50 Quotes by Theodore Roosevelt to inspire you

01/29/2026 by

Today I offer you some interesting quotes by Theodore Roosevelt.

Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1897 to 1909.

He was born in Ohio in 1852 and moved to Illinois as a young man.

A key figure in the Progressive Era, he is known for his ambitious reforms aimed at reducing government corruption and promoting civil service efficiency.

Among his major accomplishments were the creation of the Civil Service Commission and the establishment of the Panama Canal.

He also played a major role in America’s entry into World War I.

Theodore Roosevelt died in 1921 at the age of 69.

By any measure, he was a successful man, and successful people are always worth listening to.

So, without further ado, here are today’s quotes:

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Quotes by Theodore Roosevelt (1-10):

Believe you can, and you’re halfway there.

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

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

Don’t hit at all if it is honourably possible to avoid hitting, but never hit soft.

Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.

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

A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car, but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.

The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.

It behoves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things.

The only time you really live fully is from thirty to sixty. The young are slaves to dreams, the old servants of regrets. Only the middle-aged have all their five senses in the keeping of their wits.

Quotes by Theodore Roosevelt (11-20):

Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.

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

People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives.

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

When you are asked if you can do a job, tell ’em, ‘Certainly I can!’ Then get busy and find out how to do it.

If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.

We can have no ’50-50′ allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all.

In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.

The boy who is going to make a great man must not make up his mind merely to overcome a thousand obstacles, but to win in spite of a thousand repulses and defeats.

The human body has two ends on it: one to create with and one to sit on. Sometimes people get their ends reversed. When this happens, they need a kick in the seat of the pants.

Quotes by Theodore Roosevelt (21-30):

Every reform movement has a lunatic fringe.

With self-discipline, most anything is possible.

Obedience of the law is demanded, not asked as a favour.

Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.

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.

A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.

I think there is only one quality worse than hardness of heart, and that is softness of head.

When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer ‘Present’ or ‘Not guilty.’

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.

Quotes by Theodore Roosevelt (31-40):

Nine-tenths of wisdom is being wise in time.

Courtesy is as much a mark of a gentleman as courage.

No great intellectual thing was ever done by great effort.

The government is us; we are the government, you and I.

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.

There has never yet been a man in our history who led a life of ease whose name is worth remembering.

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

The man who loves other countries as much as his own stands on a level with the man who loves other women as much as he loves his own wife.

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

Quotes by Theodore Roosevelt (41-50):

I am a part of everything that I have read.

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

Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you’ve got to start young.

Great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions speak to all mankind.

Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering.

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!

The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his own weight.

It is only through labour and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.

If there is not the war, you don’t get the great general; if there is not a great occasion, you don’t get a great statesman; if Lincoln had lived in a time of peace, no one would have known his name.

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

Phil Sutton

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