Optimism is a good characteristic, but if carried to an excess, it becomes foolishness. We are prone to speak of the resources of this country as inexhaustible; this is not so.
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell them, “Certainly I can!”. Then get busy and find out how to do it.
No man needs sympathy because he has to work, because he has a burden to carry. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.
It is not often that a man can make opportunities for himself. But he can put himself in such shape that when or if the opportunities come he is ready.
Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
Nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort.
Courage, hard work, self-mastery, and intelligent effort are all essential to successful life.
We must all either wear out or rust out, every one of us. My choice is to wear out.
Work hard at work worth doing.
It is not the critic who counts.
Character is far more important than intellect in making a man a good citizen or successful at his calling- meaning by character not only such qualities as honesty and truthfulness, but courage, perseverance and self-reliance.
After the war, and until the day of his death, his position on almost every public question was either mischievous or ridiculous, and usually both.
The name Roosevelt has this legendary force in our country at this time.
Then get busy and find out how to do it.
There is a delight in the hardy life of the open.
All daring and courage, all iron endurance of misfortune-make for a finer, nobler type of manhood.
I want to see you game, boys, I want to see you brave and manly, and I also want to see you gentle and tender.
In popular government results worth while can only be achieved by men who combine worthy ideals with practical good sense.
There can be no fifty-fifty Americanism in this country. There is room here for only 100% Americanism, only for those who are Americans and nothing else.
It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.