Theodore Roosevelt Quotes

It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.

I was never a weapons person, you're a coward if you have to walk with a weapon, be a man and fight.

Any man who is a man may not, in honor, submit to threats or violence. But many men who are not cowards are simply unprepared for the fact of human savagery.

Of all faults the one she most despised in others was the want of bravery; the meanness of heart which leads to untruth.

The trouble is that nonviolence is so often defined as refusal to fight, and that is the American definition of cowardice. In fact, marching unarmed against the guns and dogs of the police requires more courage than does aggression. The perverted idea of manhood coming from the barrel of a gun is what keeps people from understanding nonviolence.

The law of honor: Go along only on the paths of honor. Fight, and never be a coward. Leave the path of infamy to others. Better to fall in an honorable fight than win by infamy.

Whilst weakness and timidity keep us to our duty, virtue has often all the honor.

A coward is less than a man. He does not deserve to be a member of a society of men and women

I hate cowardice; I will have nothing to do with cowards or political nonsense.

I learned that moral courage is harder than physical courage.

Falsehood is cowardice, the truth courage.

That man is not truly brave who is afraid either to seem or to be, when it suits him, a coward.

Moral courage is higher and a rarer virtue than physical courage.

The way to put oneself in a position to take the harder, more honorable political path is to argue for one's virtues in a vigorous way.

War paralyzes your courage and deadens the spirit of true manhood.

It is better to be the widow of a hero than the wife of a coward.

Virtue is a positive quality developed by taking a firm stand for the right in temptation, or by the suffering endured in consequence of wrongdoing.

The courage of New England was the courage of conscience.

If there was no war, the young men felt that they were denied manhood.

Moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk. The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character.

I believe that courage is morally neutral. I can well imagine wicked people being brave and good people being timid or afraid. I don't consider it a moral virtue.

We don't want yellow cowards in this Army. They should be killed off like rats. If not, they will go home after this war and breed more cowards. The brave men will breed more brave men. Kill off the Goddamned cowards and we will have a nation of brave men.

It is curious–curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare.

I guess coming out against actual evil takes guts.

I'm simply saying that heroes are people whose activities, whose attitudes, and whose judgment you just think, 'Wow. That's good. That's right. That's real.'