What I am to be, I am becoming.
It’s not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of the deeds could have done better.
A nation that still needs to distinguish between stealing an election, and stealing a new pair of shoes, is not completely civilized yet.
The mass of the American people are most emphatically not in the deplorable condition of which you speak.
The truth is that any good modern rifle is good enough. The determining factor is the man behind the gun.
There is need of a sound body, and even more need of a sound mind. But above mind and above body stands character-the sum of those qualities which we mean when we speak of a man’s force and courage, of his good faith and sense of honor.
The public must retain control of the great waterways. It is essential that any permit to obstruct them for reasons and on conditions that seem good at the moment should be subject to revision when changed conditions demand.
With a great moral issue involved, neutrality does not serve righteousness; for to be neutral between right and wrong is to serve wrong.
The hardest lessons to learn are those that are the most obvious.
I believe in corporations. They are indispensable instruments of our modern civilization. But I believe they should be so regulated that they shall act for the interests of the community as a whole.
The dull, purblind folly of the very rich men, their greed and arrogance, and the corruption in business and politics, have tended to produce a very unhealthy condition.
It either is or ought to be evident to everyone that business has to prosper before anyone can get any benefit from it.
The eighth commandment reads, “Thou shalt not steal.” It does not read, “Thou shalt not steal from the rich man.” It does not read, “Thou shalt not steal from the poor man.” It reads simply and plainly, “Thou shalt not steal.”
Laws are essential emanations from the self-poised character of God; they radiate from the sun to the circling edge of creation. Verily, the mighty Lawgiver hath subjected himself unto laws.
Unrestrained greed means the ruin of the great woods and the drying up of the sources of the rivers.
We can no more and no less afford to condone evil in the man of capital than evil in the man of no capital.
The foes from whom we pray to be delivered are our own passions, appetites, and follies; and against these there is always need that we should war.
Malefactors of great wealth have arrogantly ignored the public welfare.
Certain rich men, whose lives are evil and corrupt, are the representatives of predatory wealth accumulated by all forms of inequity, from the oppression of wage workers to unfair methods of crushing out competition.
Americanism is a question of spirit, of conviction and purpose, not creed or birthplaces. The test of our worth is the service we render.