Quotes

You know, Archie, that I think he has the most lovable personality I have ever come into contact with. He is going to be greatly beloved as President. I almost envy a man possessing a personality like Taft’s. People are always prepossessed by it. One loves him at first sight. He has nothing to overcome when he meets people. I realize that I have always got to overcome a little something before I get to the heart of the people.

Roosevelt spoke these words in December 1908, just after his hand-picked successor William Howard Taft had been elected as the 27th President of the United States. TR’s rosy opinion of Taft would soon change. By 1912 they were open political (and to a certain degree personal) enemies.

You met a great need, that vanished because of your success. You have left us many memories, to be prized forevermore. You have taught us many lessons; and none more important than the lesson of brotherhood.

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.

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You must have the faculty not merely of doing right and of being fearless and strong, but of knowing how to handle yourself.

President Roosevelt speaks to a crowd in New Castle, thanking them for the greeting. He also thanks the Senators and Congressmen for cooperating with him in Washington. Roosevelt discusses the character of the citizens, the need for wise legislation, and the problem of irrigation.

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You touch on one of what I believe to be the most serious obstacles in the way of doing good literary work in the present generation, when you speak of the press and bustle of city life, and especially of the tendency to write “timely” articles, and the like. It is not necessary to be a mere recluse in order to do good work as a poet, a novelist, or even as a historian or a scholar; but it is absolutely necessary to be able to have the bulk of one’s time to one’s self, so that it can be spent on the particular study needed. Nowadays it is rather difficult to get such leisure, and indeed it can be gotten only by a man of some means and of great determination of character.

Roosevelt wrote these words to William Peterfield Trent on February 23, 1898. Trent was an American man of letters, and a professor at Sewanee and later at Columbia. Trent must have found the solitude he sought because he published more than a dozen books of literary criticism and history.

You who came here and made this state great, you could have done nothing if it had not been that you had cool heads, stout hands, strong hearts.

Excerpt from a speech of President Roosevelt given at Abilene, Kansas, May 2, 1903.

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You win, not by shirking difficulties, but by facing and overcoming them.

Theodore Roosevelt writes on the keys to success which for him include Courage, Honesty and Common Sense. He then goes on to discuss the paths a man can take to success. Printed 1916 by Federated Publishing Company, New York.

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You would be amused at the pets they have aboard this ship. They have two young bull dogs, a cat, three little raccoons, and a tiny Cuban goat. They seem to be very amicable with one another, although I think the cat has suspicions of all the rest.

Theodore Roosevelt was able to find humor in all kinds of situations, including the historic trip to Panama during his presidency. He was the first sitting United States President to leave the nation’s borders.

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You would be amused to see me, in my sombrero hat, fringed and beaded buckskin shirt, horse hide chaparajos or riding trousers, and cowhide boots, with braided bridle and silver spurs.

Excerpt from a letter to Henry Cabot Lodge on August 12, 1884.

You, the sons of the pioneers, if you are true to your ancestry, must make your lives as worthy as they made theirs.

Excerpt, “National Duty” from “The Strenuous Life.”

Your grandfather, my father, used now and then to say that he hesitated whether to tell me something favorable because he did not think a sugar diet was good for me. Perhaps, in my turn, I ought not to give you a sugar diet!

Quentin Roosevelt was studying at the Groton School and had recently written an article. Theodore Roosevelt commended the writing; but, for the reason stated, hesitated to say anything too complimentary.

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Your history, rightly studied, will teach us the time worn truth that in war as in peace we need chiefly the everyday commonplace virtues, and above all an unflagging sense of duty.

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.

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