26th president · 1901–1909
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 the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.
Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has been stored up effort in the past.
A mere life of ease is not in the end a very satisfactory life, and, above all, it is a life which ultimately unfits those who follow it for serious work in the world.
It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.
In this life we get nothing save by effort.
Bodily vigor is good, and vigor of intellect is even better, but far above both is character.
Perhaps there is no more important component of character than steadfast resolution.
Other decent men are so alienated by such conduct that in their turn they abandon all effort to fight for reform, believing reformers to be either hypocrites or fools.
Much has been given us, and much will rightfully be expected from us.
our responsibility is heavy, to ourselves, to the world as it is to-day, and to the generations yet unborn
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, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming
There is little place in active life for the timid good man.
The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer.
If a man stumbles, it is a good thing to help him to his feet. Every one of us needs a helping hand now and then.
almost any man can do a great deal, if he will, by getting the utmost possible service out of the qualities that he actually possesses
The great crisis must come, or no man has the chance to develop great qualities.
success--the real success--does not depend upon the position you hold, but upon how you carry yourself in that position
Let us strive hardily for success even if by so doing we risk failure, spurning the poorer souls of small endeavor who know neither failure nor success.
There is a bit of homely philosophy, quoted by Squire Bill Widener, of Widener's Valley, Virginia, which sums up one's duty in life: Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are.
Wrongly attributed
Roosevelt did not coin this. He quotes it in his Autobiography and names its author: Squire Bill Widener of Widener's Valley, Virginia, a neighbour with no other claim on posterity. It is now printed on posters and mugs as Roosevelt's own, usually shortened to Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. The sentence around it is the evidence that it was never his.