Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

Capitalism has resulted in material well-being but spiritual bankruptcy.

The measure of a society is not only what it does but the quality of its aspirations.

The question we all face is what sort of culture we will live in for the rest of our lives and then hand on to the next generation - one that embraces these most basic of values, or one that collapses because of their absence.

We've come a long way in our thinking, but also in our moral decay. I can't imagine Dr. King watching the 'Real Housewives' or 'Jersey Shore.'

I'm very disappointed in my country right now, because I think we've kind of lost our moral compass.

Culture is the tacit agreement to let the means of subsistence disappear behind the purpose of existence. Civilization is the subordination of the latter to the former.

As a society, I think we express our cultural mores through our politics. We're trying constantly to figure out what's OK and what's not OK. And it's hard, because our society is constantly buffeted by gale force winds of technology. Things are always changing.

Corruption is not, therefore, a matter of a few ‘rotten apples’ or of a venal ‘class’, even less an ‘evil’ to be eradicated by means of vigorous ‘ethical’ campaigns. On the contrary, it is a habitual part of everyday life, and expected element of every social transaction. This ought not to surprise us. As we have already emphasized, there is in Africa a marked reluctance to abide by the abstract and universalist norms of the legal-bureaucratic order that are the foundation of Western politics.

The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.

Your tax dollars are being used to pay for grade school classes that teach our children that cannibalism, wife-swapping and the murder of infants and the elderly are acceptable behavior.

The true test of civilization is, not the census, nor the size of cities, nor the crops,—no, but the kind of man the country turns out.

Honor to a Spaniard, no matter how dishonest, is as real a thing as water, wine, or olive oil. There is honor among pickpockets and honor among whores. It is simply that the standards differ.

We can't stop talking about the importance of our values and our culture. We can't stop talking about them because the moral well-being of our people is directly linked to their economic well-being.

Life of people of this country is far more important than any sports or any other thing.

We have been concentrating on the banks, business and our bellies. We have neglected the spiritual and cultural. It was because Rome and Athens neglected these things that they fell.

It's easy for us to congratulate ourselves on our own moral superiority when compared to the 1930s, but I'm not sure that we're actually right about that. In most of the West, we simply haven't been tested in the same way. And when we are tested, we often fail.

The simplification of life is one of the steps to inner peace. A persistent simplification will create an inner and outer well-being that places harmony in one's life. For me this began with a discovery of the meaninglessness of possessions beyond my actual and immediate needs. As soon as I had brought myself down to need level, I began to feel a wonderful harmony in my life between inner and outer well-being, between spiritual and material well-being.

A country is not only what it does but what it tolerates.

... Any county's moral strength, or its moral weakness, is quickly measurable by the street attire and attitude of its women - especially its young women. Wherever ... spiritual values have been submerged, if not destroyed, by an emphasis upon ... material things, invariably the women reflect it.

We live in a culture that discourages empathy. A culture that too often tells us our principle goal in life is to be rich, thin, young, famous, safe, and entertained.

A higher standard of living also brings about a higher standard of culture and civilization.

The sum of the whole matter is this - our civilization cannot survive materially unless it be redeemed spiritually.

Any number of depraved units cannot form a great nation.

The church is challenging such negative cultural elements as superstition, rugged individualism, materialism, hedonism, permissiveness and utilitarianism.