Theodore Roosevelt (TR) was a remarkable American, proud of his nation, complex in his thinking, “strenuous” in pushing himself and his countrymen. One speech – from his 38 books, 150,000 letters, and 170 speeches stands out. One you say? Yes, for me, one.
While TR was the ultimate patriot, he was an alloy –a doer, horseman, cattleman, builder, hunter, explorer, soldier, father, fighter for the right, ender of monopolies, founder of parks, Great White Fleet, Panama Canal, first president to win the Nobel Peace Prize for ending a war, first to win the Medal of Honor, and a thinker, wonderer, architect of hope, good with words.
Of all his thoughtful works, his 1910 speech in Paris stands out. TR was no longer president, thought he would never run again, although later did as a “Bull Mooser.” France – not yet battered by two world wars – listened to his vision, chief topic “good citizenship.”
“Strange and impressive associations rise in the mind of a man from the New World who speaks before this august body …” That is how he started, respectful of France. He then pivoted to America, where “…my forefathers, three centuries ago, were among the sparse bands of traders, ploughmen, wood-choppers, and fisherfolk who, in hard struggle with the iron unfriendliness … laying the foundations of what has now become the giant republic of the West.”
Artfully, he reminded the French that America came from nothing, but as destined to preserve the Western world and values. He reminded them we were tough, hardworking, set the bar high.
“To tame the shaggy roughness of wild nature… primaeval conditions must be met by the primaeval qualities… ” He said we were “the hunters of game, the fellers of trees, the rude frontier traders and tillers of the soil …” who – over time – “turned back to try to recover the possessions of the mind and the spirit…our fathers threw aside … realizing… that the life of material gain, whether for a nation or an individual, is of value only as a foundation … for devotion to loftier ideals.”
“Today I shall speak to you on the subject of individual citizenship … The average citizen must be a good citizen, if our republics are to succeed. The stream will not permanently rise higher than the main source; and the main source of national power and national greatness is found in the average citizenship of the nation.”
What TR explains, in so many words, is what preserving a republic takes. “We must do our best to see that the standard of the average citizen is kept high.” He then targets “the cynic,” warning those who have “outgrown emotions and beliefs, the man to whom good and evil are as one.”
“The poorest way to face life is with a sneer. There are many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt. There is no more unhealthy being, no man less worthy of respect, than he who either really holds … an attitude of sneering disbelief toward all that is great and lofty…”
By this time, TR had fought and ended wars, lost his wife, served as a police commissioner, governor, vice president, and president, and been betrayed, risen again – remained an idealist.
“A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticize work which the critic himself never tries to perform …” is “not superiority but weakness.” He was speaking to all of us.
“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.”
What TR was saying was simple – stop carping and “dare greatly!” Our freedom depends on it. We must become doers, unflinching defenders of liberty, not mere critics. “There is little use for the being whose tepid soul knows nothing of great and generous emotion, of the high pride, the stern belief, the lofty enthusiasm, of the men who quell the storm and ride the thunder…”
TR was a doer and thinker. To read him is to know America. We need more of his attitude today, not less. His real appeal: In all you do, reach higher, do more, ignore the critics. Happy 2026!
