"There are plenty of decent legislators, and plenty of able legislators; but the blamelessness and the fighting edge are not always combined. Both qualities are necessary for the man who is to wage active battle against the powers that prey. He must be clean of life, so that he can laugh when his public or his private record is searched; and yet being clean of life will not avail him if he is either foolish or timid. He must walk warily and fearlessly, and while he should never brawl if he can avoid it, he must be ready to hit hard if the need arises. Let him remember, by the way, that the unforgivable crime is soft hitting. Do not hit at all if it can be avoided; but never hit softly."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Activists from the United StatesMilitary leaders from the United StatesSocial activistsMedal of Honor recipientsNobel laureates from the United States
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
"Practical Politics" in The Outlook (26 April 1913)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Theodore Roosevelt
1858 – 1919
26. Präsident der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika (1901-1909)
420 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Theodore Roosevelt →
Related Quotes
"We meet to-day, representing the people of this continent, from the Dominion of Canada in the north, to Chile and the…"
"We despise and abhor the bully, the brawler, the oppressor, whether in private or public life, but we despise no less…"
"By sheer force of moral purpose, by clarity of perception, by mastery of detail and benign manipulation of men, he ha…"
"What is the lesson to us to-day? Are we to go the way of the older civilizations? The immense increase in the area of…"
"In many respects there is a complete lack of analogy between the civilization of to-day and the only other civilizati…"
"Hitherto every civilization that has arisen has been able to develop only a comparatively few activities; that is, it…"
"The whole world is bound together as never before; the bonds are sometimes those of hatred rather than love, but they…"
"In new and wild communities where there is violence, an honest man must protect himself; and until other means of sec…"
"Throughout their early stages the movements of civilization—for, properly speaking, there was no one movement—were ve…"
"The people of the United States suffer from periodical financial panics to a degree substantially unknown to the othe…"