Masonic Quotes of Famous Freemasons
The Quotes of Theodore Roosevelt
Born: 10/27/1858 12:00:00 AM Died: 1/6/1919 12:00:00 AM
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. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Each time we face our fear, we gain strength, courage, and confidence in the doing.
One of the things that attracted me so greatly to Masonry, that I hailed the chance of becoming a mason, was that it really did act up to what we, as a government and as a people, are pledged to — of treating each man on his merits as a man. When Brother George Washington went into a lodge of the fraternity, he went into the one place in the United States where he stood below or above his fellows according to their official position in the lodge. He went into the place where the idea of our government was realized as far as it is humanly possible for mankind to realize a lofty idea.
Justice among the nations of mankind, and the uplifting of humanity, can be brought about only by those strong and daring men who with wisdom love peace, but who love righteousness more than peace.
Only those are fit to live who do not fear to die; and none are fit to die who have shrunk from the joy of life and the duty of life. Both life and death are parts of the same Great Adventure.
Surely our people do not understand even yet the rich heritage that is theirs. There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the Yosemite, the groves of giant sequoias and redwoods, the Canyon of the Colorado, the Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Three Tetons; and our people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and their children’s children forever, with their majesty all unmarred.
Democracy to be successful, must mean self-knowledge, and above all, self-mastery.
Viewed in the abstract, I think there can be no question that women should have equal rights with men. I contend that, even as the world now is, it is not only feasible but advisable to make women equal to men before the law.
Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are.
Show me a man who makes no mistakes, and I will show you a man who never does anything.
If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month.
Politeness is a sign of dignity, not subservience.
Women should have free access to every field of labor which they care to enter, and when their work is as valuable as that of a man, it should be paid as highly.
I know that you will not only understand me, but sympathize with me, when I say that, great though my pleasure is in being here as your guest in this beautiful Temple, and in meeting such a body of men as this is that I am now addressing, I think my pleasure is even greater when going into some little Lodge, where I meet the plain, hard-working men, — the men who work with their hands, — and meet them on a footing of genuine equality, not false equality, of genuine equality conditioned upon each man being a decent man, a fair-dealing man.
To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.
Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty. I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.
Wide differences of opinion in matters of religious, political, and social belief must exist if conscience and intellect alike are not to be stunted, if there is to be room for healthy growth.
