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

— Theodore Roosevelt

Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.

— Theodore Roosevelt

Believe that you can and you are halfway there

— Theodore Roosevelt

Believe you can and you're halfway there.

— Theodore Roosevelt

Believe you can, and you're halfway there.

— Theodore Roosevelt

Be practical as well as generous in your ideals. Keep your eyes on the stars, but remember to keep your feet on the ground.

— Theodore Roosevelt

Bodily vigor is good, and vigor of intellect is even better, but far above both is character. It is true, of course, that a genius may, on certain lines, do more than a brave and manly fellow who is not a genius; and so, in sports, vast physical strength may overcome weakness, even though the puny body may have in it the heart of a lion. But, in the long run, in the great battle of life, no brilliancy of intellect, no perfection of bodily development, will count when weighed in the balance against that assemblage of virtues, active and passive, of moral qualities, which we group together under the name of character; and if between any two contestants, even in college sport or in college work, the difference in character on the right side is as great as the difference of intellect or strength the other way, it is the character side that will win.

— Theodore Roosevelt

Books are all very well in their way, and we love them at Sagamore Hill; but children are better than books.

— Theodore Roosevelt

Books are almost as individual as friends. There is no earthly use in laying down general laws about them. Some meet the needs of one person, and some of another; and each person should beware of the book lover’s besetting sin, of what Mr. Edgar Allan Poe calls ‘the mad pride of intellectually,’ taking the shape of arrogant pity for the man who does not like the same kind of books.

— Theodore Roosevelt

Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike.

— Theodore Roosevelt