“A sound body is good; a sound mind is better; but a strong and clean character is better than either.”

— Theodore Roosevelt

1900s, Address at the Prize Day Exercises at Groton School (1904)
Context: Remember that in life, and above all in the very active, practical, workaday life on this continent, the man who wins out must be the man who works. He can not play all the time. He can not have play as his principal occupation and win out. Let him play; let him have as good a time as he can have. I have a pity that is akin to contempt for the man who does not have as good a time as he can out of life. But let him work. Let him count in the world. When he comes to the end of his life let him feel he has pulled his weight and a little more. A sound body is good; a sound mind is better; but a strong and clean character is better than either.

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Theodore Roosevelt 445

American politician, 26th president of the United States 1858–1919

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“A sound body is good; a sound mind is better; but a strong and clean character is better than either.”

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