Quote Or No Quote #25 - Teddy Roosevelt | Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick

Finally a quote that's actually true! Yes, Teddy Roosevelt did say that the best advice he'd ever heard about dealing with foreign affairs and potentially hostile foreign powers is to, "speak softly and carry a big stick." Speaking softly and carrying a big stick will mean that, "you will go far." When he was Governor of New York at the very end of the 19th century, he sometimes said in letters to other politicians, "I have always been fond of the West African proverb: 'Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.'" And he used it in speeches when he became President in 1901, and it was soon referred to as his "motto." In fact, both his domestic and his foreign policy have been called "big stick ideology" both at the time and by historians since.

[annaborkowski]

Looks have nothing to do with it. I like to follow the saying "speak softly and carry a big stick". I keep to myself, and if someone wants to get in my space, then they get to meet my taser and my loud mouth. Just be mindful of yourself and your surroundings, and always be prepared.

[ericpham]

he started the first american Tyrant and brushed congress aside by the panama incidence he said" let build the canal and let congress debate"