“Our words must be judged by our deeds; and in striving for a lofty ideal we must use practical methods; and if we cannot attain all at one leap, we must advance towards it step by step, reasonably content so long as we do actually make some progress in the right direction.”

— Theodore Roosevelt

1910s, Nobel lecture (1910)
Context: Moreover, and above all, let us remember that words count only when they give expression to deeds, or are to be translated into them. The leaders of the Red Terror prattled of peace while they steeped their hands in the blood of the innocent; and many a tyrant has called it peace when he has scourged honest protest into silence. Our words must be judged by our deeds; and in striving for a lofty ideal we must use practical methods; and if we cannot attain all at one leap, we must advance towards it step by step, reasonably content so long as we do actually make some progress in the right direction.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 29, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Our words must be judged by our deeds; and in striving for a lofty ideal we must use practical methods; and if we canno…" by Theodore Roosevelt?

Theodore Roosevelt 445

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

Related quotes

“Truth advances, and error recedes step by step only; and to do to our fellow men the most good in our power, we must lead where we can, follow where we cannot, and still go with them, watching always the favorable moment for helping them to another step.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

Comment on establishing the University of Virginia, in a letter to Thomas Cooper (7 October 1814); published in The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (1905) edited by Andrew Adgate Lipscomb and Albert Ellery Bergh, Vol VII, p. 200 http://books.google.com/books?id=jrSgJGp-B64C&pg=RA1-PA200&dq=%22A+professorship+of+theology+should+have+no+place+in+our+institution%22&ei=u65FR562EpqCpwLkk9XxBg
1810s
Context: I agree … that a professorship of Theology should have no place in our institution. But we cannot always do what is absolutely best. Those with whom we act, entertaining different views, have the power and the right of carrying them into practice. Truth advances, and error recedes step by step only; and to do to our fellow men the most good in our power, we must lead where we can, follow where we cannot, and still go with them, watching always the favorable moment for helping them to another step.

“We cannot make a law, we must go according to the law. That must be our rule and direction.”

John Holt (Lord Chief Justice) (1642–1710) English lawyer and Lord Chief Justice of England

Parkyns' Case (1696), 13 How. St. Tr. 72. Compare: "We cannot make laws". Reg. v. Nash (1703), 2 Raym. 990; Powell, J., Queen v. Read (1706), Fortesc. 99.

“The great courageous act that we must all do, is to have the courage to step out of our history and past so that we can live our dreams.”

Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

“We must exercise ourselves in the things which bring happiness, since, if that be present, we have everything, and, if that be absent, all our actions are directed toward attaining it.”

Gretchen Rubin (1966) American writer

Source: The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

“We live, but we do not feel the land beneath us,
Ten steps away and our words cannot be heard.”

Osip Mandelstam Stalin Epigram

"Stalin Epigram" (November 1933) (Russian: Мы живем, под собою не чуя страны... http://www.litera.ru/stixiya/authors/mandelshtam/my-zhivem-pod.html; English: "We live, not sensing our own country beneath us", http://www.tonykline.co.uk/PITBR/Russian/MoreMandelstam.htm#_Toc103483111) trans. A. S. Kline.