The Strenuous Life
Delivered before the Hamilton Club in Chicago on April 10, 1899, advocating for vigorous effort, national duty, and personal accountability.
Full Transcript
In speaking to you, men of the greatest city of the West, men of the State which gave to the country Lincoln and Grant, I do not wish to preach the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife.
I 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.
A life of slothful ease, a life of that peace which springs merely from lack either of desire or of power to strive after great things, is as little worthy of a nation as of an individual.
If we are to be a really great people, we must strive in good faith to play a great part in the world. We cannot avoid the performance of great tasks; all that we can decide is whether we shall perform them well or ill.
Defining Key Excerpts
"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."
"A life of slothful ease, a life of that peace which springs merely from lack either of desire or of power to strive after great things, is as little worthy of a nation as of an individual."
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