The worst lesson that can be taught a man is to rely upon others and to whine over his sufferings.
If an American is to amount to anything he must rely upon himself, and not upon the State; he must take pride in his own work, instead of sitting idle to envy the luck of others; he must face life with resolute courage, win victory if he can and accept defeat if he must, without seeking to place on his fellow-men a responsibility which is not theirs.
–Theodore Roosevelt, “How Not to Help Our Poorer Brother,” Review of Reviews, January 1897; later collected in Roosevelt’s American Ideals. [Emphasis mine.]
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That is your best quote of the day so far! I think I’m going to go buy some spraypaint at lunch and enter that into the local “urban graffiti contest”.
By the way, Teddy Roosevelt might be a good source of a lot of other quotes.