Theodore Roosevelt

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.

Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.

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 a gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.

The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.

When you are in doubt, be sure to take the first step. The first step is always the hardest, but it is the one that counts.

Conservation means development as much as it does protection.

A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards.

The joy of living is his who has the heart to demand it.

The best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

Courtesy, self-respect, and courage are the three great virtues.

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. Obedience to the law is demanded as a right, not asked as a favor.

The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased, and not impaired, in value.

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.

The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, and love of soft living and the get-rich-quick theory of life.

It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.

Order without liberty and liberty without order are equally destructive.

The American people are slow to wrath, but when their wrath is once kindled, it burns like a consuming flame.

The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.

To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.