to “the gallant men who wore the grey.” Roosevelt holds the Civil War veterans up as a model to follow and shows how recent American conflicts have taught similar lessons in a lesser way.