The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses of Theodore Roosevelt

"The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses" is a collection of Theodore Roosevelt's published commentaries and public addresses on what is necessary for a vital and healthy political, social and individual life. Roosevelt states the main point of his speech in the opening remarks:


"I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph."

br />An individual who puts great effort into his work and is not lazy, he claims, will be a success. It is the duty of someone who does not engage in manual labor for a living to devote himself to the arts or sciences. He uses the citizens of Chicago and Illinois as examples of people who embody such a spirit.


Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) was an American statesman, author, explorer, soldier, naturalist, and reformer who served as the 26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909.