Quotes to inspire and reflect

People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives.

Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country.

Wars are, of course, as a rule to be avoided; but they are far better than certain kinds of peace.

We cannot afford merely to sit down and deplore the evils of city life as inevitable, when cities are constantly growing, both absolutely and relatively. We must set ourselves vigorously about the task of improving them; and this task is now well begun.

No foreign policy-no matter how ingenious-has any chance of success if it is born in the minds of few and carried in the hearts of many.

Let us speak courteously, deal fairly, and keep ourselves armed and ready.

The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased, and not impaired, in value.

There is a homely old adage which runs: "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." If the American nation will speak softly, and yet build and keep at a pitch of the highest training a thoroughly efficient navy, the Monroe Doctrine will go far.

The conservation of our natural resources and their proper use constitute the fundamental problem which underlies almost every other problem of our national life.

The most practical kind of politics is the politics of decency.

We are face to face with our destiny and we must meet it with high and resolute courage. For us is the life of action, of strenuous performance of duty; let us live in the harness, striving mightily; let us rather run the risk of wearing out than rusting out.

The death-knell of the republic had rung as soon as the active power became lodged in the hands of those who sought, not to do justice to all citizens, rich and poor alike, but to stand for one special class and for its interests as opposed to the interests of others.

Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.

No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency.

When you play, play hard; when you work, don't play at all.

Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it.

The United States does not have a choice as to whether or not is will or will not play a great part in the world. Fate has made that choice for us. The only question is whether we will play the part well or badly.

The wild life of today is not ours to do with as we please. The original stock was given to us in trust for the benefit both of the present and the future. We must render an accounting of this trust to those who come after us.

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

The decisions of the courts on economic and social questions depend on their economic and social philosophy.

No, I'm not a good shot, but I shoot often.

It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things.

In a civilized and cultivated country, wild animals only continue to exist at all when preserved by sportsmen.

Aggressive fighting for the right is the greatest sport in the world.

The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize.

Physical strength can never permanently withstand the impact of spiritual force.

True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until he has struck to crush him.

Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off.

I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm.

The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.

Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.

We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon.

There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.

Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.

It isn't sufficient just to want - you've got to ask yourself what you are going to do to get the things you want.

There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still.

Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.

Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money. It lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.

Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.

The true conservative is the man who has a real concern for injustices and takes thought against the day of reckoning.

In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.

Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.

A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned to walk forward.

We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization.

We defend and we build a way of life, not for America alone, but for all mankind.