Americanism is a question of principle, of idealism, of character. It is not a matter of birthplace, or creed, or line of descent.
Theodore RooseveltRead
We have become great because of the lavish use of our resources ... But the time has come to inquire seriously what will happen when our forests are gone, when the coal, the iron, the oil and the gas are exhausted.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote warns about the consequences of overusing natural resources and the importance of sustainability.
Theodore Roosevelt's quote reflects a deep concern for the environmental impact of excessive exploitation of natural resources. It calls for serious introspection on the sustainability of such practices, highlighting the inevitability of resource depletion and urging society to consider the long-term implications of its actions on forests and fossil fuels. Roosevelt emphasizes that the prosperity gained through lavish resource use must be balanced with a commitment to conservation and preservation for future generations.
Themes
ResourcesSustainabilityEnvironmentConservationNature
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about environmental policy, one might reference this quote to emphasize the need for responsible resource management.
More from Theodore Roosevelt
All quotes →It tires me to talk to rich men. You expect a man of millions, the head of a great industry, to be a man worthhearing; but as a rule they don't know anything outside their own business.
Theodore RooseveltRead
No man should receive a dollar unless that dollar has been fairly earned.
Theodore RooseveltRead
Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.
Theodore RooseveltRead
Conservation means development as much as it does protection._x000D_ _x000D_ A man's usefulness depends upon his living up to his ideals insofar as he can.
Theodore RooseveltRead
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 at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.
Theodore RooseveltRead
Similar quotes
The birth and death of leaves is part of that greater cycle that moves among the stars.
Rabindranath TagoreRead
I don't care two hoots about civilization. I want to wander in the wild.
Jane GoodallRead
A robin redbreast in a cage Puts all heaven in a rage.
William BlakeRead
A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it.
DogenRead
A Christmas frost had come at midsummer; a white December storm had whirled over June; ice glazed the ripe apples, drifts crushed the blowing roses; on hayfield and cornfield lay a frozen shroud: lanes which last night blushed full of flowers, to-day were pathless with untrodden snow; and the woods, which twelve hours since waved leafy and flagrant as groves between the tropics, now spread, waste, wild, and white as pine-forests in wintry Norway.
Charlotte BronteRead
Life - all life - is in the service of life. Necessary nutrients are made available to life by life in greater and greater richness as the diversity of life increases. The entire landscape comes alive, filled with relationships and relationships within relationships.
Frank HerbertRead