"Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."

— Letter to Henry L. Sprague (26 January 1900), invoking a West African proverb

Famous Roosevelt formulation.

"People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."

— Attributed to Theodore Roosevelt

Widely attributed Roosevelt leadership line.

"No man is above the law and no man is below it, nor do we ask any man's permission when we ask him to obey it."

— Third Annual Message to Congress (1903)

Verified presidential message.

"In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing."

— Attributed to Theodore Roosevelt

Widely attributed Roosevelt line.

"The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything."

— Attributed to Theodore Roosevelt

Widely attributed Roosevelt line.

"The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first."

— Attributed to Theodore Roosevelt

Widely attributed Roosevelt civic line.

"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president."

— Kansas City Star interview (7 May 1918)

Verified interview line.

"The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his weight."

— "True Americanism," speech (1894)

Verified speech line.

"Order without liberty and liberty without order are equally destructive."

— Attributed to Theodore Roosevelt

Widely attributed Roosevelt line.

"To educate a person in the mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society."

— Attributed to Theodore Roosevelt

Widely quoted Roosevelt line.

"Knowing what's right doesn't mean much unless you do what's right."

— Attributed to Theodore Roosevelt

Widely attributed Roosevelt line.

"I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life."

— "The Strenuous Life," speech before the Hamilton Club, Chicago (10 April 1899)

Verified public speech.

"Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty."

— "American Ideals in Education," address at the University of California, Berkeley (23 April 1910)

Verified speech text.

"Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing."

— Speech at the New York State Fair, Syracuse (7 September 1903)

Verified speech line.

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."

— Attributed in Roosevelt collections; commonly sourced to his public remarks and letters

Widely attested Roosevelt line.

"Believe you can and you're halfway there."

— Attributed to Theodore Roosevelt

Widely attributed Roosevelt quote.

"Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground."

— Attributed to Theodore Roosevelt

Widely attributed Roosevelt quote.

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."

— "The Strenuous Life," speech before the Hamilton Club, Chicago (10 April 1899)

Verified public speech.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better."

— "Citizenship in a Republic," speech at the Sorbonne, Paris (23 April 1910)

Opening of the Man in the Arena passage.

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood."

— "Citizenship in a Republic," speech at the Sorbonne, Paris (23 April 1910)

Core Man in the Arena line.