“Nothing in this world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty. No kind of life is worth leading if it is always an easy life. I know that your life is hard; I know that your work is hard; and hardest of all for those of you who have the highest trained consciences, and who therefore always feel how much you ought to do.
I know your work is hard, and that is why I congratulate you with all my heart. 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.”
– Theodore Roosevelt, Address to the Iowa State Teacher’s Association, Des Moines, IA, 1910
Source: Theodore Roosevelt, American Ideals in Education Speech, November 4, 1910
Read the Book: The Works of Theodore Roosevelt in 14 volumes complete (Hardcover)
