Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

A man's character is his guardian divinity.

You must keep your honor! You can't speak for the country; you can do little about the national economy or actions of moral weaklings who excuse themselves with the expression, "That is politics; nor can you be responsible for deception in others. But you are responsible for yourself! There are no collective panaceas - only individual ones."

There is some lack either of sense or of character in one who becomes involved in difficulties with the worthless or the vicious.

The great hope of society is in individual character.

Purity of personal life is the one indispensable condition for building up a sound education.

In the long run, the public interest depends on private virtue.

A big part of honesty is self-discipline, personal resolve, and taking pride in who you are as a person and what each action means to your character.

A good man does not spy around for the black spots in others, but presses unswervingly on towards his mark.

I threw my whole life and lived my life in a certain way to make sure that I would never violate any law.. certainly never any criminal laws.. and always maintained that most important to me was my integrity, was my character, were my values.

Alike for the nation and the individual, the one indispensable requisite is character.

The decisions we make, individually and personally, become the fabric of our lives. That fabric will be beautiful or ugly according to the threads of which it is woven. I wish to say particularly to the young men who are here that you cannot indulge in any unbecoming behavior without injury to the beauty of the fabric of your lives. Immoral acts of any kind will introduce an ugly thread. Dishonesty of any kind will create a blemish. Foul and profane language will rob the pattern of its beauty.

Character cannot be summoned at the moment of crisis if it has been squandered by years of compromise and rationalization. The only testing ground for the heroic is the mundane. The only preparation for that one profound decision which can change a life, or even a nation, is those hundreds of half-conscious, self defining, seemingly insignificant decisions made in private. Habit is the daily battleground of character.

All higher motives, ideals, conceptions, sentiments in a man are of no account if they do not come forward to strengthen him for the better discharge of the duties which devolve upon him in the ordinary affairs of life.

A private victory leads to a public victory and a corporate blessing, because God turns His face toward those who will demonstrate character when no one is looking.

Therefore the superior man is watchful over himself, when he is alone.

There is no stronger test of a person's character than power and authority, exciting as they do every passion, and discovering every latent vice.

Character is greater than talent, genius, fame, money, friends - there is nothing to compare with it. A man may have all these and yet remain comparatively useless - be unhappy - and die a bankrupt in soul.

A man should be upright, not be kept upright.

Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principals.

I just try to do my best and make the best judgments I can.

I decided in my life that I would do nothing that did not reflect positively on my father's life.

Character is the basis of happiness and happiness the sanction of character.

Wise people, even though all laws were abolished, would still lead the same life.

Laws control the lesser man... Right conduct controls the greater one.

Good actions ennoble us, and we are the sons of our deeds.