Theodore Roosevelt Quotations Nine-tenths of wisdom consists in being wise in time. 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 nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat. "We need the iron qualities that go with true manhood. We need the positive virtues of resolution, of courage, of indomitable will, of power to do without shrinking the rough work that must always be done." 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. Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground. Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft. When you play, play hard; when you work, don't play at all. The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands
bold, persistent, experimentation. It is common sense to take a method
and try it, if it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all,
try something.
"It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out where the
strong man stumbled, or where a doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man in the arena whose face is marred by dust
and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, and who comes up
short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions,
and spends himself in a worthy cause. The man who at best knows the triumph
of high achievement and who at worst, if he fails, fails while daring greatly,
so that his place will never be with those cold timid souls who never knew
victory or defeat."
... looked at from the standpoint of the ultimate result, there was little real difference to the Indian whether the land was taken by treaty or by war. ...No treaty could be satisfactory to the whites, no treaty served the needs of humanity and civilization, unless it gave the land to the Americans as unreservedly as any successful war." "Whether the whites won the land by treaty, by armed conflict, or, as was actually the case, by a mixture of both, mattered comparatively little so long as the land was won. It was all-important that it should be won, for the benefit of civilization and in the interests of mankind. It is, indeed, a warped, perverse, and silly morality which would forbid a course of conquest that has turned whole continents into the seats of mighty and flourishing civilized nations. ...It is as idle to apply to savages the rules of international morality which obtain between stable and cultured communities, as it would be to judge the fifth-century English conquest of Britain by the standards of to-day." "The most ultimately righteous of all wars is a war with savages, though
it is apt to be also the most terrible and inhuman. The rude, fierce settler
who drives the savage from the land lays all civilized mankind under a
debt to him. ...[I]t is of incalculable importance that America, Australia,
and Siberia should pass out of the hands of their red, black, and yellow
aboriginal owners, and become the heritage of the dominant world races."
It is not the critic who counts; not the one who points out how the
strong person stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them
better. The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly;
who errs, and 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 the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself or
herself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph
of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he or she fails, at least
fails while daring greatly, so that his or her place shall never be with
those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
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