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The demand for a statement of a candidate’s religious belief can have no meaning except that there may be discrimination for or against him because of that belief. Discrimination against the holder of one faith means retaliatory discrimination against men of other faiths. The inevitable result of entering upon such a practice would be an abandonment of our real freedom of conscience and a reversion to the dreadful conditions of religious dissension which in so many lands have proved fatal to true liberty, to true religion, and to all advance in civilization.

— Theodore Roosevelt

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Religion

More quotes by Theodore Roosevelt

It is true of the Nation, as of the individual, that the greatest doer must also be a great dreamer.

I have always been fond of the West African proverb "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."

All really civilized communities should have effective arbitration treaties among themselves.

Nobel lecture (1910)

We propose to make the process of constitutional amendment far easier, speedier, and simpler than at present.

The performance of duty, and not an indulgence in vapid ease and vapid pleasure, is all that makes life worth while.

Theodore Roosevelt — An Autobiography (1913)

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All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.

Albert Einstein Moral Decay (1937)

Science and religion are two human enterprises sharing many features.

Freeman Dyson Infinite in All Directions (1988)

The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.

John Adams A Defence of the Constitutions of Government (1787)

The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.

Thomas Babington Macaulay History of England (1849)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Theodore Roosevelt (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.