Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.
NUMBER:
11
AUTHOR:
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919)
QUOTATION:
We are face to face with our destiny and we must meet it with a high and resolute courage. For us is the life of action, of strenuous performance of duty; let us live in the harness, striving mightily; let us rather run the risk of wearing out than rusting out.
ATTRIBUTION:
THEODORE ROOSEVELT, address at the opening of the gubernatorial campaign, New York City, October 5, 1898.—“The Duties of a Great Nation,” Campaigns and Controversies (vol. 14 of The Works of Theodore Roosevelt, national ed.), chapter 45, p. 291 (1926).
