Theodore Roosevelt
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"Theodore "T.R." Roosevelt, Jr." was an American politician, author, naturalist, soldier, explorer, and historian who served as the List of Presidents of the United States/26th President of the United States. He was a leader of the History of the United States Republican Party/Republican Party (GOP) and founder of the Progressive Party (United States, 1912)/Progressive Party insurgency of 1912. He is known for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Era/Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity. Growing up, Roosevelt was a sickly child who suffered from asthma. To overcome his physical weakness, he embraced a strenuous life. He was home-schooled and became an eager student of nature. He attended Harvard University/Harvard College, where he studied biology, boxed, and developed an interest in naval affairs. He quickly entered politics, determined to become a member of the ruling class. In 1881, he was elected to the New York State Assembly, where he became a leader of the reform faction of the Republican Party (United States)/GOP. His book, The Naval War of 1812 (1882), established him as a learned historian and writer.

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When you play, play hard; when you work, don't play at all.

Theodore Roosevelt
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Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president.

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If I must choose between righteousness and peace, I choose righteousness. -Theodore Roosevelt
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No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency.

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

Theodore Roosevelt
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Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure...than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. -Theodore Roosevelt
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Any man who tries to excite class hatred, sectional hate, hate of creeds, any kind of hatred in our community, though he may affect to do it in the interest of the class he is addressing, is in the long run with absolute certainly that class's own worst enemy.

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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.

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

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With self-discipline most anything is possible.

Theodore Roosevelt
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Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground. -Theodore Roosevelt
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While my interest in natural history has added very little to my sum of achievement, it has added immeasurably to my sum of enjoyment in life.

Theodore Roosevelt
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Of all forms of tyranny the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of plutocracy.

Theodore Roosevelt
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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. -Theodore Roosevelt
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It's not the critic who counts. Not the man who points out how the doer of deeds might have done them better. Instead, the credit belongs to the man in the arena whose face is marred by sweat and blood and tears.

Theodore Roosevelt
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Spend and be spent.

Theodore Roosevelt
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Nine-tenths of wisdom consists in being wise in time. -Theodore Roosevelt
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It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.

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

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A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user. -Theodore Roosevelt
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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.

Theodore Roosevelt
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When I say I believe in a square deal i do not mean ... to give every man the best hand. If the cards do not come to any man, or if they do come, and he has not got the power to play them, that is his affair. All I mean is that there shall be no crookedness in the dealing.

Theodore Roosevelt
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To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, right or wrong - is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. -Theodore Roosevelt
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Far better 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 the grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt
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Put out the light.

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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! -Theodore Roosevelt
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Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

Theodore Roosevelt
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Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft!

Theodore Roosevelt
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To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. -Theodore Roosevelt
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